New innovative services at the Lithuanian Post

The Lithuanian Post has taken in the past few months significant steps to strengthen its core mail and financial businesses.

-Financial services:  in January 2012 the Post joined Eurogiro, the international cross-border payments organization. The objective is to provide  international remittance services, first at 372 post offices as from April and increasing to 600 (of the Post’s 840 access points) by the end of the year. In mid-February, the Post also confirmed it was in talks with the government regarding the takeover of bankrupt Snoras Bank, the fifth largest Lithuanian bank.

-Retail services: on February 28 the Post introduced a VAT refund service for non-EU citizens. The service will first be available at the main postal counters  in the capital city, Vilnius. This is part of the Post’s efforts to position itself as a provider of financial intermediation services.

-Hybrid mail: the Post announced in early February an agreement with Dutch hybrid mail solutions provider, BlueMailCentral. Domestic and international hybrid mail services can be accessed from the Post’s site at http://www.post.lt/en/private/sending/hybrid-mail?utm_campaign=Hybrid+mail&utm_source=www.post.lt&utm_medium=banner

-Parcels: the latest major news dates back to October, when the Post announced it was starting to install 70 parcels terminals in 44 cities.

These initiatives contribute to Lithuanian Post’s efforts to return to profitability this year, in the run-up to postal liberalization scheduled for January 2013. After four years of losses the operator posted a small profit in Q3 2011 (annual results 2011 are not yet available).