Ahmed Fahour has sensationally resigned from his position as the CEO and managing director of Australia Post.
Fahour’s decision to walk away from his role as the country’s highest paid civil servant comes less than a fortnight after he was roundly condemned for earning $5.6m a year, ten times more than the prime minister and the head of the US Postal Service
However Fahour says his resignation is his decision and not the result of political pressure.
Andrew Macaulay, CEO of PIAA says, “It’s a fantastic day for the print and mailing industry. This is great news and should be a circuit breaker. Ahmed Fahour has bene obdurate in his refusal to communicate, engage or negotiate with his major customer, the print and mailing industry. The strategy Fahour has put in place has been damaging and has resulted in a fast decline of business mail volumes in Australia.”
Fahour leaves Australia Post in a substantially better financial position than his arrival, though the decision to increase the cost of letter mailing while halving the days of operations was met with scorn by print and mailing business, who have seen their activities curtailed under the AusPost strategy.
The Australia Post profit after tax rose from $16m to $137m for first half 2017, as revenues rose by 8.2 per cent to $3.5bn from the prior corresponding period result of $3.2bn.
However addressed letter volume has increased its rate decline, moving down 11 per cent, which is a faster rate than last year’s result of 9.5 per cent. During that period AusPost has dramatically increased pricing while reducing service levels.
Australia Post’s refocusing on its parcel business at the cost of its postal business is paying off, with parcel profit up 16 per cent to $189m, while postal losses are reduced to breakeven, with $600m in losses avoided thanks to what Australia Post says is a reform.
EBITDA is $369m, up 107 per cent from last year’s $178m. Profit before tax has skyrocketed to $197m from the 2016 HY result of $1m, while profit after tax is $131m, up dramatically from the PCP of $16m.
Payments to Post Office operators are up $26m, a rate of 13 per cent.
The company says it has met its CSO performance standards, with 15,260 street post boxes, 98.5 per cent of letters delivered on time, 4,389 POs nationwide, with 2,544 of those existing in rural and remote areas, while 98.8 per cent of points receive deliveries five days a week.
Ahmed Fahour, highly-paid managing director and CEO, Australia Post says, “Today over 70 per cent of our revenue and 100 per cent of our profit is derived from commercial activities in parcels and ecommerce.
“Through the important postal reform program, we have avoided the need for a multi-billion dollar rescue package. It has also meant we have kept our people in meaningful employment, while returning a dividend to the Federal Government.
“We are delivering more parcels than ever before, with domestic parcel volumes up 5 per cent in the first half, market share increasing and at the same time we're trialling new delivery innovations like evening and weekend deliveries to give our customers an even better experience.”
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