Dutch mail-carrier PostNL has received criticism for requesting government assistance while also paying out a shareholder dividend. But with an “unsustainable” universal service obligation enshrined in law, and no legislative resolution on the horizon, it’s not clear what options the company has.
With thousands of companies holding shareholder meetings during proxy season, it’s hard to know where to start. Glass Lewis’ Controversy Alert service can help, identifying the most crucial meetings globally and allowing investors to make better informed voting decisions with the latest information in hand.
In this post, we provide a roundup of the meetings taking place this week that were previously highlighted by Controversy Alerts, and look deeper into the situation at PostNL. To get alerted ahead of time, get in touch and sign up for Glass Lewis’ Controversy Alert service.
Controversy Alerts April 14 — April 18, 2025
April 15 PostNL N.V.; Controversy Alert issued March 28
April 15 Stellantis N.V.; issued March 28
April 16 Bank Pembangunan Daerah Jawa Barat Dan Banten Tbk; issued March 26
Deep Dive: PostNL N.V.
Regardless of the specific circumstances, from an optics perspective it never looks good when a company asks the public for financial support while also paying out shareholder dividends. That’s the situation at PostNL, which has proposed to distribute €0.07 per share for the 2024 fiscal year, prompting criticism in the Dutch press.
The dividend was announced in late February, just a few days after the company formally requested €30 million in financial support from the Dutch government for the current year. While the company cited an entitlement under Dutch and European law to receive compensation for providing a universal service obligation ("USO") that constitutes a financial burden, the Ministry of Economic Affairs rejected the request.
Both parties appear to agree on the need for changes to the Dutch Postal Act given that mail volumes have nearly halved in the past decade. However, PostNL noted that the legislative process has already taken six years and remains ongoing, with the resulting uncertainty leaving the company “unable to take the necessary steps towards building a financially sustainable postal service”. In the meantime, the government has rejected the idea of providing temporary assistance to bridge the gap.
Like other USO-bound mail carriers around the world who are struggling to adjust to the disruption caused by competing services, Amazon’s internal fleet and the increasing ubiquity of “free” delivery, PostNL is clearly in a tough spot. Eliminating the dividend entirely could further erode the company’s share price, which has already dropped by over 75% since a post-pandemic peak in 2021. And given the company’s broad ownership base, such a move could also lead to reputational damage by cutting the income of Dutch savers who rely on the stock for regular payouts.
As it stands, the distribution is down from the prior two years (when each share received €0.09 and €0.16, respectively). Although the dividend for the year remains in line with the company’s policy range of 70-90% of normalised comprehensive income, it nonetheless represents a substantial 206% payout ratio compared to the earnings per share.
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