UPS to open 500 branches of Mail Boxes Etc in Spain

UPS, the US courier group, plans to open 500 branches of its Mail Boxes subsidiary in Spain in three years. The subsidiary, bought three years ago, specialises in postal services and office and stationery products, and has 4,600 outlets worldwide and 97 in Spain. The Mail Boxes shops operate as franchises, so the associates will be responsible for most of the investment. UPS does not provide its profit and turnover figures in Spain, where it has had a presence since 1990. According to the Spanish companies’ register however, sales in 2002 were 114.5m euros, up 12.37 per cent. UPS wants to persuade companies to outsource logistics and distribution activities, and calculates that 75 per cent of the Spanish market is not outsourced, which means that there is much potential for growth. The company rules out acquisitions, however.