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By Alex Lennane
Toll Group has denied it is to be sold by owner Japan Post (JP).
Toll MD Thomas Knudsen told staff today that JP had “dismissed the rumours”. (You can read more insight into this story on Loadstar Premium here.)
“You might be aware of speculation in the Australian media about plans by Japan Post to sell our business,” he wrote. “Our shareholder has told us there are no plans to sell all or part of Toll.
“Speculation of the kind we’re seeing is not necessarily unusual, and I understand that it might be unsettling.
“Rather than allowing it to distract us, it’s important that we stay focused on the task at hand – continuing to enable the movement of essential supplies across the world at a time when communities need it most.”
Toll has struggled in recent times. The financial fallout from a cyber-attack at the end of January is not yet clear – but Toll has noted internally that “revenue and cash are in freefall”, and that Covid-19, on top of 2019’s profit drop and the cyber attack, has had a “devastating effect” on the business.
Mr Knudsen pointed to these challenges in his letter.
“We need to make sure that we’re strengthening our business in response to the challenges we’ve faced in recent times. It’s why we’ve taken a number of proactive steps in the past few months to simplify our operating model and cut costs where it makes sense. We’ll keep assessing our operations in the context of what are rapidly changing and volatile market conditions.”
Japan Post paid $5.1bn for Toll in 2015 and recent reports suggest JP has been looking for a potential investor and any interest in the market. While the Australian side of the business had been performing well – until this year’s attack – its international business has struggled.
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