TPG POSTS 26% INCREASE IN NET INCOME

TPG POSTS 26% INCREASE IN NET INCOME    TPG, the Dutch postal service, express and logistics group, reported a net income of 526 million euros ($494 million) for 2000, an increase of 26 percent when compared to results in the previous year.
   Group earnings before interest and tax were 920 million euros ($865 million), up by 25 percent. Group revenues totaled 9.9 billion euros ($9.3 billion) last year, up by 16 percent.
   TPG said that it has delivered record results in 2000 with improved profit margins in all of its three businesses — mail, express and logistics. Mail had an improved margin despite underlying domestic mail volumes growing only slightly. Express, operated under the name TNT, had an operating margin of 5.1 percent, up from 4.3 percent in 1999. Logistics continued to provide record growth and at the same time improved its margin to 5.8 percent, the company said.
   Of the group’s total revenues, the mail business contributed 3.7 billion euros ($3.5 billion), express 4.1 billion euros ($3.9 billion) and logistics 2.2 billion euros ($2 billion).
   TPG’s logistics revenues climbed by 43 percent last year, partly as a result of the takeover of CTI Logistix from CSX Corp. in September 2000. The integration of CTI with the TNT North American business has been completed, the Dutch group said.
   “The outlook for logistics is for continued high growth and focus on achieving a critical mass in key countries and sectors,” the company said.