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bpost SA/NV

Earnings Release May 6, 2015

3922_rns_2015-05-06_0ae8012e-3353-4ee0-a4a1-4596ae44a90f.pdf

Earnings Release

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Interim financial report first quarter 2015

Investor presentation

Koen Van Gerven, CEO Pierre Winand, CFO

Brussels – May, 7th 2015

Investor presentation - Interim financial report 1Q15

Financial Calendar

More on www.bpost.be/ir

13.05.2015 Ordinary General Meeting of Shareholders

18.05.2015 Ex-dividend date

20.05.2015 Payment date of the dividend 06.08.2015 (17:45 CET) Quarterly results 2Q15

05.11.2015 (17:45 CET) Quarterly results 3Q15

03.12.2015 (17:45 CET) Results first 10 months 2015 08.12.2015 Ex-dividend date (interim dividend)

10.12.2015

Payment date of the interim dividend

Disclaimer

This presentation is based on information published by bpost in its First Quarter 2015 Interim Financial Report, made available on May 6th at 5.45pm CET on www.bpost.be/ir. This information forms regulated information as defined in the Royal Decree of 14 November 2007. The information in this document may include forward-looking statements1, which are based on current expectations and projections of management about future events. By their nature, forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance and involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties, assumptions and other factors because they relate to events and depend on circumstances that will occur in the future whether or not outside the control of the Company. Such factors may cause actual results, performance or developments to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Accordingly, no assurance is given that such forward-looking statements will prove to have been correct. They speak only as at the date of the Presentation and the Company undertakes no obligation to update these forward-looking statements contained herein to reflect actual results, changes in assumptions or changes in factors affecting these statements. This material is not intended as and does not constitute an offer to sell any securities or a solicitation of any offer to purchase any securities.

1 as defined among others under the U.S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995

Highlights of 1Q15

Revenues down 1.6%
616.6m
strong parcels performance offset by softness in mail and lower SGEI

compensation
Sharper volume decline of domestic mail

weakness in advertising mail sales and ongoing e-substitution
-5.3%
Strong
growth in parcels
solid domestic parcels volume growth supported by e-tailers
and C2C

growth; negative price mix effect of -3.7%
+10.2%
solid international parcels growth from
core business (from US and

China), decline in shipments to China
+ €
10.2m
Cost savings continued to deliver strongly
costs
(excl. transport) down
-

11.9m
average
FTE reduction of 681 for the quarter
EBITDA stable despite reduction in SGEI compensation
172.7m
BGAAP net profit of bpost SA/NV stable

87.3m

Outlook maintained

Growth in parcels and further cost control resulted in stable EBITDA despite a soft start in mail and the reduction of SGEI compensation

€ million

4

Summary of key financials

€ million

Reported
1Q14 1Q15 % ∆
Total operating income (revenues) 626.7 616.6 -1.6%
Operating expenses 453.7 443.9 -2.2%
EBITDA 173.0 172.7 -0.2%
Margin (%) 27.6% 28.0%
EBIT 152.0 151.6 -0.3%
Margin (%) 24.3% 24.6%
Profit before tax 153.6 149.0 -3.0%
Income tax expense 54.7 52.4
Net profit 98.9 96.6 -2.4%
FCF 367.4 298.1 -18.9%
bpost S.A./N.V. net profit (BGAAP) 87.3 87.3 0.1%
Net Debt/ (Net cash), at 31 March (728.1) (785.1) 7.3%

