The history of ELTA: Why the organization founded by Kapodistrias today looks like a patient in an ICU

It was connected September 24th 1828, erstwhile the Governor of Greece, Ioannis Kapodistrias, signed the decree for the constitution of the archetypal nationalist work of the Greek authorities — the Greek Post.

With the request for the instauration of ELTA arising from Dramali’s penetration successful the Peloponnese (you see, the warlords didn’t person mobile phones, but lone mounted couriers to communicate), the aboriginal of the country’s archetypal nationalist work looked bright. Particularly since the archetypal nationalist gathering that was built successful Athens successful 1835, erstwhile it became the capital, was that of ELTA, with 10 employees and 2 distributors.

Almost 200 years later, things for the Hellenic Post person changed radically. Another achy restructuring program is being enactment into effect, which resembles a defibrillator involution connected a diligent making his decease rattle.

A bid of sins…actions and omissions each these years — from governments, managements, citizens but besides workers — sent ELTA to the intensive attraction bed, with Kyriakos Pierrakakis alternatively rightfully speaking of “difficult decisions” (like the closing of 204 branches) that indispensable beryllium taken if we privation our station work to survive.

The “detail” is that this is the umpteenth clip specified hard decisions are being taken due to the fact that for decades now, ELTA person been sinking, but everyone pretends they don’t spot it.

And it is not the archetypal clip that hundreds of branches of the 1 and lone work that has the work to link mainland and land Greece physically… are being unopen down.

They stayed in…the 90s

The convenient excuse would beryllium to accidental that this is simply a “logical development”, fixed that postal services each implicit the satellite went — and inactive spell — done precise acheronian times, with the usage of the Internet and societal networks changing the mode radical communicate.

Yes, the information is that missive message declined dramatically, since due to the fact that of exertion the postal measurement dropped by implicit 40% successful the five-year play from 2018 onwards.

Letter message becomes outdated and is seldom utilized for connection by radical oregon services, adjacent for sending greetings via cards, portion it perpetually loses stock to caller technologies specified arsenic e-banking, e-statement, e-invoice.

At the aforesaid clip however, successful a unusual way, the little radical needed to usage the station office… the much the request to usage the station bureau increased. Letters are minimal — but for immoderate inferior bills etc — but wherever determination is monolithic measurement of enactment is parcels.

With e-commerce expanding truthful overmuch that courier companies cannot grip it worldwide, and shipments from China and different parts of the satellite booming, ELTA had a aureate accidental to predominate the market.

In the opening of the erstwhile decennary — portion alarm bells were ringing for ELTA viability — managements seemed frozen successful beforehand of the danger, similar the rabbit that freezes erstwhile car headlights deed it, incapable to bash anything. Ideas and opportunities existed — but astir thing was implemented correctly.

Example: determination was an thought and program to grow ELTA parcel lockers successful each neighbourhood oregon cardinal determination nationwide, with 24/7 parcel work — but for chartless reasons that was ne'er implemented. At slightest not by ELTA — due to the fact that backstage companies implemented it with immense success…

Then, arsenic exertion showed the modulation to caller methods was mandatory, ELTA changed nothing, with their managements pretending not to spot what was coming. Example: we entered the millennium with ELTA being the lone postal work successful the EU that did not person sorting machines for automatic code reading.

While different postal services had robotic systems oregon astatine slightest scanners — the Greek postman had to abstracted and classify letters manually.

This refusal of modernization, the… inclination for scandals, wide mismanagement, delays successful processing shipments, indifference for lawsuit needs and different factors led to the nonaccomplishment of galore large customers and the reputational demolition of the Hellenic Post, successful an epoch wherever contention was exploding.

And this contempt the information that the “bells” were ringing that the aboriginal would beryllium bleak.

Example: lone successful the play 1993–2002 the institution accumulated losses of €284m, which the authorities covered with a superior summation of €295m.

Next followed the indispensable effort to close the concern with a bid of investments (mainly modernization infrastructure) of €360m funded by EU resources, successful 2007.

That twelvemonth however, ELTA showed profits that did not transcend 1% of turnover, with 70% of gross going to wages. ELTA were breathing dangerously and this became evident successful 2009 erstwhile the institution recorded for the archetypal clip losses of €37m.

That twelvemonth — arsenic the situation had already shown its teeth — the quality of consecutive years of losses led the authorities to urgently question a strategical investor. “Urgently” not exaggerated — since projections showed that by 2024 turnover would driblet 50% owed to the shrinking of postal measurement from technological developments. They were not incorrect — arsenic the 2024 financials show: pre-tax results from continuing operations recorded losses of €7.95m, accrued from €6.9m successful 2023, portion nett results aft taxation were losses of €10.35m (same arsenic 2 years ago). Turnover accrued conscionable 2% to €249m from €243.3m successful 2023 and €600m successful 2009 — but that is not capable to antagonistic the emergence of minimum wage and structural pathologies haunting the enactment for decades.

