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UK Business Post AGM trading update

Posted by | Jul 12, 2005 | |

At the AGM today of Business Post, the UK’s leading independent express delivery company, the Chairman, Peter Kane, will state: “In the first quarter of the financial year, to 30 June 2005, revenues in Parcel Services were 9% ahead of last year, benefiting from continued strong growth in HomeServe and the higher rates of growth in the International market for cross-border shipments. Revenues in Express were ahead of last year but affected by market conditions which continue to be challenging. Accordingly, a number of initiatives have been undertaken to reduce costs. Within Specialist Distribution Services, revenue growth was 15% and profit margins continued to improve within UK Pallets. UK Mail made further progress, trading ahead of expectations, increasing its market share to around 1.25%, and successfully launching its service for unsorted mail.

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AJG wins the Lynx deal for SW Scotland

Posted by | Jul 11, 2005 | |

AJG Parcels, which specialises in the Scottish Highlands and islands, is now representing Lynx Express in the Argyll and Campbeltown area. The company is subcontracted by “all but one or two” of the national parcel groups, said project manager James Barkley.

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UK Regulator rebuffs Royal Mail attacks

Posted by | Jul 11, 2005 | |

The postal services regulator has rebuffed Royal Mail’s attacks on its proposed price controls, dismissing the company’s warning it would be sent into a spiral of decline as “only to be expected”. Sarah Chambers, the chief executive of Postcomm, told a London conference the regulator did not intend to relax its proposals simply because of the Royal Mail’s intense lobbying. Ms Chambers said the watch-dog was prepared to listen to new evidence during the consultation on the proposals, which are due to be finalised in November. But she added that Postcomm’s financial analysis of Royal Mail was based on “evidence we’ve extracted – and it does feel like extraction sometimes – from Royal Mail”.

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Deutsche Post chief backs opposition’s VAT proposal

Posted by | Jul 11, 2005 | |

Germany’s opposition Christian Democratic Union, the favourites to win federal elections expected in September, have won the powerful support of one of the most prominent German businessmen for an increase in value added tax to help offset the country’s high labour costs. Klaus Zumwinkel, chief executive of Deutsche Post, Europe’s biggest postal group, called for an increase in VAT from 16 to 20 per cent in order to finance the country’s creaking social security system, which is funded by levies on employees and employers.
Non-wage labour costs are widely regarded as the biggest obstacle to cutting unemployment from a post-war high of almost 5m. In an interview with the Financial Times, Mr Zumwinkel said that Germany’s cradle-to-grave welfare system, dating from the time of Bismarck in the 19th century, “has to be dramatically changed. . . The only solution is an increase in VAT. It has to go to 20 per cent”.

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Record quality performance by UK Royal Mail

Posted by | Jul 11, 2005 | |

Royal Mail’s postmen and women have delivered to customers a record performance during April to June with a target-beating 93.4% of First Class letters arriving the day after posting, it was announced today. The performance for the spring quarter is the best in a decade and shows an improvement on the record performance during the January to March period, according to the early results from independent research into the letter service across the UK’s 121 postcode areas. Adam Crozier, Royal Mail’s Chief Executive, said: “Royal Mail is determined to do even better than the record quality of service our postmen and women are delivering. “Independent research is showing our performance running at a world-class level but Royal Mail wants to be demonstrably the very best and most trusted postal service in the world.”

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Swiss Parcels Market

Posted by | Jul 11, 2005 | |

Meanwhile, the liberalisation of the swiss parcels market last year has driven competition to the heart of the business ultimately leading to a 2% decrease in parcels volumes for swisspost last year, according to Daniel Baettig chief financial officer.

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Minor Pallet Networks will ‘collapse’

Posted by | Jul 11, 2005 | |

Weaker and smaller pallet networks will eventually go to the wall, according to Jim Scanlan MD of The Hazchem Network who previoulsy founded fortecand the Pallet Network.
The model would evolve as the larger privately owned membership networks bgun opening their own corporate depots, especially in metropolitan areas. No merges between networks were likely, however, as member hauliers would then have overlapping postcodes.

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Retaliers and carriers diverge on service/cost prioritisation

Posted by | Jul 11, 2005 | |

A curious discrepancy was highlighted by Alan Jones, the former MD or TNT Express who now chairs Metapack. Apparently, 70% of retailers say they put service first when looking for a parcel service, yet 90% of carriers say retailers put cost first.
Brian Templar, chairman of consultant Davies & Robson Logistics, confirmed that price came fifth or sixth in the list of why shippers changed their carrier.

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