French La Poste to sign development plan
La Poste, the French national postal services group, is scheduled to sign its development plan with the government on January 13. The plan outlines strategy for the group until 2007. La Poste was not authorised to include in the plan the extension of its financial services to include consumer credit. Although the agreement does not affect the public company’s statutes, it is designed to bring it closer to the main European postal operators by 2010, mainly by modernising its sorting centres. The less than innovative nature of the agreement has led some observers to question whether La Poste will be capable of meeting the demands of deregulation. The group is focusing its development strategy on courier services, which will be completely open to competition from 2009. However, its courier division is in decline and only slightly in profit. In addition, the German and Dutch heavyweights in the postal sector are focusing their efforts on parcel delivery.
