Belgian newspaper distributor PPP is expanding in Belgium and northern Europe, saying its Belgian revenue quadrupled in 2025 as it took over more newspaper delivery areas from Bpost.
PPP has delivered newspapers across Brussels’ 19 municipalities for years. It drew national attention in 2024 after winning Belgium’s newspaper distribution concession from Bpost, before the federal government decided to scrap the concession system, to PPP’s frustration.
Since then, the company has expanded across several parts of Flanders, gradually taking over daily newspaper distribution previously handled by Bpost. In the north of the country, PPP increased its delivery zones from three to ten.
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That expansion helped lift the average number of copies distributed each day last year from 178,992 to 223,143. PPP said this also led to a fourfold increase in its revenue in Belgium.
Including its operations in Finland, where the Belgian company was already well established, PPP’s total revenue rose from €26 million in 2024 to €36 million in 2025, an increase of almost 40%.
Chief executive Michel d’Alessandro said the company aims to move closer to €50 million in revenue in 2026. He added that PPP is profitable, with a net pre-tax margin of around 8%.
PPP currently employs 35 staff and connects on a network of about 2,000 delivery workers. It expects to hire about five more employees this year and to end 2026 with an additional 500 to 600 distributors.
The company also sees further room for growth in Belgium through daily newspaper deliveries to retail outlets such as newsagents, supermarkets and petrol stations. It is also seeking to expand magazine distribution, where it is active in Wallonia but not yet in Flanders.
With newspaper volumes in structural decline, PPP has also started to diversify into parcel delivery, d’Alessandro said. A pilot project launched in Antwerp two months ago with Cainiao, part of Alibaba Group, currently handles about 1,000 parcels a day.
After two months of testing, the customer is very satisfied, he said, and discussions are under way to start parcel deliveries in other areas. PPP has also changed its slogan from “Press, Periodicals & Publicity” to “Press, Periodicals & Parcels.”
Despite that shift, d’Alessandro said newspaper delivery remains the company’s core business and is likely to stay that way for the next 10 to 15 years.
PPP is also pursuing growth through acquisitions. After several takeovers in Finland, including the Early Bird activities of publisher Sanoma, the company says it has another deal in the pipeline there.
D’Alessandro said Finland remains a very important market for PPP and added that talks are also under way that could allow the company to enter another Nordic country. In Finland, PPP delivers both newspapers and traditional mail.
