New Zealand Post will continue with its job-cutting programme as it tries to save $30 million a year, despite posting a significant profit.
Photo: RNZ
The state-owned company made $143 million in the year to June, an increase of 34 percent compared with the previous year - largely due to the success of Kiwibank, which offset another 10 percent drop in letter volumes.
Stripping out asset sales and writedowns, New Zealand Post's underlying profit rose 3 percent to $128 million, with Kiwibank accounting for $127 million of that.
The company's overall revenue dropped slightly, down 0.5 percent to $1.6 billion.
It will pay a dividend of $5 million to the Government.
The company said it had delivered a solid result and laid "important foundations for the future", two years into a five-year business plan.
The Engineering, Printing and Manufacturing Union (EPMU) said the company's profit had given it some breathing space and it should invest in its staff, not cut more jobs.
Chief executive Brian Roche said 1300 jobs had gone since 2013, and middle and senior management positions would now be looked at.
He said the company was still dealing with an ongoing decline in its core letters business.
"We still have some way to go to put our mail and logistics business on a sustainable footing.
"Letter volumes declined by 10 percent last year and are expected to keep falling by at least that amount annually. Falling letter volumes is a reality worldwide."
The company has moved to alternate day delivery of standard mail in 30 cities and towns and has completed a two-year centralisation of its mail processing centres, cutting the number of centres from 55 to three.
Earlier this month, it announced plans to cut 75 jobs from its call centres in Christchurch and Wellington.
EPMU organiser Joe Gallagher said it was time for New Zealand Post to start investing properly in its workforce and services.
"We don't want to see any more jobs go, and we don't know where there's any more room to cut. The strategy for New Zealand Post's future can't be more cuts."
Mortgage lending behind Kiwibank's profit lift
Kiwibank, meanwhile, put its higher full-year profit down to higher mortgage lending.
Excluding the wealth management arm, the banking group's profit jumped 27 percent to $127 million in the year to June, compared with the previous period.
Revenue rose 18 percent to $473 million.
Loans rose 6.6 percent to $15.6 billion, while customer deposits jumped 7.8 percent to $13.7 billion.
Kiwibank CEO Paul Brock Photo: RNZ / Jonathan Mitchell
Kiwibank chief executive Paul Brock said the result was solid.
"We continue to see strong lending growth throughout the year, but pleasingly a lot of that growth has been funded through customer deposits," he said.
The bank is paying a dividend of $22 million to New Zealand Post.
Overall, Kiwi Group Holdings' profit, which includes the wealth and banking arms, jumped to $132 million in the year, compared with $107 million the previous year.