Your browser version is not updated, please update it.

Poste Italiane's sustainability strategy 

Poste Italiane’s Sustainability  Strategy,  consisting  of  the  ESG  Strategic  Plan  and  a  set  of Sustainability Policies, is aimed at achieving national and international social and  environmental development goals. This Strategy is consistent with Poste Italiane’s activities and  business criteria, within the broader strategic framework defined by the Group.

The ESG Strategic Plan encompasses all the specific objectives and targets, both qualitative and quantitative, that the Group has set for the purpose of continuously improving its sustain- ability performance. In addition, the policies adopted incorporate all the principles, qualitative objectives and different management methods, regulating in a synergistic manner the various issues that emerged from the materiality analysis and the areas required by Legislative Decree no. 254/2016 is not established.

Our Strategy model

Sustainability themes relevant to Poste Italiane

Poste Italiane has developed a materiality analysis process aimed at identifying priority issues, based on the significance of their related impacts, to be included in the Group’s Sustainability Strategy and to be formalised in terms of policies and targets.

With a view to continuous improvement, Poste Italiane perfected what it started in 2021 by revising the materiality analysis methodology, aligning it with the forecasts contained in the 2021 update of the GRI standards for the inside-out perspective, and took into account the provisions of the EFRAG, albeit still in draft, for the outside-in perspective, by carrying out a dual materiality exercise in advance of the entry into force scheduled for FY 2024.

The definition process of material topics, last approved by the Board of Directors, consisted of the following 3 stages:




To define the universe of potentially relevant issues for the sector and guide the materiality analysis process, Poste Italiane carried out an internal and external analysis that took into account input from a number of sources. Specifically, the internal analysis looked at the Strategic Plan and the Group’s risk management model, the results of the materiality analysis carried out for the purposes of the 2020 Integrated Financial Statements and the results of the stakeholder engagement activities implemented in 2021; the external analysis, on the other hand, took into account the provisions from regulatory sources and the main sustain- ability guidelines at the international level, requests from the main questionnaires prepared by sustainability rating agencies and the analyses of current trends in the Group’s various operating sectors.
 
The relevance of the material themes was then defined with the direct involvement of stakeholders through specific listening and engagement initiatives.
 
Starting in 2021, in anticipation of the requirements introduced by the new proposed amendment of European Directive 2014/95/ EU, Poste Italiane initiated the double materiality process by introducing a dual perspective into the material theme evaluation process:  “Inside-out”  and  “Outside-in”.  Through external engagement  (Inside-out),  the  Company  considered  the  current  or potential significant impacts of its activities and the activities of its value chain on society and the environment. Internal engagement (Outside-in), on the other hand, took into account Sustainability topics that could positively or negatively impact the strategy, performance and positioning of the Company in the near, medium or long-term and therefore create or erode its value.
 
The key 2021 ESG achievements are outlined below. There is no sustainable financial growth without a fair and sustainable society. Poste’s support during the pandemic to the Country was fundamental and we have further progressed on diversity and inclusion policies. As a matter of fact, Poste Italiane entered the global Top 100 ranking on gender equality promoted by Equileap.
 
Poste Italiane is officially among the 19 companies worldwide that have addressed the gender pay gap helping to make Italy, together with the United Kingdom and Spain, a leader in this area.
 
We have also been included, for the third consecutive year, in the Bloomberg-Equality Index, achieving a well above average score.
 
In line with best practices, we continued to pay attention to the social and environmental aspects of our supply chain by adopting an internal ESG model to rate suppliers.
 
We believe that a transparent procurement process is key to constantly improve services offered to our customers.
Delivering a greener future
Fighting against climate change, innovating throughout the business to minimise our environmental impact, managing risk and achieving long-term resilience.

Investing in a thriving workforce
Rights, safety and wellbeing of our people come first in everything we do.

Protecting our customers, building an inclusive society
Providing vital support to the individuals and communities around us.

Driven by good corporate governance
Leading with integrity and transparency, committed to a code of business ethics and remuneration. Striving to manage our business sustainably and invest responsibly.
 
Our commitment to sustainability and responsible growth is a pillar of our business and of this plan. In order to be able to measure our impact and monitor our progress, we have adopted S.M.A.R.T. ESG targets, which are Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Rèlevant and Time-based.
Pictured below we summarize our targets which we will constantly monitor, to ensure effective implementation.

GREEN TRANSITION ACHIEVEMENTS IN 2022

PROGRESSING IN LINE WITH CARBON NEUTRALITY TARGET BY 2030




In 24SI we have defined a clear and ambitious roadmap towards a 30% reduction in total CO2 emissions by 2025 and carbon neutrality by 2030, in line with the Paris Agreement, the recent 2021 Glasgow Climate Pact and the European Green Deal.
 
