Postal firm PostNL has asked the Dutch consumer authority ACM for permission to raise the price of a postage stamp to offset the fall in turnover in the letter delivery market.

The news comes shortly after PostNL announced an increase of €44m in net profit in the second quarter, most of which came from the parcel delivery arm of the company.

The price of a stamp was raised earlier this year from 60 euro cents to 64 euro cents.

PostNL would not say what the new price will be but expects it to be above inflation.

The previous rise was nearly 7% at a time when inflation in the Netherlands was at 2.5%.