State postal operator Ukrposhta generated $333 million in net income in 2020, twice as much as it was five years ago and 19% more than it was in 2019, Ukrposhta reported on March 15.
However, its net profit fell dramatically from $21 million in 2019 to $6 million last year. Ukrposhta blames it on unforeseen spendings during the pandemic. For example, it spent $2.7 million on personal protective equipment like masks and gloves alone.
Ukrposhta also increased its tax payments by 18.2%, paying nearly $110 million in taxes a year.
Ukrposhta CEO Igor Smelyansky also complained that the bureaucratic procedures and the services the company provides the state with are still a financial burden; he doesn’t like that he can’t increase the state-owned company’s tariffs either.
“But I’ve always said that tears and woes interest no one. We are grown-ups and will be getting out of this situation with dignity like we have been doing for nearly 5 years now,” Smelyansky said on Facebook.
The lion’s share of the company’s money — 70%, or $232 million — covered wages for its 72,000 employees. Last year, the average salary of a full-time employee at Ukrposhta increased by 16% to $312.
Smelyansky said that Ukrposhta would be getting rid of the things it doesn’t need in 2021: The postal operator wants to reduce the administrative personnel and sell unnecessary premises, including the iconic building of the main post office on Khreshchatyk Street, which may turn into a hotel or a casino.
Smelyansky has recently said in an interview with news website UBR that he wants Ukrposhta to digitize, introduce mobile postal branches, start offering banking services and build a new logistics center near Kyiv. For these goals precisely, Ukrposhta received a 63-million loan in 2020 from the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development.
“Our goal is 100% digitalization of logistics and financial services… and minimal dependence on the state in the further development of Ukrposhta,” Smelyansky said on March 15.
