An Post, the Irish post office and parent company of Air Business, has announced strong group results for 2013. It has also highlighted its success in winning a 20-year licence to run the Irish National Lottery, as part of the Premier Lotteries Ireland (PLI) Consortium.
In assembling PLI, An Post partnered with the Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan (OTPP), the 100 per cent owner of the Camelot Group which includes UK national operator Camelot UK Lotteries Ltd and Camelot Global, which provide consultancy and management services to lotteries worldwide.
Both An Post and the Camelot Group have proven track records of growing lottery sales in Ireland and the UK respectively, as well as having demonstrated global leadership in responsible gaming and corporate social responsibility.
As a wholly-owned subsidiary of An Post, Air Business sees this long term investment as a positive commitment to An Post Group Companies. Adam Sherman, Air Business group managing director, said: “An Post gives us the freedom to operate independently while supporting us as part of their strategic growth strategy. The 20-year commitment to the Irish National Lottery is an encouraging investment supported by the strong group performance.”
An Post Group turnover for 2013 was €811.7m, an increase on the 2012 figure of €807.3m as a result of the company’s focus on growing revenue across the group’s activities.
An Post chief executive, Donal Connell (pictured on the left with An Post chairman Christoph Mueller) said: “This positive progress has strengthened the company as it faces the challenges ahead. 
“We continued to focus on cost containment, productivity and efficiency improvement alongside strategic investment in revenue-generating mails and retail business streams and our strongly performing Group Companies including Air Business.”