The State national postal service, An Post, has recorded profits for the third year in a row, though it said there would be some rural branch closures this year.
An Post said strong sales saw turnover increase by 8.8% to €818.8m in 2006, with a 4% increase in mails revenue, mainly in the bulk mail sector.
However, operating profit fell by almost 10% to €14.7m because of spending on fleet renewal, fuel price rises, and upgrading security at post office branches.
An Post said that some of the profit came from the sale of its 14.4 acre parcel depot on the Naas road in Dublin.
The site was formerly used by SDS, a parcel delivery service that was closed by An Post.
An Post said new payment agreements with overseas trading partners increased revenue on incoming international mail.
Internet-generated traffic, from retail sites such as e-bay and Amazon, as well as increasing volumes from the home countries of non-national communities, increased the volume of incoming international mail packets by 14%, it said.
An Post said there was strong demand for services such as BillPay, Western Union and mobile phone top-ups and that it now processes over 80% of all passport applications and renewals.
Chairperson Margaret McGinley said there had been a 'significant turnaround' in performance since a recovery plan was launched four years ago.
An Post chief executive, Donal Connell, said that in its Strategic Plan 2011, changes in processes, and a certain amount of closures in the rural network would take place.
An Post is on track to record profits again in 2007, it said.
