The New Zealand Post Group has announced a net after-tax profit of $68.7 million for the year ended 30 June 2006.
Chief Executive John Allen says the result, in a "challenging business environment", was a solid improvement of 17% on the previous year's comparative result of $58.6 million (excluding the gain of the partial divestment of Express Couriers Limited (ECL) in 2005).
New Zealand Post's latest - and interactive - stamp issue commemorates the gold rush years that proved crucial to the development of New Zealand as a nation in the 19th century.
Prospectors in their thousands flocked to New Zealand from around the world after gold was discovered by Gabriel Read in Otago in 1861. Successive 'rushes' on the West Coast and in the Coromandel further raised international interest in New Zealand and attracted further waves of people seeking their fortune.
After careful consideration New Zealand Post has decided not to release its new Maori Performing Arts stamp issue following consultation with a range of Maori arts and culture communities in the past fortnight.
The stamps were intended to celebrate kapa haka as an important aspect of Maori culture and New Zealand identity. However feedback from a range of stakeholders has indicated that the style of the stamp design does not portray the Maori Performing Arts appropriately.
Some 1.8 million mailers introducing New Zealanders to their new postcodes will be sent to every household, rural address and New Zealand Post PO Box from tomorrow (1 June) as New Zealand Post publicly launches its new four-digit postcode system.
Peter Fenton, the Chief Executive of New Zealand Post's Postal Services Group, says the new system - which replaces all postcodes currently in use - has been designed to help reduce the instances of misdirected mail caused by incorrect addressing or problems caused by duplicate or similar street names.
New Zealand Post has joined with the postal service of one of the Commonwealth's oldest members - the British Channel island of Jersey - to create a special stamp in honour of the Queen's 80th birthday.
Featuring photos of the Queen taken by acclaimed British photographer Julian Calder, the joint New Zealand Post-Jersey Post stamp issue recognises the remarkable impact that the Queen has had on her country, and the important role she plays on the world stage.
New Zealand Post will be simplifying the way it cancels mail by gradually introducing a national 'New Zealand Post' postmark for all mail processed across the country from 1 March.
