Jersey Post recovers with "successful but challenging" trading year

Monday 24 June 2024

Jersey Post's finances have bounced back "significantly" since the company reported a £6.6m loss in its 2022 business review – but the postal firm still failed to make any profit last year.

The Jersey Post Group has published its annual report and accounts for 2023, documenting a loss before tax of £101,000.

The figure marks a substantial improvement in the company's financial position, having last year announced a loss of £6.6 million for 2022 amid a "perfect-storm" of industry pressures that "decimated" its margins.

Commenting in the 2023 annual report, Jersey Post Chair Alan Merry acknowledged the previous figures had made for "grim reading".

A "significantly reduced loss"

He explained that the company, which revealed in October that it had won a contract to provide all of the island's UPS deliveries, had focused on growing revenues throughout the year, protecting its margins and trying to drive efficiencies.

Pictured: Jersey Post Chair Alan Merry with CEO Mark Siviter at the Jersey Post headquarters.

Mr Merry continued: "The result is a significantly improved financial position, setting the foundations for future success against our commercial, social, and wider role in securing the supply chain.

"The business delivered a positive EBITDA of £2.6m, of which £1.1m related to a one-off provision release.

"This resulted in an EBITDA improvement of £3.7m compared to the prior year and a significantly reduced loss before tax of £101,000."

"A successful but challenging trading year"

Mark Siviter, CEO of Jersey Post Group: “I’d like to thank all our colleagues. We’re a people business and could not exist without the hard work, dedication and loyalty from teams across the Group.

"We pride ourselves on being a fair employer in Jersey, paying more than the living wage to our posties.

"At the heart of everything we do is our community and our passion for delivering for islanders."

He continued: "We’re a commercial business with a social purpose, and we aim to be a trusted States Owned Enterprise.

"It’s been a successful but challenging trading year.

"Our Group results are well ahead of our financial targets agreed with our shareholders, but we’re not complacent and know there is still lots of work to do to future-proof our business.”