“We are working to become a nationwide platform company and we want to stay close to our customers, with a physical network of 13,000 post offices and 50,000 contact points. We also want a significant presence in the digital space, and we believe these are two sides of the same coin. This is proving to be the right strategy and turnover is growing despite downward structural trends.” These were the words of Poste Italiane’s CEO, Matteo Del Fante, guest on Bloomberg TV, a channel focused on economics and finance.
Leader in logistics
Del Fante illustrated Poste Italiane’s great achievements in the logistics sector: “Mail is decreasing,” he explained, “parcels are increasing, but it is also true that, as we have seen in the results of Amazon and DHL, the first quarter of 2022 was down on last year, when there was actually a peak. Nevertheless, the numbers show an increase compared to the pre-pandemic period in 2019”. He added: “There is a lot of competition in the delivery market in Italy, but last year we managed to become the biggest B2C company in the country, after starting in 2017 as seventh in the logistics sector, so we have made a big leap forward.”
The energy market
He also spoke of the forthcoming entry into the energy market: “The sale is expected during 2022,” Del Fante explained to Bloomberg TV, “it was planned two years ago and it will go ahead, we are nearly there. We will sell the energy bought wholesale. All we need is some stability in the wholesale markets, to hedge contracts for our customers. This is all part of the Italian government’s liberalisation programme as part of its commitments to the European Commission under the Next Generation EU plan. Many things have been requested of Italy, and one of them is liberalisation of the energy market. There are protected categories of customers with a certain type of contract that will have to migrate to the free market: this is a great opportunity for a company that wants to enter the market.”
The economic situation
Finally, he commented on the economic situation of the country in relation to the ongoing war: “I think that if the government’s commitments on public administration and justice reforms are implemented, the economy will benefit. Unfortunately, the exposure of some of our companies to Russia is slowing country’s economic growth to a degree, but it is important that these reforms are implemented.” And again: “We are fortunate in that we are sheltered on both the gas and electricity front until the end of 2023, we are currently facing an increase in the cost of fuel and oil, with 26 million vehicles to supply, but we are finding solutions to save money on this front as well.”
