DPD Russian division denies report of talks to sell business to rivals

MOSCOW. Sept 7 (Interfax) - French group GeoPost is not holding negotiations to sell the Russian business of DPD to competitors, the press service of DPD in Russia told Interfax, citing CEO Nikolai Voinov.

National daily Kommersant, citing sources, reported on Wednesday that GeoPost is negotiating the sale of its Russian delivery service DPD with several large local logistics operators. Interested parties include Delovye Linii and PEK, the paper said.

The Russian DPD confirmed that in May 2022 GeoPost began to discuss options for transferring the Russian business to a local partner. This information was posted on the official website of DPD in Russia.

"However, the information that GeoPost is holding negotiations with competitors on selling the business in Russia is not true. GeoPost in principal did not consider and is not considering competitors as partners of DPD in Russia. The company held to this position initially and its strategy has not changed," Voinov was quoted as saying by the press service.

The company also said that DPD's business in Russia is financially independent. "All information systems, data processing centers and delivery management systems are 100% independent and localized for work in Russia," the company said.

DPD Rus is part of GeoPost's DPD Group network, the second largest parcel delivery service in Europe. DPD operates in 35,000 localities throughout Russia and the EAEU, as well as in 200 other countries. DPD Rus's revenue decreased 24.2% to 14.88 billion rubles in 2022, while net profit dropped 91.4% to 99 million rubles.