TPG in focus as Dutch govt approves postal market liberalisation

TPG NV shares were slightly lower in line with broader market sentiment as the Dutch government formally approved plans to liberalise the country’s postal market, dealers said.

This means the Dutch market will be fully liberalised in 2007, if the UK and German postal markets are also opened up.

Further, stamp prices for consumers will remain unchanged until that time, while TPG’s competitors and customers will be treated equally in terms of rates and conditions.

TPG welcomed the news, calling government support an important step for the future of the postal market in the Netherlands and for TPG.

SNS Securities said the plans were in line with earlier statements, offering no new negative or positive news.

The local broker said the government’s postal vision supports its ‘buy’ rating on the stock.

‘Although it is good to have confirmation on the regulatory landscape going forward, the parliamentary support hardly comes as a surprise and therefore will be taken neutrally by the market,’ said Fortis Bank analyst Maarten Bakker.

The broker rates the stock ‘buy’, and sees an update on TPG’s cost savings programme and further progress in Logistics and China as future drivers for the share.

At 12.15 pm, TPG was trading 0.2 pct lower at 19.76 eur and the AEX was down 0.4 pct to 345.08 points.