KUALA LUMPUR (Aug 25): Pos Malaysia Bhd's net loss for the second quarter ended June 30, 2020 (2QFY20) narrowed to RM19.02 million, from RM49.22 million in the previous quarter, due to higher revenue.

Quarterly revenue grew 8.51% quarter-on-quarter (q-o-q) to RM606.08 million, from RM558.53 million in 1QFY20, which Pos Malaysia attributed the higher revenue mainly to the postal segment, especially its courier business as well as higher postal tariffs, according to a filing with Bursa Malaysia.

Pos Malaysia said the group's courier business recorded a 45% q-o-q revenue growth with the increase in demand from e-commerce and online marketplace, with volume growing significantly by 57%.

"Similarly, our online shipping portal SendParcel saw the number of registered users increase to 70,000 users and parcel shipment via the platform grew by 145% to 2.1 million parcels compared to the previous quarter," said Pos Malaysia.

The postal group has been loss-making for the eighth consecutive quarter. However, its operating losses shrank to RM2.04 million for 2QFY20 against RM35.19 million for 1QFY20.

There were no year-on-year comparative figures as Pos Malaysia had changed its financial year end to Dec 31 from March 31.

For the cumulative six months ended June 30, 2020, Pos Malaysia reported a net loss of RM68.24 million, while revenue stood at RM1.16 billion.

"We are seeing higher-than-usual courier volume even after the easing of movement restrictions and we expect this trend to continue throughout the rest of the year," said its group chief executive officer Syed Md Najib in a separate statement today.

"As such, our continued investments in digitalisation, automation and crowdsourcing of delivery riders will be critical to grow our business, processing capacity and speed, in order to meet customer expectations in this digitally driven economy," he added.

He noted that the group's transformation journey is showing strong progress and has enabled the business to weather the storm and cater for the change in consumer behaviour as a result of the unprecedented changes in the business landscape due to Covid-19.

The group noted that its mail business is projected to contribute incremental revenue of RM100 million to RM150 million for the year on the back of increased postal rates and slower-than-expected decline in mail volume.

While Pos Malaysia is cognisant of the lingering effects of the uncertainties from the Covid-19 pandemic, it expects the second half of 2020 to fare much better for the group, supported by the transformation initiatives and favourable market outlook for the courier segment.

Shares in Pos Malaysia closed two sen or 2.17% lower at 90 sen today, valuing it at RM704.5 million. The counter has fallen 41% from RM1.53 over the past one year.

Edited by Kathy Fong