Ukraine's Nova Poshta plans to launch delivery service between EU countries in 2025
MOSCOW. Oct 17 (Interfax) - Ukraine's Nova Poshta (Nova Post) Group of Companies plans to start testing its parcel delivery service between European Union countries in 2024 in order to fully launch this service in 2025, Ukrainian media said, citing Nova Poshta co-owner Vyachslav Klimov as saying on Monday.
"We have already begun offering [this service] in several countries where we have opened. I think that this product will be tested next year and will be launched in 2025," Klimov said.
Nova Poshta will open its offices almost in all EU countries, he said.
"Our outlets will be opened almost in all European countries next year. There will be 30 countries by the end of 2025," he said.
Nova Poshta's 2022-2025 budget to finance its entry into foreign markets stands at up to $10 million, but a budget like this one disciplines the company a lot, as the objective is to achieve financial self-sufficiency as soon as possible, Klimov said.
"We don't plan to spend much money on that, and there is nowhere to take it from, because we have been investing only from our own resources, so we will try to fit into an even smaller amount," he said.
Klimov expects Nova Poshta to return its investments in the Polish market and to break even as soon as December 2023.
At the same time, Klimov denied rumors about plans for an IPO.
"As for an IPO, it's just rumors. It is physically impossible until the end of the crisis. In addition, my partner and I have no such plans, no such necessity. We want to develop Nova Poshta as long as we have the strength for that," he said.
The group of companies has been investing its funds in development, cooperating with commercial banks and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development and issuing bonds, he said.
"For instance, we have issued bonds worth 1.6 billion hryvni this year," Klimov said.
Nova Poshta will open its outlets in Latvia, Estonia, Hungary, Italy, France, and Austria before the end of 2023, Klimov said at the Kiev International Economic Forum last week.
As reported, Nova Post has opened 62 offices in Poland, Lithuania, the Czech Republic, Romania, Germany, and Moldova.
As of early July 2023, it operated over 10,000 offices and more than 14,000 automated parcel lockers in Ukraine.
The group unites Ukrainian and foreign companies, among them Nova Post, NP Logistics, the NovaPay payment system, and Nova Post Global.
Nova Poshta's net revenue increased by 5-fold to 2.4 billion hryvni and EBITDA grew by 2.2 times to 2.9 billion hryvni in the first half of 2023.