6

Total operating income (revenues) lower by € 6.0m on an organic basis

€ million

1Q14
reported
Reclassifi
cations2
1Q14
comparable
SGEI Organic 1Q15 % Org
Transactional mail 238.9 0.9 239.7 - -7.1 232.6 -3.0%
Domestic mail Advertising mail 70.2 -0.2 70.0 - -5.3 64.7 -7.5%
Press 77.7 - 77.7 -3.0 -0.7 74.0 -0.9%
Domestic parcels1 38.2 -1.0 37.2 - 2.3 39.5 6.1%
Parcels International parcels 31.5 -0.5 31.0 - 10.2 41.2 33.1%
Special logistics 3.7 -0.3 3.4 - -0.8 2.6 -24.8%
International mail 50.2 -0.9 49.4 - -4.1 45.3 -8.3%
Additional sources Value added services 24.6 -0.9 23.8 - 0.6 24.3 2.4%
of revenues Banking and financial 52.4 -0.1 52.3 -0.1 -0.5 51.7 -1.0%
Other 27.4 3.0 30.4 -1.0 -0.1 29.4 -0.2%
Corporate 11.8 - 11.8 - -0.4 11.4 -3.1%
TOTAL 626.7 - 626.7 -4.2 -6.0 616.6 -1.0%

1 Defined as domestic and Belgian in- and outbound

2 Some intercompany eliminations mainly related to international activities previously reported in Other revenues are now being reported under their corresponding product lines.

Following a correction of the allocation of cash sales (stamps and franking machines) to products as of January 1, 2015 some revenues are shifting from Domestic parcels to Transactional mail.

Domestic mail volume decrease of -5.3% due to weak advertising mail sales and continued e-substitution

Total operating income (revenues), € million

  • Underlying volume decline at -5.3%
  • Transactional mail: continuing trends of e-substitution and reduction of postal spend by customers.
  • Advertising mail: showed a weak performance in DM mainly due to catalogue sellers and customers in the banking and telecom sectors.
  • Press volume decline in line with previous quarters.
  • Price increases in line with announced policy
Reported Underlying1,2
FY14 1Q15 FY14 1Q15
Transactional mail -4.7% -5.0% -5.0% -5.3%
Advertising mail -1.9% -6.9% -3.0% -5.9%
Press -2.8% -3.1% -2.8% -3.1%
Domestic Mail -3.9% -5.3% -4.4% -5.3%

1 2014 was impacted by elections. In terms of working days for 2015, 1Q15, 2Q15 and 4Q15 are equal to same quarters of 2014. 3Q15 has 1 business working day more.

2 Requalification of advertising mail to administrative mail

Continued growth of international parcels, solid volume performance in domestic parcels

Total operating income (revenues), € million

  • Solid volume growth in 1Q15 of 10.2% driven by e-commerce growth and positive C2C parcels sales (new product offering). A negative mix affected revenues growth due to the faster growth of large e-tailer customers with high volumes and better prices than the smaller customers (price/mix -3.7%).
  • Continued growth on lanes from US (€ +10.1m) including the positive effect of stronger \$/€ exchange rate (€ +4.5m) and from China (€ +1.5m) while shipments to China decreased (€ -2.0m)
  • Revenue decrease as a result of discontinued activities (€ -1.2m) partly compensated by growth in the remaining activities (€ +0.5m).

Additional sources of revenue mainly affected by the curtailment of very low margin wholesale international mail activities

Total operating income (revenues), € million

  • Excluding lower one-off settlements relating to last year (€ -0.8m) and positive FX impact (€ +1.6m), international mail sales were impacted by the curtailment of very low margin UK and US wholesale activities.
  • Solutions revenues evolving positively.
  • Lower transformation margin and lower insurance production partly compensated by higher assets under management (€ -0.4m).
  • Lower volumes of financial transactions managed on behalf of the Belgian state (€ -0.5m) while prepaid cards continued to grow (€ +0.2m) and previous year one-off from Western Union (€ +0.3m).

