TNT gains most in two years on speculation about market opening

TNT NV, Europe’s second-biggest express-delivery company, rose the most in two years in Amsterdam trading following speculation the Dutch government may delay plans to open its mail market.

TNT shares rose as much as 1.24 euros, or 4.6 percent, to 28.10 euros, the biggest increase since Dec. 6, 2005, and were up 4.2 percent as of 11:51 a.m. The stock has fallen 14 percent this year.

An agreement reached by Germany’s coalition government to introduce a minimum wage for postal workers means the Dutch government may “pull the ’emergency brake’ on its market liberalization,” Andrew Beh, an analyst at Bear Stearns in London, said in a note to investors today.

TNT is scheduled to lose its monopoly on mail delivery in the Netherlands starting in January under measures approved by the country’s parliament in June. The opening is tied to a “level playing field” in Europe, which means it may be suspended if other European countries take measures that could hurt competition.

Germany’s government, led by Chancellor Angela Merkel, yesterday backed a proposal that sets the minimum hourly wage for about 200,000 postal workers at 8 euros to 9.80 euros.

A suspension of the Dutch market opening would remove any “immediate” threat to the company’s mail volumes and earnings before interest and taxes at the mail business, JP Morgan analyst Damian Brewer said in a separate note to investors.

European Union governments agreed on Oct. 1 to require member countries to open up their letter-delivery markets to competition no later than 2011. Eleven of the EU’s 27 member states don’t have to liberalize their markets until 2013.

Standard letters are two-thirds of the EU’s 88 billion-euro postal market and offer twice the profit margin of packages and express mail, according to the European Commission, the Brussels-based EU executive arm.