SingPost buys Couriers Please for A$95m to boost Aussie e-commerce business

SINGAPORE Post is buying an Australian small-parcel business for A$95 million (S$104.7 million) in cash to boost its e-commerce capabilities Down Under, the postal services provider announced on Wednesday morning.

Quantium Solutions (Australia), a wholly owned subsidiary of SingPost, will buy from the New Zealand Post group all of Couriers Please Holdings, a metropolitan courier service with depots in eastern and southern Australia.

"Australia is an advanced market for e-commerce and we see good growth potential as regional emerging markets open up and further engage in e-commerce," Quantium Solutions International regional director Kok Peet Leong said in a statement.

The purchase will be funded internally.

Couriers Please posted revenue above A$100 million in the year ended June 30, and has a network of 575 franchisees that handled almost 11 million consignments in the 2014 financial year, SingPost said. It had a net tangible asset of A$2.8 million as at June 30.

Assuming that the deal was completed on March 31, the acquisition would have reduced SingPost's net tangible asset per share to 21.02 Singapore cents from 26.88 Singapore cents, but raised earnings per share to 7.24 Singapore cents from 6.75 Singapore cents.