Direct mail spending has fallen for the second year running, but the decline had been slightly offset by a rise in door-drops, according to a new report.
Thomson Intermedia and KPMG’s annual media spend figures for 2005 showed overall adspend increasing by 5.4%, with growth concentrated in TV and online.
The year-on-year decline in direct mail was reversed in the last quarter of 2005.
Royal Mail today admitted its services had been seriously compromised by the unofficial strike by hundreds of workers. Concerns about the impact of the strike were deepening today, but no new talks were scheduled to be held between union and management representatives. The strike at the Tomb Street depot in Belfast began last Tuesday and immediately halted deliveries to addresses across the south, west and north of the city. The dispute spread at the weekend to the Mallusk centre which sorts post for the whole of the province. In a statement today, Royal Mail said its services were now “seriously compromised” and apologised to the public.
Read MoreNow that the postal system is in full deregulation, what services are on offer for UK businesses? asks Rob McLuhan. After 350 years Royal Mail has finally lost its stranglehold over the postal market, and judging from the number of firms that have applied for licences, it would seem that operators in the field have been waiting for this moment. In January the postal service became fully deregulated, ending Royal Mail’s monopoly and offering choice to businesses and consumers for the first time. This follows a partial deregulation in 2003 that permitted private operators to deliver business mail in batches of 4,000 or more. The long overdue change is already cutting costs and raising the quality of a service seen by many as indifferent. With savings on offer of about five per cent, and more in some cases, many bulk mailers have jumped at the chance to slash their postal bills for at least part of their needs.
Read MoreDHL began construction at the end of January on its new terminal at the Vitoria airport. This came after a final contract for sale was signed with the company Clasa, in accordance with the terms agreed upon in May 2005. On a 12,000 sq. meter piece of ground the new facility will include a 3,600 sq. metre plant designed for sorting and distribution of parcels, and 1,400 square metres of office space. In addition to air freight management, the plant will have 12 land transport loading docks and capacity to handle 5,000 shipments per hour.
DHL has announced an investment of 7 million euros for the project.
Parcel group ANC has delivered a pounds 37.3 million buyout of the company. The management team has bought a 50 per cent stake previously held by institutional shareholders. The deal, backed by private equity firm Lloyds TSB Development Capital, sees the management’s equity increase to 73.75 per cent with LDC taking 26.25 per cent. Led by chief executive Mark Gittins, the six-strong team took over in 2001 and have overseen significant growth in both revenue and profits. Formed in 1982, ANC Group employs 58 people at its Birmingham depot and 5,000 in total. Mr Gittins said: “This deal confirms ANC Group’s position as the fastest-growing independent player in the UK. The express parcel sector is very competitive and ANC Group have not only held their unit cost base, but new investment has given us the capacity to handle a further 35 million parcels a year with our existing infrastructure. Our record in recent years of winning market share will continue.”
Read MoreRoyal Mail today threatened legal action against union officials representing postal workers on wildcat strike in Northern Ireland. The company said it did not think they had shown any real will to try to get the unofficial action in Belfast called off. It has written to a number of Communication Workers` Union representatives warning it could take action against them to recover financial losses caused to the firm by four days of unofficial action which has halted postal deliveries to much of Belfast. David Peden, Royal Mail commercial manager, said: “We have written to some individual union officials advising them they we may consider legal action. “Let`s be clear – there has been four days of unofficial action. We feel that there is no real evidence from union representatives to demonstrate any real will to get people back to work and are taking action accordingly.”
Read MoreThe United States wants Thailand to open the express delivery service sector so its firms can use the country as a gateway to expand to neighbouring countries in the Asean region in a prospective free trade agreement, according to Sompong Siriponsilp, director of the Transportation Institute of Chulalongkorn University. Sompong said yesterday that US companies wanted to establish Thailand as a service base to build trade networks and tap markets in Indochina and other parts of the Asean grouping. Thailand’s wide network in these regions would benefit US companies.
Thailand participates in many regional economic and social cooperation forums such as the Greater Mekong Sub-region, the Asean Free Trade Area as well as FTAs between Asean and other trading partners, he said.
Read MoreTNT is investing more in its operations in Thailand, a report in Krungthep Turkaij said. The managing director of TNT Thailand said the company would invest about 350 million baht this year to improve its logistics network. Last year TNT invested 97 million baht on a major project to develop its transport network in Thailand, Malaysia and Singapore.
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