We worked on new initiatives to further accelerate our transition to a certified carbon-neutral company.

Across all our businesses, we are implementing strategic and structural changes to achieve the targets we have set.

We have reduced our CO2 emissions in line with our mid-term target of minus 30 percent total CO2 emissions by 2025 and carbon neutrality by 2030.

At the end of December, the number of low-emission vehicles was around 23 thousand.

The development of our Punto Poste network has allowed us not only to provide more flexible parcel pick-up and drop-off solutions but also to reduce the number of kilometres travelled by almost half a million.

The real-estate management programme is also supporting our CO2 reduction plan with around 1.6 thousand buildings included in energy optimisation projects and 31 thousand square metres of solar panels installed since the beginning of this year.

The Polis project – which is part of the National Recovery and Resilience Plan of the Next Generation EU programme - will provide a further contribution to the execution of our Green Transition Strategy. Shortly, 200 upgraded post offices will open to the public. ​

Integrating Sustainability within Poste Italiane’s Strategy
To be sustainable for Poste Italiane means defining a clear strategy on ESG issues and structurally incorporating them within the strategic objectives set in the “2024 Sustain & Innovate Plus” Plan. Over the period of the plan, €3.1 billion of investment is envisaged in strategic assets, in order to achieve financial objectives.


 
 

Strategic highlights

  • Plan leveraging on emerging new trends across all businesses
  • Achievable financial targets and KPIs thanks to revenue growth and renewed focus on operational performance: revenues up 3% (CAGR 2019-2024)
  • Enhanced and sustainable dividend policy based on solid cash generation: DPS +14% in 2021 Y/Y and +6% every year over the plan horizon
  • Become the single point of entry for all Italians’ daily needs and maximise the value of the powerful omnichannel network
  • Shifting from a mail centric operator into a parcel driven business, leader in the B2C segment
  • Half of over 11 million daily customer interactions generated from new channels (digital and third-party network), representing 12% of relevant revenues (up to 20% by 2024)
  • Cultivating a culture of innovation, with the new Digital Technology and Operations division to accelerate Group digitalisation, upgrading the IT architecture and migrating to Italy’s largest proprietary cloud
  • A financial services model based on People (dedicated training), Products (enhanced product range, responding to wider customer needs) and Platform (data-driven customer profiling)
  • Confirming Poste Italiane’s support to Italy’s digitalisation, connecting the country in the new hybrid world
  • Delivering responsible growth, supporting Italy’s transition to a sustainable low carbon economy and social integrity through innovation and digitalisation
  • Continuing investments in transformation and business innovation as an enabler for future growth.


FINANCIAL HIGHLIGHTS

With our ‘24 Sustain & Innovate’ (‘24SI’) Plan, we are able to build and grow on the solid foundations put in place with Deliver22 with achievable targets across all our four businesses. Revenues will grow steadily throughout the plan, with EBIT and Net Profit increasing 5% and 6% CAGR respectively, generating €0.4 billion of incremental EBIT between 2019 and 2024. After a step up of 21% in 2021, the dividend per share will benefit from an average 9% annual growth.
The turnaround in mail and parcels is fully underway and it is the first time parcels will represent a higher revenue proportion than mail, while we will become a fully-fledged logistics player with a sustainable business. In financial and insurance services, the priority is to become the main reference point for all customers’ needs, from savings to insurance and loans, attracting them with data driven advisory across all Poste’s distribution channels.
We will leverage cross and up selling expertise in Payments & Mobile, confirming the leadership in digital payments, introducing broadband connectivity and entering the power and gas market in 2022 with a fair, competitive and customer friendly offering.
Our strategic foresight in creating a cloud-based architecture, leads the Group to be Italy’s number one cloud services user. We are delivering new products and services that will help our customers, businesses, the Public Administration and the country as a whole for years to come, with the commitment in creating significant value for all stakeholders.
Confirming the relevance of the environmental topics for our strategy, Poste Italiane will become a net zero emission company by 2030.
Our people have proved to be a cornerstone of our success and we will continue to invest in their skills.
The ’24SI’ plan transforms challenges into opportunities thanks to the robustness and flexibility of our strategic approach to business. 

