Austria Post to cut costs, capex this year

VIENNA, May 6 (Reuters) - Austrian mail operator Oesterreichische Post (POST.VI) will cut 30 million euros ($40 million) in cost over the next 12 months and reduce capital expenditure by 20 percent this year, it said on Wednesday.

The operator, struggling with rising competition by cheaper rivals in its parcel business, had previously forecast to spend 100 million euros of capex this year when it presented its annual results in March.

It said in a statement sent after the group's annual general meeting in Vienna on Wednesday that the cost cuts would mainly be achieved by reducing cost of materials and operating expenses, but did not include job cuts.

Austrian Post said it did not expect revenue and earnings to rise in 2009 and could only promise them to be stable if the economic crisis did not get worse then expected. It said it could not rule out that they would fall.

The group is preparing for the phasing out of its letter monopoly in 2011 after liberalisation in the parcels business already led to the loss of major mail-order clients two years ago, which has weighed on revenue this year. (Reporting by Boris Groendahl; Editing by Rupert Winchester)