Australia Post suffers loss for digital communications

Australia Post announced on Friday its first full year profit loss in more than 30 years due to a continual decline in letter volumes.

The national postal service reported a 222 million Australian dollar loss for 2014/15, compared to a 116.2 million Australian dollar profit the year before.

Letter traffic dropped 7.3 percent and recorded losses of 381 million Australian dollars as Australians increasingly switched to digital communication, Australia Post said in the statement.

However, parcel revenue helped by online shopping orders - rose 3.6 percent.

For the first time parcels made up more than half of the group' s revenue.

Australia Post managing director and chief executive Ahmed Fahour said it had been a challenging year.

"We continue to make headway with reforming our letters business and we are investing in the infrastructure and digital capabilities - vital to servicing the changing needs of our customers," he said.

"We are confident we have the resources, infrastructure and support in place to manage the ongoing transition of our letters business as we become a more eCommerce-centric organization." Endi