Australia Post issuing bonds?

This is suspect.

ANZ = Thieves, + NAB = Thieves, + Australia Post = Thieves - now issuing bonds.



And Australia Post's dismal "customer service ratings".....

It looks even more suspect.

ANZ, NAB hired for Australia Post bond deal

http://www.afr.com/street-talk/anz-nab-hired-for-australia-post-bond-deal-20161116-gsr5ak

 Nov 17 2016 at 9:19 AM     By Sarah Thompson Anthony Macdonald Joyce Moullakis


Australia Post is lining up an Australian dollar bond issue after mandating ANZ Banking Group and National Australia Bank to run a transaction.

The issuer is rated AA- by Standard & Poor's, two notches below, the sovereign AA credit rating, and in line with the major banks.

Earlier this week the rating agency expressed its confidence that Australia Post was managing the risks associated with its cost cutting programme, and was diversifying its earnings.

It removed its negative outlook "because we believe the increased standard letter price and shift to a two-speed delivery service have sustainably improved Australia Post's profitability".

Australia Post's existing debt as at June 30, according to its most recent annual report.

Australia Post's existing debt as at June 30, according to its most recent annual report.

Australia Post is one of the nation's largest employers with a workforce of 35,000, even after a recent downsizing.

"In our opinion, Australia Post's ongoing competitiveness relies on its ability to effectively manage its labor costs, productivity, and flexibility"

Australia Post is one of several AA rated borrowers that are tapping the bond market for funding.

Last week Australian Catholic University was assigned an Aa2 rating, presumably with an eye to entering funding markets.

Several universities have already raised debt with Monash believed to be eyeing a transaction, potentially in the US private debt market.



http://www.governmentnews.com.au/2016/11/australia-post-upgraded-negative-stable/

Australia Post upgraded from negative to stable

By Marie Sansom on November 18, 2016 in Christmas, Communications, Federal, Sector

 

Standard and Poor will upgrade Australia Post’s official credit rating from negative to stable.

The upgrade is a sign that Australia Post’s strategy to shift from postal to parcels is beginning to pay off.

S&P revised the outlook to ‘AA-/A-1+’ and said “Australia Post has made sound progress shifting from a postal to a parcels dominated business”.

Post announced a full-year profit after tax of $36 million in August which Managing Director and Group CEO Ahmed Fahour said represented a turnaround of $258 million compared with the previous financial year.

Mr Fahour said the figure was driven by strong performance in the parcels business and the impact of letters reform.

In January the company introduced a new two-speed letter delivery system and increased the basic postage rate  from 70 cents to $1 (now called the regular letter service). Priority mail costs an extra 50 cents.

He said the group had applied “strong financial discipline” and gone through an extended period of change, including expanding its parcel business, automating and consolidating parcel facilities; maximising synergies between the mail and parcel business and expanding the retail services it offers, particularly the provision of government and financial services.

“Changes to the letters business introduced earlier this year were an important factor in the group returning to profitability,” Mr Fahour said.

“While the letters business is in structural decline, we have reduced our forecast cumulative losses in letters from around $5 billion to $1.5 billion over the next five years.”

Addressed letter volumes continue to fall by 9.7 per cent, the largest ever 12-month decline, contributing to a loss in the postal business of $138 million, with parcels profit up 8 per cent to $314 million.

But Mr Fahour said that although he was pleased with this turnaround there was significant work ahead to ensure sustainability, including managing the ongoing decline in the letters business and developing the organisation’s e-commerce capabilities.

Meanwhile, Australia Post announced earlier this week that it will trial extended hours parcel deliveries over the Christmas period in Adelaide, Brisbane, Canberra, Hobart, Melbourne, Sydney and Perth. Parcels will be delivered between 7am to 8pm, Monday to Thursday, from November 14 until December 23.