[File Photo]

Post Fiji Limited Chief Executive Isaac Mow says the COVID-19 pandemic made a huge impact on the company which resulted in a decline in profits.

In 2018, the company recorded a net profit of $2.3 million but this declined to $1.8 million in 2021.

Mow says the closure of international borders due to the pandemic affected their operations.

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He adds there was a drop in domestic parcel posts due to containment areas, which impacted their local postage revenue.

Mow says the rise in new market entrance and changes in customer preference has also affected their revenue.

“This means, for example, in our agency services where we used to collect the bills on behalf of 36 different companies. When Vodafone Fiji came in with their digital platform, most of these customers moved on to those digital platforms. So this affected our revenue in these areas.”

Mow says Post Fiji also ventured into the grocery business, but lack of movement during COVID-19 also impacted their operations.

“But in the rural areas, that’s where most of our grocery revenue comes from. So during these lockdowns, we couldn’t cross the borders to deliver supplies to most of these areas and by the time we did, the shops had run dry. So that affected the sales in the post offices.”

Mow was responding to questions raised by members of the Public Accounts Committee.