Whistl to end UK E2E operations
Whistl UK has announced that it will terminate its end to end (E2E) operations in the United Kingdom. Whistl began the roll-out of the E2E operation in 2012, but announced at the end of April that it was putting its E2E expansion plans on hold after talks between its Dutch parent PostNL and Lloyds Development Capital (LDC), the private equity arm of Lloyds Bank, broke down. LDC was to have taken 60% stake in the Whistl venture, but pulled out because it was concerned about the “ongoing changes in postal market dynamics” along with the complexity of the regulatory landscape.
In mid-May, Whistl and Post NL informed the industry that the UK E2E delivery service would be suspended while they assessed its “viability and potential”.
The assessment has now been concluded, and it spells the end for the E2E venture.
An official Whistl statement issued yesterday (10 June) noted: “The PostNL and Whistl management team have undertaken a thorough strategic review of the E2E (letter delivery to consumers homes) operation and have concluded, unfortunately, that there is no viable alternative solution that will ensure a sustainable future for the current service and therefore it will not continue.”
While Whistl maintained that it was “proud” that it had “created the first competitive letter delivery service in the history of the UK postal market”, it also said that its rollout had been “put on hold due to numerous regulatory issues”.
“These delays,” claimed Whistl, “impacted on our ability to invest in the service, expand our coverage, and ultimately to meet the targets of the original business plan and deliver a long term sustainable service.”
Whistl added that is now in “ongoing consultation with the affected employees in E2E through their union and employee representatives to minimise the impact of this difficult decision”.
While the UK E2E venture has come to an end, PostNL (in its own official statement on the subject) emphasised that Whistl “remains committed to further developing its successful activities in the UK, including downstream access (DSA) service, door drop media, packets & parcels and logistics”.
Whistl maintained that the E2E announcement should be viewed in perspective. “We are a profitable company achieving year on year growth for the past ten years,” said Whistl. “We continue to be the second largest postal operator in the UK with 55% of the DSA market. To put this development into context E2E handled 3 million items a week whilst the DSA business collects and sorts over 80 million items a week. In addition, we also have a long established door drop media division and are growing in packets and parcels and logistics.”
