TNT N.V. has published its 2009 Q2 and half year results

"The trading environment continued to be tough this quarter. In response, TNT's management teams have once again significantly reduced costs without jeopardising our service levels. The underlying performance in our businesses clearly improved over Q1 this year. Our focus on cash has resulted in a strong free cash flow over the first six months this year. Our announcement today of a euro 0.18 dividend per share, optional in cash or shares, is a sign of confidence in our operational performance.    
Through the quarter, the rate of decline of Express volumes has been stable, with a small upturn in the last weeks of June. The decline of Express volumes seems to be bottoming out. The excellent implementation of cost savings measures has allowed us to increase our savings target for the full year. In the summer period, however, there remains the possibility of longer holiday stops in production lines of our customers, which may impact volumes.  

In Mail, the operating result was impacted by lower volumes, higher costs of pensions and one-off costs in EMN. After the union  members had voted down the CLA agreement for TNT Post in the Netherlands, we have launched significant restructuring plans. We continue, however, to aim to develop a renewed discussion with the unions to explore wage-based alternatives.      

Going forward we assume continuation of tough trading conditions to persist in the second half of the year, as early signs pointing towards improvements in the general economic climate in the second half of 2009 are still too uncertain to indicate a positive trend line development," CEO Peter Bakker commented.

Source: Transportweekly