2013 was marked by many positive achievements for An Post, despite the great challenges posed to the Company and its customers as the country’s economic environment began to show signs of recovery.However, we are still operating in a difficult trading environment, indeed, in many ways the next several years will be of pivotal importance to the future of this Company. In common with other national postal operators we continue to focus on operational productivity, consolidation and automation as well as on work practice flexibility and innovation. Postal administrations across the world have also been increasing their pricing to reflect cost and market realities, to ensure commercial viability.