La Poste Weighs Future of DPD France
The French post office said it is reviewing
the future of its business to business parcels unit, DPD France. The French
postal utility was responding to a report in the Le Monde newspaper which
said it was considering the closure of DPD France. The report quoted Gilles
Moutel, president of La Poste’s express distribution subsidiary, Chronopost,
and an executive board member of the group’s parcels and logistics holding
company, GeoPost, as saying this was one of a number of solutions being
explored for the unit. DPD France, which is the French arm of La
Poste-controlled, pan-European, small parcels distribution network DPD,
specialises in shipments with unit weights of less than 30 kilos, with
delivery deadlines of up to 48 hours. ‘We can confirm that no one solution
has been decided on for DPD France at this stage,’ a La Poste spokeswoman
told Reuters. ‘The question over its future should in no way imply we are
planning to withdraw from this market segment where we are the leading
player.’ The spokesperson said that it was ‘more a matter of re-positioning
our offering by exploiting the potential synergies between the different
units within GeoPost in order to improve profitability and be even stronger
in this segment.’ In June 2000, La Poste acquired a 67 percent stake in the
private, joint-venture company set up to run the DPD franchise in France.
The unit, which posted a 2000 turnover of 30.2 million euros, employs around
300 staff. This summer La Poste’s existing business to business small
parcels unit, Dilipack, was absorbed by DPD France as a result of the two
units operating in the same market segment.
