Our FY23 financial results

Today we announced our full year 2023 financial results, which highlighted the solid progress we’ve made against our Post26 Strategy, despite the long-term structural headwinds we’re facing as a business. For the 2023 financial year, Group revenue was steady at $8.97 billion, however we recorded a $200 million pre-tax loss. This is only the second loss Australia Post has recorded since becoming a self-funded Government Business Enterprise (GBE) in 1989

Key business results

We are now operating a distinct two-speed business, with the declining Letters business weighing heavily on our Parcels business. We saw a 7.8 per cent decline in Letters volumes from last year, despite an increase in business-related letters, including consecutive interest rate rises and data breach notifications. This resulted in Letters losses increasing over 50 per cent to $384 million in FY23. The average Australian household now receives only 2.2 addressed letters each week, and this is expected to almost halve in the next five years.

Our Parcels business continues to deliver steady growth, with revenue up almost 1 per cent from FY22. This is despite operating in a highly competitive environment against large, well-funded multi-national competitors. We’ve continued our investment and innovation in parcel delivery and made good progress on simplifying the overall customer experience. We are delivering enhanced digital transactions, parcel tracking and increased customer convenience with the installation of parcel lockers in almost 100 new locations nationally during the year.

In FY23, changing customer behaviour also impacted our Post Office network with a further decline in foot traffic hindering the profitability of both Corporate and Licensed Post Offices. Over-the-counter transactions are also trending down, declining 20.9 per cent since FY19.

We’ve also simplified our operations with the planned closures of third-party logistics provider Fulfilio, document scanning service Decipha and alternative payments platform POLi, which will free up capital to invest in the growing Parcels and Services business.

Today’s results further underline the magnitude of the challenges we’re facing. These are not new, in fact we’ve been flagging them for more than a decade. We expect to record further losses unless we can secure the necessary support required to modernise our business.

Progress against strategy

It’s important to note that we’re doing everything in our control to transform the business. We have a sharp focus on simplifying our operations, we’re stripping out the complexity accrued over a number of years and investing in our key growth area of parcels. We’ll continue to be disciplined in how we manage costs, particularly in the current inflationary environment.
 
While it’s clear we cannot stop the structural shift in the way Australians are using postal services, our Post26 Strategy provides a blueprint for a modern and sustainable Australia Post.

If we continue to deliver against our Post26 Strategy and can secure a favourable regulatory response towards modernisation, I’m confident that Australia Post will return to profit. 

Thank you

Despite the challenges we’re facing, we have a lot to be proud of as a business. And this comes down to the way we’ve rallied together to ensure we don’t lose sight of our purpose – delivering a better tomorrow for our customers and communities. You can hear more from me, over on VIVA Engage, check it out here.

I’m looking forward to talking in more detail about our results at our Town Hall this morning, and of course, this is an opportunity for you to ask any questions you might have.

For now, thank you for your ongoing commitment to Australia Post and to each other. Together we are building a sustainable and simplified business, so we can continue to deliver for our customers and communities.
 
Be safe, be kind.
 
Paul