9

Costs remained well under control and were down € 9.9m

Operating expenses excl. depreciation and amortization, € million

  • Total FTE reduction of 681 FTE (€ -7.9m)
  • Positive mix impact of € -2.9m mainly thanks to the recruitment of auxiliary postmen (€ -1.8m), reinforced by a smaller number of managers due to the Alpha project and the related hiring freeze (€ -1.1m).
  • Negative price effect of € +1.1m due to the impact of merit increases, the impact of the CLA signed in 2Q14 and higher restructuring one-offs charges, in part compensated by a lower price for interims.
  • Other effects relating mainly to the evolution of the employee benefits (€ -1.6m).
  • FX (€ +4.2m), as well as terminal dues (€ +0.5m) both impacting transport costs.
  • Excluding these elements, the decrease in transport costs is related to the evolution of the international activities (costs related to the increase in international parcels offset by the decline of the low margin UK and US wholesale business).
  • Decrease in rental costs, insurance costs, publicity costs, other goods and energy delivery in part offset by the increase in 3rd party costs (temporary resources for projects).
  • Increase in provisions and other operating charges (lower increase of the recoverable VAT; percentage of recoverable VAT increased from 11% in 2013 to 13% in 2014 and 14% in 2015)

Operating free cash flow1 of € 298.1 in 1Q15

€ million

€ million 1Q14 1Q15 Delta
Cash flow from operating activities +384.6 +306.6 -78.0
Cash flow from investing activities -17.3 -8.5 +8.8
Operating free cash flow1 +367.4 +298.1 -69.3
Financing activities -0.6 -0.2 +0.4
Net cash movement +366.7 +297.9 -68.9
Capex +11.2 +11.4 +0.2
  • Results of operating activities are in line with last year
  • Income taxes paid on 2013 results (€ -42.0m)
  • Negative evolution of the working capital vs. 1Q14 (€ -36.2m). Working capital was negative influenced by terminal dues due to the earlier settlement LY with 2 postal operators (€-25.1m) and a lower SGEI compensation received in the first quarter 2015 (€-9.5m)
  • Improvement mainly due to subsidiaries acquired last year (€ +8.7m)
  • Higher capital expenditure (€ -0.2m) and higher proceeds sale of buildings

Strong balance sheet structure

€ million

Mar 31, 2015 Dec 31, 2014

Dec 31, 2014 Mar 31, 2015

Outlook for 2015

  • After a very strong 2014 which allowed us to report historically high numbers, we will be facing some headwind in 2015:
  • We expect mail volumes to remain under substantial pressure from e-substitution. As a consequence we plan for mail a volume decline of over -5%. This has been confirmed by a relatively soft start of the year in mail.
  • The compensation for the SGEI's (management contract) will be € 16.5m lower than in 2014 as the government has decided to reduce the compensation above and beyond the already lower contractual cap.
  • Parcels to China (milk powder) are no longer growing and could be declining.
  • The planned productivity improvements as per the Vision 2020 planning are at the very low end of our 800 to 1,200 FTE/year range.
  • On the positive side, we still expect mid single digit growth in domestic parcels in spite of the intensification of competition. We also expect continued growth in the US and Asia parcels segment.
  • On balance, our ambition is to hold our recurring EBIT(DA) at the high level achieved in 2014 thanks to the partial effects of the Alpha plan and a continued focus on costs. Reported EBIT will be affected by the Alpha restructuring cost. Our ambition is to achieve the same level of dividend payment.
  • Cash generation should follow normal seasonality and net capex is expected at around € 90m. Working capital will be negatively affected by the favorable phasing on terminal dues payment in 2014 and tax payments relating to 2013.

Key contacts

Pierre Winand
CFO, Service Operations and ICT

Email:
[email protected]
Direct:

+ 32 (0)2 276 22 35
Mobile:
+32 (0) 494 566 348


Address:
bpost, Centre Monnaie, 1000 Brussels, Belgium
Paul Vanwambeke
Director Investor Relations

Email:
[email protected]

Direct:
+ 32 (0)2 276 28 22
Mobile:
+32 (0) 497 591 335


Address:
bpost, Centre Monnaie, 1000 Brussels, Belgium
Saskia Dheedene
Manager Investor Relations
Email:
[email protected]


Direct:
+ 32 (0)2 276 76 43
Mobile:

+32 (0) 477 922 343
Address:
bpost, Centre Monnaie, 1000 Brussels, Belgium

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