Service-oriented - Die Schweizerische Post

Developments in the economic
environment
The good result was achieved in a gratifying
economic environment: the strong
expansion in the global economy continued
in the second half of 2006. Although
the sustained upswing in the USA lost
momentum, growth in the EU picked up.
The economic upturn continued in Japan
and in most other countries in Asia, in
particular in China. This trend occurred
against a backdrop of sharply fluctuating
oil prices.
In Switzerland, economic growth was
balanced and broadly based. The situation
on the labour market continued to
improve, with the brighter mood boosting
job security and consumer confidence.
In 2006, the provisional G P
growth rate was 2.7 percent.
emand for logistics and financial services
depends on the general economic
trend as well as on the related interest
rate trend. Retail trade benefited from the
favourable macro-economic conditions.
The transport and logistics industry profited
from the positive impetus of foreign
trade and the upbeat consumer mood,
and the telecoms sector was again one of
the growth engines. These trends benefited
the financial and logistics sectors of
Swiss Post in particular.
Volumes/traffic
The downtrend in mail volumes for domestic
and international letters continued.
The 2005 results were not matched
this year, especially in the field of nonpriority
single items (B Mail), owing to a
shift towards less expensive bulk mailings
and the ongoing optimization in the mailing
of account statements in the financial
sector. On the other hand, the overall
volume of parcels was in line with the
previous year’s level, and the number of
Swiss-Express items was higher. The inflow
of new money at PostFinance was
again positive. The number of passengers
was slightly higher, thanks to the favourable
trend in commissioned services.
Buoyed by the sound economic environment
(tourism, exports), international
letter post increased year on year. 1
Our success strategy
In order to ensure sustainable success and
safeguard our core business in the long
term, we mean to increase our competitiveness
even further. We therefore intend
to improve and expand our services in
the existing markets. The focus will be on
industry solutions such as repairs and
hospital logistics, innovative services for
payments and digital signatures, as well
as intensified advisory services such as the
video consulting service from PostFinance.
By adjusting the post office network to
customer behaviour, expanding the range
“ Why does the cost of mailing a letter
include paying for structures
that are used by only a few people?”
Christian Bütikofer
Attorney, Gossau (SG)
Annual Report | Service-oriented | Group 13