Botswana Post has registered a loss of P76.3 million, figures reflected by the Group’s annual report released this week have shown.
According to executives at Poso House, the recent staff rationalisation process contributed significantly to the loss.
The process which cost the group about P50 million was undertaken as part of efforts to streamline operations and attracting new skills critical to Botswana Post.
Figures provided in the annual report indicate that for the year ended March 31, 2013, the group revenue grew by 7 percent to P214 million while gross profit rose to P102 million from P96 million.
At the same time, the group’s assets are at P473.5 million Pula while operating loss is at P12.0 million Pula.
Chief Executive Officer Pele Moleta said on Tuesday that the year 2012/2013 was a challenging period for the group as the company assessed its stability.
Moleta said that the lack of a government subsidy has put immense pressure on Botswana Post’s financial situation.
“The cost of providing universal services access is evidently impending majorly on our ability to effectively executes our corporate strategy, the icon of excellence. The strategy is anchored on the three pillars of business growth, operational efficiency and customer service excellence,” he said.
Reflecting on the previous year’s performance, Moleta said that a performance review from the year 2009 through to 2013 indicated that the revenue has doubled.
The mail revenue has been pegged at P91.8 million, merchandise P35.6million and agency payments at P39.0 million.
Moleta added that key drivers are diversification and high growth on non-mail products.
“We received a P100 million loan facility from Botswana Insurance Fund Management (BIFM) to address funding requirements,” said Moleta.
The CEO emphasized that for Botswana Post to deliver on the icon of excellence and reversal of the negative equity situation, it is imperative that the shareholder assists with recapitalisation of the company as well as conclusion to funding for Universal Service obligation.
Despite these challenges, he pointed out areas they had envisaged to achieve success in during the Journey to excellence, adding that they would continue to be resolute in realigning the services and workforce, to connecting communities to each other and the globe.
“When we set ourselves the target to become a P500 million company with a cost to income ratio of 60 percent by 2016, we did so deliberately and very conscious of the conditions under which we are operating,” said Moleta.
He pointed out that Botswana Post was able to plan several new initiatives, some of which have already been rolled out.
He said the company is now an electricity super vendor for Botswana Power Corporation (BPC), meaning that customers are able to purchase electricity vouchers through their branch network.
He stated that they are also a Water Utilities Corporation (WUC) customer touch point in that customers can pay water bills through the post offices. Moleta added that they are a cash redemption point for Botswana Meat Commission (BMC), meaning that farmers’ cash collect their BMC proceeds through Botswana Post.