  • Sustainable and competitive dividend policy linked to Group performance: baseline of €0.65 DPS for 2022 (60% pay-out ratio, +10% vs. 2021), increasing by around 9% per annum (2022 - 2024)
  • Group Revenue up by 3% CAGR (2019 - 2024) to €12.7bn in 2024 with positive contributions from all business segments. Revenues will continue to grow steadily, reaching 12.7 billion euro in 2024, with a positive contribution from all segments.
  • Operating Profit up by 5% CAGR to €2.2bn (2019 - 2024), driven by operational efficiency
  • Net Profit up by 6% CAGR to €1.6bn (2019 - 2024) We foresee an EBIT growth of 5% on average over the plan, with net profit landing to €1.6 billion in 2024.
  • Customers’ Total Financial Assets growing to €615bn in 2024 (2020: €569bn), supported by a changing investment product mix
  • Capital expenditure: record €3.1bn between 2021 and 2024 supporting transformation, with more than 60% of investments being ESG related
  • Steady net financial position in Mail, Parcel & Distribution -€1.9bn in 2020 to -€1.8bn in 2024, with operating cash generation supporting capex & dividend distribution.

STRATEGIC KPIs

SUCCESSFUL EVOLUTION ACROSS ALL BUSINESS UNITS

 

1. Shareholders equity net of revalutation reserves and taking into consideration the dividend proposed for 2022; 2. New channel revenues refer to Digital, LIS & 3rd party points of sales addressable markets, excluding recurrinng revenues from TFA's managment and those related to pubblic tender contracts
 

2024 SUSTAIN & INNOVATE PLUS

2023 TARGETS UPGRADED THANKS TO STRONG FOUNDATION

  • 2022 EBIT at 2.3 billion is a record high, more than doubling the 2017 level of 1.1 billion when we started our journey and up 24% compared to last year.

  • The impressive progression is fully supported by positive underlying contributions from all businesses.

  • From 2017 to the end of 2023, we will have distributed almost 5 billion euro of dividends to our shareholders.

In particular we are proposing to increase the dividend to 65 cents per share in 2022, setting an all-time record and 50% higher than 2017.

The new 2022 DPS is up 10% year-on-year and we are targeting 71 cents in 2023, corresponding to an average pay-out ratio of almost 60% between 2022 and 2023.
 

2023 GROUP FINANCIAL TARGETS

  • 2023 Operating Profit targeted at €2.5bn, from a baseline 2022 EBIT of €2.36bn with contribution from all business lines more than offsetting headwinds from cost inflation and Poste Energia business start-up costs.

  • Net Profit: €1.7billion vs. FY-22 level of €1.51billion

  • 2023 Dividend per share up to €0.71 (+9% y/y), thanks to increased visibility of capital and cash flow generation across all businesses.

 

Successfully Executing Deliver22

The success of our transformation and a different organisation; a platform company which has more than doubled profitability with an EBIT of €2.3 billion in 2022. This is a combination of a significant increase in the quality and amount of revenues and continuous cost discipline. All of this has been achieved with a challenging environment of pandemic and energy crisis.


CONSISTENTLY OVERDELIVERING TARGETS WHILE DRIVING SUSTAINABLE RETURNS
 
€ bn unless otherwise stated 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022
Revenues 10.57 10.82 obiettivo superato 10.96 obiettivo raggiunto 10.53 11.22 obiettivo raggiunto 11.89 obiettivo superato    
Ebit 1.12 1.5  obiettivo superato 1.77 obiettivo superato 1.52 1.85 obiettivo superato 2.29 obiettivo superato
Net Profit 0.69 1.4  obiettivo superato 1.34 obiettivo superato 1.21 obiettivo superato 1.58 obiettivo superato 1.51 obiettivo superato
DPS (€) 0.42 0.44 0.46 0.49 0.59 0.65 obiettivo superato
 
obiettivo raggiunto Archieved obiettivo superato Overarchieved

2017-19 revenues ore restarted net of interest expenses and capital losses on investment portfolio; 1. 0.76bn excluding write-off of 0.07bn for 2017; 1.01bn excluding positive tax one-offs of 0.39bn for 2018; 1.23bn excluding SIA stake revalutation and positive tax one-offs of 0.11bn for 2019: 1.1bn excliuding positive tax one-offs of 0.1 bn for 2020; 1.33bn excluding Nexi stake revalutation and positive tax one-offs of 0.25bn for 2021. 

 




 

A customer centric business model


Since 2017 we have worked on transforming Poste from a traditional logistics operator into a cutting-edge omnichannel platform company.


We are an integrated distribution platform meeting daily needs of almost 35 million Italians.

Digitalization, customer experience enhancement and improvement in workforce efficiency are the cornerstones of our transformation strategy. In Mail, Parcel and Distribution, we transitioned from a mail delivery company into a parcel business to then starting to become a fully-fledged logistics operator.

Network restructuring, modernization of existing infrastructure and development of new state-of-the-art logistics hubs were key enablers. We tapped into the expanding e-commerce market, focusing on e-shopper needs by building an extensive Pick-Up and Drop-Off (PUDOs) network and invested in parcel sorting automation.

In Financial Services we have redefined our commercial offer to meet all our clients’ needs from lending, savings, investments and insurance.

