bpost (BPOST BB) Belgium
Industrials
Quality comes at a price - while the size and valuation of the recently proposed Staci acquisition has some analysts and investors concerned, it marks a first credible step aimed at accelerating the transformation of BPOST into a company with a bigger exposure to growth activities and higher margins. Analysts at the IDEA! think the process BPOST is going through shows some parallels with that of the three largest Dutch publishers in the late 1980s and 1990s. In view of the current valuation of the shares (just over 2x EV/adj. EBITDA) they feel that this is beginning to turn into an increasingly compelling investment case.
Edition: 184
- 19 April, 2024
PostNL (PNL NA) Netherlands
Industrials
Delivery slip - now seeing clear evidence of the insourcing and rerouting by bol.com and at a faster pace than the team at the IDEA! had originally anticipated when they published their bearish report last Oct. On top of that, DHL has stepped up competition. In Belgium, PNL has lost part of its volume to bpost and is facing higher costs for the use of its subcontractors. The pressure on margins is particularly worrying. Reduced pricing power means that tariff increases are insufficient to offset the impact of the 2022 cost inflation, let alone that of 2023.
Edition: 153
- 03 February, 2023
bpost (BPOST BB) Belgium
Industrials
Amazon’s insourcing of (part of) the last mile delivery is already having a negative impact on bpost’s parcels volume (-17% in 1Q22). However, the main threat of a local AMZN website will come from AMZN targeting small and mid-sized web shops to use its platform and its FBA services. By doing so, it would directly compete against bpost which is trying to compensate for the loss of its AMZN volume share by chasing new clients in this segment. Now is not the time for investors to go bottom fishing.
Edition: 139
- 08 July, 2022