UPDATE: NZ Post to sell Australian Couriers Please unit

Monday 21st July 2014

New Zealand Post, the state-owned mail delivery service, is wants to sell its Australian Couriers Please unit in its latest move to rejig its ailing business.

The Wellington-based SOE has hired 333 Capital for the sale of the Australian courier business, which operates metropolitan delivery across the Tasman. Couriers Please has about 570 couriers and more than 130 staff, NZ Post said in a statement.

NZ Post took full ownership of the courier business in 2012, and valued the unit's goodwill at $38.2 million as at June 30, 2013, down from $65.1 million a year earlier, according to its latest annual report. The reduction was offset by some $21.6 million of goodwill reassigned to brands.

In April, the state-owned mail service exited its unprofitable online director business, Localist, as it seeks to return the postal business back to profitability, and drive earnings growth by expanding its Kiwibank subsidiary.

The SOE has $200 million of bonds listed on the NZX debt market. The notes, which pay annual interest of 7.5 percent, last traded at a yield of 5.5 percent, according to NZX data.

BusinessDesk.co.nz

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