Author: Archive

Pitney Bowes provides road map for long-term growth projections

Posted by | Sep 12, 2006 | |

Pitney Bowes Inc. Provides Financial Outlook for 2007 with EPS Expected in a Range of USD 2.90 – USD 2.98. Today provided investors with a road map for delivering revenue and earnings growth over the next five years. The company gave financial outlooks for each of its seven business segments and committed to reducing its ratio of selling, general, and administrative expense to revenue from 31% to 28% by 2010.

The company said that it expects its revenue to grow organically by
four to six percent and to sustain at least an eight to ten percent growth
rate in its earnings per share.

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SteelCloud receives USD 1.4 million contract from Lockheed Martin for U.S. Postal Service program – SteelCloud servers designed to withstand paper dust

Posted by | Sep 12, 2006 | |

SteelCloud, Inc., a leading engineering and manufacturing integrator of network centric and embedded computing solutions today announced it has been selected as a sub-contractor by Lockheed Martin Distribution Technologies for their USD17.4 million contract to improve automated parcel-sorting systems at the U.S. Postal Service’s bulk mail centers. Lockheed Martin will install optical character-recognition systems on parcel sorters known as Singulation Scan Induction Units, at 19 bulk mail centers across the nation.

SteelCloud’s USD1.4 million contract is for high-performance servers featuring hyper-threading technology along with specially-designed filtration systems to withstand paper dust.

“This contract epitomizes the value of SteelCloud’s engineering services,” said Clifton W. Sink, SteelCloud President and CEO. “For this new program, our engineering organization configured hardware specifically for the application and integrated it with the right system software that supports the new technology. Add to this, custom chassis design, special filtration and upgrade services and you see why we believe SteelCloud continues to be the best choice for any organization needing to deliver a fully integrated, ready- to-deploy custom server platform.”

Servers ordered on these contracts will be delivered during the company’s fiscal 2006 fourth quarter which ends on October 31, 2006.

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Regulus opens major new remittance processing operation in Atlanta

Posted by | Sep 12, 2006 | |

Regulus, the nation’s largest independent provider of bill presentment and payment processing solutions, announced today the opening of a new remittance processing facility in Atlanta, Georgia. This premier site will serve Regulus’ regional and multi-national clients with customers located throughout the Eastern and Southeastern United States.

The new 36,000-square-foot facility is strategically located near a major U.S. Postal Service hub as well as the Atlanta airport. Known in the industry as one of the fastest mail collections and clearing points in the country, Atlanta offers immediate value to current and future clients seeking coverage in this heavily populated region. Among Regulus’ customers in the region are industry bellwethers in the telecom, healthcare, utility, and financial sectors. The close proximity to the USPS postal hub means that payments are received, processed and deposited faster and more efficiently. The new high-volume facility also has the potential to double in capacity in coming years as the demand from Regulus’ customers continues to grow.

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Postal Service plans for more than USD 1 Billion in cost reductions – board of governors approve FY 2007 financial plan

Posted by | Sep 12, 2006 | |

The U.S. Postal Service Board of Governors today approved a fiscal year 2007 integrated financial plan that includes cost reduction programs totaling USD1.1 billion, while continuing to provide universal service to a continuously expanding delivery network.

These cost reductions contain a planned decrease of 40 million workhours from the estimated FY 2006 level. Savings will come from automation improvements and implementation of additional “breakthrough productivity” initiatives. The Postal Service’s 2007 fiscal year begins Oct. 1, 2006 and ends Sept. 30, 2007.The plan also calls for a 3.2 percent increase in revenue and a 2.6 percent increase in expenses over the current year’s forecast, resulting in USD1.7 billion in net income.

However, the estimated USD3.3 billion escrow requirement results in a net deficiency after escrow of USD1.6 billion. The plan assumes continued slower growth in the U.S. economy and implementation of the planned postage price adjustments in May, 2007.”There is a potential for more risk in the achievement of this plan compared to recent years,” said Chief Financial Officer and Executive Vice President H. Glen Walker. “The pending rate case, the current labor negotiations with our four largest unions, and uncertainties with the economy — including fuel prices — all have the potential to affect actual revenue and expense figures.”

The financial plan does not include effects from possible passage of postal reform legislation.

