Beleaguered Dutch post company PostNL announced on Monday it was resuming the payment of dividends, but was also planning on eliminating substantial numbers of jobs in the coming years.

PostNL was the target of an unsuccessful hostile takeover attempt by its Belgian equivalent Bpost late last year. Several large PostNL shareholders were in favour of the takeover and a resumption of the dividend was high on their wish list.

PostNL is proposing a €0.12 per share dividend over 2016, its first payout since 2011. This is faster than expected: last August the postal company said it would resume paying a dividend only in the second half of 2017, the Financieele Dagblad said on Monday.

In order to compensate for lower volumes of post, the company will eliminate 500 to 600 jobs a year over the next four years. Some employees will move to other positions within PostNL.

PostNL booked 2016 net profit sharply higher at €280m on turnover down slightly at €3.4bn.