Interview with Alex Glanzmann, Head of Finance
“As an important Swiss institution, Swiss Post wishes to remain relevant to the population and is therefore investing consciously in the future of its logistics, network and services.”
Alex Glanzmann, Head of Finance, looks back on a challenging 2025 at Swiss Post. Despite declining letter volumes and a low interest rate environment, Swiss Post achieved a satisfactory result, increased its efficiency and continued to invest in its future. However, the pressure to act continues to grow.
Alex, what insights from your time as interim CEO of Swiss Post last year have you been able to incorporate into your role as Head of Finance?
The interim CEO position was a very exciting experience and opened up for me another perspective on Swiss Post. In the numerous conversations I had with politicians, business representatives and our customers, I again became aware of how important our public service is for the daily functioning of Switzerland and the importance of Swiss Post in society. At the same time, structural challenges remain to be overcome. We are tackling these in a targeted manner at all levels.
We knew that 2025 would be a difficult year and that the pressure to act would continue to increase.
How do you see the 2025 annual result from your perspective as Head of Finance?
Overall, we have upheld a good financial foundation and generated a satisfactory result, but the operating profit is still 82 million francs lower than in the previous year. We knew that 2025 would be a difficult year and that the pressure to act would continue to increase. This lower result was due to largely fixed cost structures, the further decline in letter volumes, a downturn in over-the-counter transactions and the low interest rate environment. On the other hand, we are also seeing positive signs: parcel volumes have recovered again for the first time in three years. In addition, much more use is being made of digital services.
What measures did Swiss Post take in 2025 to secure the result?
In an environment of increasing pressure to act, we introduced measures last year to secure our result, which boosted operating profit by tens of millions. These included, for example, prioritizing projects, making adjustments to the procurement of external services and strengthening our areas of activity above all in the internal units. The important thing is that we work continuously on ourselves, reduce costs and stay efficient. The quality of our services remains consistently high.
The transformation of Swiss Post is progressing further. How are these investments reflected in the annual financial statements?
As an important Swiss institution, Swiss Post wishes to remain relevant to the population and is therefore investing consciously in the future of its logistics, network and services. In Villmergen in Aargau, for example, we have opened the largest warehouse logistics center to date. Swiss Post stores, processes and dispatches goods for business customers in the retail and healthcare sectors on a site the size of around eight football pitches. Thanks to the addition of the digital letter to its universal service, Swiss Post customers will in future also be able to choose whether they wish to receive their mail physically or digitally. In the past year, we have also focused heavily on consolidating and integrating the acquired companies so that we can realize synergies and further develop our range of products and services for customers.
Parcel volumes have recovered again for the first time in three years. In addition, much more use is being made of digital services.
Which areas of attention and opportunities do you expect for 2026 and which levers are crucial?
On the opportunities side, we expect further growth in parcel numbers. We also hope that the markets will recover and that goods logistics, for example, will also pick up again. We see a great deal of potential in the digitization of public authorities and SMEs. Swiss Post wishes to remain a reliable and trustworthy partner in this area in the future. Economic and geopolitical trends, consumer confidence and the low interest rate environment remain challenging. Overall, we expect to be able to further stabilize the result over the coming years with efficiency and pricing measures and investments in the future. This will require a modern regulatory environment and sufficient entrepreneurial freedom.
Comment on business resultResult in detail in the Swiss Post Annual Report (PDF)