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US FedEx – Shipping Data To Back-Office Apps

Posted by | Sep 12, 2006 | |

FedEx Locks In Customers By Tying Shipping Data To Back-Office Apps

Customers can link their invoicing, billing, accounting, and inventory systems with FedEx’s shipping data.
Every company wants to come up with that one compelling service that ties a customer closer to its business. Dell’s buyer-activated computer configuration system is one example. FedEx’s Web package tracking system was another. But that system kept a firm grip on customers only as long as FedEx’s competitors couldn’t duplicate it. Eventually they did, sending the company back to the drawing board.

FedEx came up with Ship Manager, an application on a small computer set up by FedEx at customer sites to help users weigh packages, calculate shipping charges, and print shipping labels.

FedEx Integration Assistant quizzes a representative at the customer site on what data sources he’s using and automatically generates scripting language to create links between FedEx Ship Manager and the data sources. It can do so for common accounting, ERP, warehouse, shopping cart, and fulfillment applications. Any system that uses a relational database compliant with the Open Database Connectivity standard can be discovered and linked. The wizard also can connect to the popular small-business accounting package QuickBooks.

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China is now dealing with the need to improve its transport infrastructure to upport further expansion in the manufacturing industry – China Logistics 2006

Posted by | Sep 12, 2006 | |

China: the world’s most dynamic logistics market

It has been nearly three years since the author first examined the Chinese market. At the time, one of the key trends was the amazing growth of the country’s economy and the transforming effect that this was having on the logistics industry. This is still very much the case, with investment by foreign companies continuing to grow at a phenomenal pace. However the challenges which the author identified then have not diminished and in many cases have been exacerbated by the pressures which stellar growth rates have exerted on developing businesses.

The Chinese economy is presently (August 2006) growing at rates in excess of 10 per cent per annum and this is reflected in the growth in the Chinese logistics market and infrastructure. After focusing economic growth on the manufacturing industry, China is now dealing with the need to improve its transport infrastructure to support further expansion.

The Chinese economy has been heavily dependent on logistics since its growth as an exporting nation in the late 1990s. However the country will need to develop its logistics market and its physical infrastructure both qualitatively and quantitively if momentum is to be sustained.

This updated and considerably extended report includes a wide-ranging survey of shippers and logistics companies present in the market. It provides an insight into the latest trends and developments, indicating many of the problems which companies have to face. It also includes market sizing and forecasts, showing the remarkable pace of development which the industry has experienced and is likely to see in the future.

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GLS targets pharmaceutical industry

Posted by | Sep 12, 2006 | |

Parcels and express company GLS aims to generate more business from the German pharmaceuticals industry. The Royal Mail subsidiary said that it will be exhibiting for the first time at the Expopharm trade fair in Munich from September 21-24 to gain new business contacts and promote its services.

“We offer 10 years of experience in the shipping of dental products, very high quality standards and industry-specific additional services,” explained Klaus Conrad, managing director of GLS Germany. “We are targeting growth of 20% this year in the pharmaceuticals sector.” GLS put particular focus on quality and secure transportation, with a damage rate of less than one item per 10,000 parcels, he added.

GLS Germany said it has already successfully doubled its volumes in the pharmaceuticals sector in the last two years. Export shipments, particularly to Austria and the Benelux states, had increased strongly. It now delivers to all 21,500 chemists across Germany.

The parcels company offers reliable delivery with rapid transit times, full tracking and tracing and inclusive insurance, along with additional services specifically for the pharmaceuticals industry such as the “Adressee Only” delivery option.

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USD 68.7m profit reported by NZ Post

Posted by | Sep 12, 2006 | |

New Zealand Post on Tuesday posted a net annual profit of USD 68.7 million – 17% up on last year’s result.

The state-owned enterprise says challenges during the year included: rising fuel prices, a tight labour market, tough competition and changes in letter services.

Chief executive John Allen says Kiwibank, which announced last week it had made almost USD 16m, was the star performer for the group, .

However, that result is not factored into the Government’s dividend, which this year will be USD 27.7m.

New Zealand Post says its diversification strategy is reaping rewards, with the Datamail Group and its international postal business, as well as Kiwibank, all performing strongly in its annual result.

Mr Allen says the result has been achieved in a challenging business environment.

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