Seur to double overseas business within a year after La Poste tie-up
The recent tie-up between Seur and France’s La Poste has set up the Spanish delivery services group for strong international growth over the next five years.
According to Ramón Mayo, the vice president of Seur España, the alliance with La Poste will see the contribution of the Spanish group’s international operations to total turnover double within a year to 14 percent from 7 percent.
La Poste unit GeoPost acquired a 12.5 percent stake in Seur España out of the 21 percent put on the block by the founder of the Spanish group Justo Yúfera in February. The remaining 8.5 percent ended up in the hands of the 64 remaining partners in the transportation business.
Mayo said Seur had been looking at ways off expanding its overseas business for some time. However, he said the process of finding an international associate was complicated by the structure of the group, which is organized around 85 franchises handed out by its partners.
The company vice-president said GeoPost has the same way of looking at the delivery service business as Seur and brings to the Spanish group financial backing and an extensive international network.
Seur is the leading delivery services group in the Iberian peninsula with 334 sales points in Spain and Portugal.
Sales last year came in at – 499 million. Turnover in the first half of this year is estimated to have grown 8 percent from the same period a year earlier to – 256 million, while SEUR is forecasting an increase of 9 percent for full-year 2004.
GeoPost, which is fully-owned by La Poste, is the third largest delivery service company in Europe after Deutsche Post in Germany and global operator TNT. It had sales last year of – 2.25 billion and delivered 370 million packages. It has 750 agencies and storerooms and a workforce of 18,500.
The acquisition of the 12.5 percent stake in Seur from Yúfera conferred upon it two seats on the board of directors of the Spanish group.
The entry of the French company came at an opportune moment for Seur España. The Spanish group had a distribution agreement with the US firm Airborne until the end of last year. However, Deutsche Post acquired Airbourne in January and amalgamated it with the German group’s US unit DHL.
But GeoPost’s acquisition of its stake in Seur had a bumpy ride.
Yúfera’s decision to sell the Seur Madrid franchise, which accounts for 21 percent of Seur España, attracted a number of risk-capital firms. Two of these, Bridgepoint and JP Morgan Partners, reached an agreement with Yúfera in April to acquire the whole of Seur Madrid for – 100 million.
However, this arrangement went against the statutes of Seur España, which give the rest of the group’s partners first option in acquiring the stake of any other partner wanting to sell out.
After a series of arduous negotiations aimed at forging a common stance among the partners, a stakeholders’ meeting on May 14 finally approved a plan in favor of inviting an industrial associate to hook up with Seur rather than a purely financial one or the option of listing the company on the stockmarket.
That decision paved the way for the entry of GeoPost.
