Costly Christmas for mail players on labour crunch in Europe-BofA

Oesterreichische Post AG

14/10/2021 13:21

** BofA Global Research sees a challenged peak season for
European mail and express players as they rely heavily on
temporary workers in a period of squeezed labor and higher staff
cost
    ** "Mail and express stocks are down about 20% in the past
three months, driven by increasing concerns around labour
shortages and rising wage costs," the brokerage says
    ** A severe shortage of heavy-goods vehicle drivers is
likely to push up costs and is potentially disruptive for parcel
networks during the peak Christmas season, it adds
    ** BofA downgrades Dutch PostNL  PTNL.AS  to "neutral" from
"buy", as it is "the most exposed to labour cost pressures" with
existing union agreements
    ** For the brokerage, Deutsche Post's  DPWGn.DE  Post &
Parcel division is the most protected, having retained temporary
workers over the summer to prepare for peak season 
    ** Productivity improvements should offset Royal Mail's
 RMG.L  ("buy") UK business' higher staff costs, while Dutch
InPost's ("neutral")  INPST.AS  focus on parcel lockers makes
its business model far less labour-intensive than peers, BofA
notes

 (Reporting by Kate Entringer)
 ((kate.entringer@thomsonreuters.com))