Author: Archive

UK PAF review fuels industry fears of pricing confusion

Posted by | Feb 17, 2006 | |

Postcomm’s review of PAF has split industry opinion. While many recognise its financial importance to Royal Mail, others fear a repeat of the ‘fiasco’ which followed the deregulation of directory enquiries. Regulator Postcomm’s decision to start a full-scale review of Royal Mail’s Postal Address File (PAF) has sparked major debate in the industry. One side says ‘about time’; the other ‘why now?’. Originally created by Royal Mail to help postal delivery, the file – updated quarterly – has long since been adopted by businesses as a tool to locate, verify and clean customer addresses, and aid marketing. It is also used extensively within geographical information systems (GIS) to draw up location analyses. However, criticism is never far away. More than 12 years ago, the industry was in uproar after Royal Mail terminated all licence agreements with PAF bureaux and forced them to sign new contracts. Price rises of up to 250 per cent ensued. Meanwhile, the current review has been sparked, in part, by a rash of complaints over unfair pricing, and concerns that Royal Mail could exploit its monopolistic position.

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Deutsche Post to offload niche courier operation

Posted by | Feb 17, 2006 | |

Logistics company Exel, which was last year taken over by the German mail giant Deutsche Post for pounds 3.8 billion, has put its niche courier business Marken on the block for an estimated pounds 250m. It is understood that the investment bank UBS has been appointed to sell Marken. Marken provides specialist courier services to the medical, pharmaceutical, media, professional, fashion and high technology industries. Sources said that a number of UK-based private equity firms such as PPM, Bridgepoint, Electra and 3i, were interested in acquiring the business. It is understood there could also be trade buyers.

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FedEx and UPS lead China foray

Posted by | Feb 17, 2006 | |

FedEx and United Parcel Service are leading the charge among foreign logistics and transportation companies into China. Both companies have seen exceptional growth in the China market and believe expansion in China is crucial to future growth. FedEx recently agreed to pay USD400m to Tianjin Datian W Group to take full control of its international and domestic express business in China. The move, which is still subject to Chinese government regulatory and licensing approval, will allow FedEx to consolidate and expand its presence in secondary cities outside the main urban centres of Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou.
FedEx Corp chairman Fred Smith says: ‘This strategic investment in the long-term growth of China will broaden and deepen our relationship by improving access to important markets.’ UPS chief financial officer Scott Davis is similarly excited about the logistics opportunities in China. Speaking last month he said: ‘Business in China is still extremely strong. We don’t see anything getting in the way of this growth for many years to come. A big market, a lot of opportunities.’

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DX weighs up full-on challenge to An Post monopoly

Posted by | Feb 17, 2006 | |

Kevin Galligan is standing in the middle of a room filled from floor to ceiling with small blue metal mail boxes. As he talks men scurry into the room to drop envelopes in the boxes before quickly disappearing into the street. The setting is far from opulent, but reading the name tags on the front of the boxes you immediately get a sense that the room is mainly frequented by representatives of blue-chip Dublin. This reporter noticed some of the following names on the front of the boxes: McCann FitzGerald, A&L Goodbody, Director of Public Prosecutions, Attorney General’s Office, Ulster Bank, AIB and Bank of Ireland.
While the workaday atmosphere of the room suggests this is simply a humble mail room, in many ways this room and others like it around the country could form the backbone of a new nationwide postal delivery network. At least that is what Kevin Galligan is hoping. With the postal market facing full liberalisation within three years, DX is seriously weighing up taking on the An Post monopoly. Already letters weighing over 50g are open to competition.

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Postcomm acts to protect competition

Posted by | Feb 17, 2006 | |

Postwatch, the watchdog for postal services, welcomes regulator Postcomm’s proposal to fine Royal Mail GBP2.16m for failing to tackle structural weaknesses that could give the company an unfair commercial advantage over its competitors. Commenting on the proposed fine, Gregor McGregor, Chief Executive of Postwatch, said: “Having only been opened up to full competition last month, the postal market is immature, but developing rapidly. Building customer and competitor confidence and ensuring a level playing field are essential if the UK postal market is to flourish. It was essential that Postcomm take action to protect the competitive market and we are pleased it has. It is now up to Royal Mail to put in place internal structures that prevent competitors’ commercially sensitive information being used to gain unfair advantage. The amount of the fine is very much a matter for Postcomm’s judgement. Any fine has to be substantial enough to ensure Royal Mail take the action required. Postwatch would expect any future fines for anti-competitive behaviour to be substantially bigger.”

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Another million pound fine for UK Royal Mail

Posted by | Feb 17, 2006 | |

Royal Mail has been hit with another multi million pound fine by the industry’s regulator after being accused of securing “unfair commercial advantage”, it was announced today. Postcomm proposed a fine of GBP2.16 million because the company had failed to take adequate steps to make sure it did not gain an unfair commercial advantage in the newly-liberalised mail market. The fine follows a penalty of GBP11.7 million against Royal Mail announced earlier this month because of the amount of lost or damaged post. The Royal Mail hit back angrily at the latest fine, denouncing the decision as “shoddy.”

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Depot statistics

Posted by | Feb 17, 2006 | |

Parceline has 42 depots and Interlink Express 113. Quoting the biggest numbers avilable, Parceline employees are 4100 and Interlink 3300 (to be exact that is 4154 and 3381).
(Phil Foster, Marketing Manager – Research & Strategy
GeoPost UK Limited)

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ANC set fair with new deal

Posted by | Feb 16, 2006 | |

ANC Group’s six-strong management group has taken a majority shareholding and secured a new long-term equity investor. The result of the funding deal is that: RBS and Halifax BoS have exited the company; the management have added 50% of the company to their earlier shareholding and now own 73.75%; and Lloyds TSB Development Capital owns 26.25%, with a commitment to retain its stake for seven years. In total, the package of senior debt (provided by HSBC), working capital and equity totals (pounds sterling)37.3m; the breakdown is not disclosed and there is no indication of the valuation of the company. Chief executive Mark Gittins says the new funding allows the firm to continue with long-term investment; short-termism is dangerous in the parcels sector, he says.
ANC claims to be the sector’s fastest-growing independent and last year increased annual capacity by a further 35m parcels. It is handling “up to 200,000 parcels a day”.

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