Annual Review 2018

We provide society and our customers with reliable and accessible postal and logistic services. We are proud of our history and what we stand for: delivering special moments for everyone. In 2018, we redefined our purpose and the principles that guide our behaviour: what we do, the customer experience we aim for and how we work together.

PostNL plays an important role in society as a postal and logistics service provider. We operate in a multi-stakeholder environment and our stakeholders significantly influence those areas we focus on to create long-term value. Each stakeholder decides which topics are most important and relevant to them. Together, we carefully identify those topics that are most material and should be prioritised. At the same time, we look at the impact competition and the regulatory landscape have on our businesses and our customers.

We create sustainable value for our stakeholders by providing logistic and postal services. Our value creation model illustrates our value creation process, which includes the financial and non-financial aspects of how we do business.

Our ambition is to be everyone's favourite deliverer and connect millions of senders and receivers every day. In today's competitive market, loyal customers are essential to our success, so optimising the customer experience is a core part of our strategy. This relates both to our ability to manage the growth in e-commerce and in securing accessible and reliable postal services.

We operate in a dynamic environment. Our Parcels business is taking advantage of the rapid growth in e-commerce, while our Mail business is managing declining mail volumes of around 10% year-on-year. At the same time, consumers are increasingly focused on gaining access to the most convenient delivery options, with shorter delivery times and greater delivery flexibility. This requires us to continue to focus on operational excellence while providing deliveries anytime, anywhere.

The markets PostNL operates in are changing rapidly, impacting everyone who works for or with us. We aim to be a responsible employer that empowers our people to realise their full potential and feel they can make a difference to our customers. And we value our social impact, from the role we play providing accessible and reliable postal services, through to employing approximately 38,000 people.

As a logistics service provider, we are aware of the impact we have on the environment. Because we deliver to every street in the Netherlands and Belgium, our objective is to develop innovative solutions to help us reduce our environmental impact. We want to be the most sustainable player in our sector in the markets and countries in which we operate, with emission-free last-mile delivery across the Benelux by 2030. To help achieve this, we are working with our employees, our customers, our partners and our suppliers to make the supply chain more sustainable. Benefitting us, benefitting them and benefitting the environment.

PostNL provides short and long-term financial value for shareholders, enabling them to obtain shareholder return. This is why PostNL focuses on realising a solid financial performance and a healthy financial position. This chapter outlines key developments that impacted our financial performance over 2018 and concludes with an outlook for 2019.