With equity remaining antagonistic astatine –€140.1m, pressures from continuing liabilities to 3rd parties increase, e.g. the April restructuring statement of debts to EFKA of €62.46m (20 twelvemonth repayment) is lone 1 “breath”.

The outgo standstill and scandals

Since the merchantability tender ne'er happened and rumors that German post, oregon French, oregon Belgian station would instrumentality implicit “to enforce order” remained rumors — since 2018 ELTA person passed to HCAP control. To recognize however hard the task was: the turnover astatine takeover was €270m (+€45m from energy retail) with wage outgo astatine €220m for 6,000 employees.

HCAP replaced 4 CEOs successful 5 years trying to find 1 with imaginativeness — who besides would not beryllium burned by the blistery potato. Because arsenic anyone with minimal fiscal cognition understands — the missive would ne'er get astatine ELTA.

After they mislaid besides the privilege of pension organisation — which contiguous is paid electronically — the concern seemed imaginable to beryllium partially saved by a fistful of firm clients who sent and inactive nonstop regular letters to customers: electricity, water, state bills etc, advertizing mail, banks, services.

Thus successful this clime of decay — successful May 2018 a weaponry exploded that cipher could believe. When immoderate PPC customers abruptly recovered themselves with powerfulness chopped for unpaid bills that they had really paid via ELTA — the ungraded was revealed. To screen its liquidity problem, ELTA absorption chose to usage arsenic “borrowed” the wealth it collected connected behalf of PPC, not paying it to PPC and utilizing it to survive.

Then the expertise of 1 of the Big 4 (PwC) was “drafted”. In its 3-year program for ELTA translation and rescue it projected closure of branches that operated with immense outgo but brought lone ~€5k per period turnover (e.g. the subdivision wrong Parliament!), unit simplification via voluntary exit, caller corporate agreements, digitization of outdated systems, strengthening courier concern and providing caller products similar security and pension programs. Many of these were implemented.

Example: with the voluntary exit (€380m cost) imperishable unit dropped to 3,500, remaining workers got 18% wage cuts. The atrocious thing: the experienced postmen who knew however to bash the occupation adjacent manually were replaced by leased unit oregon temp young workers, with non-competitive wage and cipher to usher them. Not the archetypal clip subdivision closures happened: backmost past 143 of the 1,150 branches closed, reducing outgo but not improving work quality.

HCAP tried to hole things with extended hours, competitory pricing, caller practices similar integer postman with integer devices, adding robots to sorting, strengthening astute locker web (PostBox), but everything seemed the same. The large occupation — the “bleeding” — seemed intolerable to stop, reaching 2020 with ELTA losing €7m per month.

The concern was a double-edged sword: they had nary wealth to hole the problems, and the problems outgo adjacent much money. ELTA seemed to beryllium slapping themselves and fto anyone other slap them astatine will. This was proven successful 2022 erstwhile internal/external warnings astir IT strategy vulnerabilities (outdated apps, deficiency of unit training, communal easy guessed passwords) that warned of hacker attacks — came true. A cyberattack deed ELTA, paralyzed them and worst — sent the information of much than 4.5 cardinal citizens to the acheronian web.

Management — which could not hole IT due to the fact that determination were nary resources — had to admit successful 2022 results the outgo of fixing the cyberattack. As icing connected the cake, that amounted to €3.6m positive €1.16m outgo from under-operation of services. Then different €2.9m good by the Data Protection Authority. Total outgo from outdated underfunded IT — implicit €7m.

In the ICU

In 2022 — 5 years aft the 3-year program of PwC that became 5 years — ELTA looked similar Sleeping Beauty, but successful the ICU bed, intubated, with nary hope. That year, auditor Grant Thornton recovered successful the accounts important uncertainty astir the going interest of ELTA. Not by chance: the radical showed losses of €27.9m and solo €24.8m. The auditor sounded the alarm: ongoing viability, antagonistic equity of –€74.5m institution level and –€102m radical level.

From past to contiguous not overmuch changed, if 1 looks astatine existent results. The concern was not reversed adjacent though ELTA were allowed to support their competitory vantage arsenic the cosmopolitan work supplier until 2028 — meaning they indispensable present message everyplace successful Greece, with affordable prices, maintaining branches adjacent successful distant areas — adjacent if loss-making.

“Wait until 2026”, the existent ELTA absorption says, mounting that twelvemonth arsenic milestone erstwhile the radical is expected to instrumentality to improved fiscal results — and we shall see. What until then? The program for exploitation/utilization of ELTA existent property (portfolio full commercialized worth ≈ €120m, assigned to Alpha Real Estate Services – EY) volition person progressed — leasing, commercialized exploitation and imaginable merchantability of immoderate assets. And by then, the modernization program of ELTA, which restarted 2 years ago, is expected to person delivered results and helped instrumentality to affirmative equity. So acold — it has not achieved what was expected.