The Payments business, a gateway to the Poste ecosystem, remains at the core of the group’s omnichannel strategy, with a compelling offer meeting daily customer needs. We built this segment from scratch and we have doubled its EBIT.

Our continued focus and investment in the digital payments sector enabled us to capture value from e-commerce market growth. Let me just remind you that this business didn’t exist 6 years ago yet today it has a turnover of 1.3 billion.

After a successful integrated telco offer, we have completed our product portfolio, by launching a retail gas and electricity business offer, which in 4 months achieved more than 150 thousand contracts, well on track to exceed 300 thousand contracts by year end.

IIn Insurance Services, we built a fully-fledged and resilient company.

Our life offer was broadened to include multiclass products. We have integrated a comprehensive P&C insurance offer in our investment proposition.   
 

KEY ACHIEVEMENTS SINCE 2017
INTEGRATED DISTRIBUTION PLATFORM MEETING DAILY NEEDS OF ITALIANS


1. Includes Postal Offices, lockers, Punto Poste (LIS) and other Collection Points; 2. Open-ended retail funds

“2024 Sustain & Innovate” Strategic Plan

Mission The strategic objective of Mail, Parcel and Distribution segment is to accelerate its transformation from a pure mail operator to a full logistics operator, ensuring the economic and environmental sustainability of its operations. Implementation of the strategy is based on streamlining of the distribution networks, including the integration of Nexive, acquired at the end of 2020, consolidation of leadership in the B2C market and growth in the C2X and B2B segments through the introduction of specific offers and initiatives aimed at improving the customer experience. From this point of view, the Plurima acquisition will reinforce the contract logistics segment. Through the implementation of these strategic directions, the segment aims to achieve operating profit in 2024.
  • Revenue: €3.9 billion (2019: €3.5 billion), with an increase in revenue from the Parcels segment and easing of the decline in the Mail segment.
  • Revenue from the Parcels segment: €2.0 billion (2019: €0.85 billion).
  • EBIT: operating profit expected by 2024.
  • Double the volume of automatically sorted parcels
  • B2C parcel market share: 38% by 2024
  • C2X market share: 57% by 2024 (2019: 41%).
pagamenti mobile The Payments and Mobile area aims to establish itself as a complete and omni-channel platform for its customers, flanking the traditional business lines of payments and telecommunications with an offer dedicated to Energy from 2022, a market which the company will enter by taking advantage of its liberalisation. From this point of view, the LIS acquisition will contribute further to the Group’s omni-channel strategy. The expansion of products, together with the ability to exploit physical and digital channels and third-party networks, will make it possible to fully exploit cross-selling opportunities for customers, thereby increasing value for Poste Italiane as a whole.
  • Revenue: €1.9 billion (2019: €0.7 billion).
  • EBIT: €0.4 billion (2019: €0.2 billion), with CAGR of 1%.
  • Expected Postepay Evolution portfolio of 11.6 million cards issued.
  • Expected card transactions as CAGR up 14%, to reach €2.7 billion.
servizi finanziari  Financial Services  aims to further evolve its service model by combining the traditional physical model with the opportunities provided by technological innovation. The priorities of the Strategic Plan include growth in wealth management, thanks to the diversification of customer portfolios to optimise their risk-return profile, the integration of non-life policies within the advisory model and a renewed focus on loans, with particular emphasis on the CQS segment, also thanks to partnerships signed with leading operators in the sector. The business related to the purchase of tax credits on building bonuses represents an opportunity to diversify the investment portfolio.
  • Revenue: €6.1 billion (2019: €5.8 billion).
  • EBIT: €0.7 billion (2019: €0.9 billion).
  • Common Equity Tier 1 Capital: 17%.
Total financial assets: a rise to €615 billion from €569 billion in 2020, with increased penetration of life products.
servizi finanziari In Insurance Services Poste Italiane aims to establish itself as an insurance operator capable of serving all customers’ investment and protection needs. Poste Vita aims to confirm its position as leader in the life insurance sector, continuing to offer customers safe products that are both more profitable and more capital efficient. Lastly, the non-life insurance strategy envisages an increase in profitability thanks to the modular offer, supplemented by car insurance, provided to customers without assuming risk thanks to distribution agreements signed with leading Italian insurance companies.
  • Revenue: €2.7 billion (2019: €1.7 billion).
  • EBIT: €1.3 billion (2019: €0.8 billion).
  • Net profit: 5% CAGR in the period 2019-2024.
  • Solvency Ratio: >200%.
  • Gross premiums: €26.5 billion (2020: €16.7 billion).
  • Double the average premium of the modular offer.
  • 8,000 post offices enabled to sell car policies by 2024