Israel Post’s debt to the China Post Company has reached NIS 140 million, and the company understands that it will not be possible to bargain over it – and they will be required to pay it in full. The debt accumulated in recent years, especially during the Corona period, as a result of differences in advance payments between the companies. Without a recovery agreement, Israel Post will have difficulty meeting the debt that has reached significant dimensions. However, the Chinese at this stage do not press for payment.
Let us remind you that Israel Post is facing a recovery plan that these days great efforts are being made to complete. The company is in such a difficult situation that if the plan is not completed, there is a real danger to its ability not only to pay salaries – but in general to meet its obligations to suppliers. In the meantime, the work of privatization continues and the Companies Authority continues to work on the privatization plans. The state decided to sell the company in its entirety (100% of its shares), and the plan should be implemented next year.
In June, the postal board approved the recovery plan, after a long period in which the company was in a heavy deficit. The recovery agreement includes an efficiency plan for 1,050 employees, and a reduction in salary expenses, a transition to digital services, an update of the regulation, a renewed layout of the post offices and the opening of hundreds of delivery centers, the transfer of a significant part of the postal company’s assets to the state, as well as the complete privatization of the postal company.
The plan is expected to be signed by the end of the month, when the company is expected to lose about NIS 250 million this year, of which NIS 80-100 million in the coming quarter. The retirement costs will be guaranteed by the state, and they are expected to reach about one million shekels per employee, roughly estimated. In return, the state is supposed to receive proceeds from the sale of the post office’s real estate assets in the amount of 500 million shekels. In this framework, the state granted interim financing to the company in the amount of 100 million shekels, of which 65 million shekels were used. However, the balance of the money has not yet been transferred due to the negotiations The final one that continues to be conducted between the company and the communications and finance ministries.