Post delivery company PostNL kept turnover stable in the first quarter despite a drop of 11.5% in the total Dutch postal market, the company said on Tuesday.

Turnover remained steady at €1.03bn, while operational profit tripled to €77m with a net below the line profit of €54m.

In the first quarter of 2013, the company booked a loss of €410m due to a drop in value in its former sister company TNT Express.

The fall in the postal market was compensated for by savings of €41m, mainly achieved by cutting postal deliveries from six days a week to five and a rise in the cost of stamps, the company said.

Parcel deliveries rose 5% bringing a 2% increase in profit to the parcel service.

Downturn

Despite the sharp fall in the market in the first quarter, PostNL expects the downturn to be between 9% and 12% over the year as a whole.

The first quarter results were better than expected, Rabobank analysts said. However, they do not expect PostNL to pay dividends until 2017.

The company is planning cuts in the rest of 2014 of between €95m to €115m.