France’s La Poste said full-year net profit surged 85 pct to 374 mln eur from 202 mln a year earlier.
Operating profit in the full year came in at 523 mln eur, up 69 pct from 310 mln last time, on sales up 3.7 pct at 18.677 bln compared with 18.004 bln in 2003, the French postal service said.
Read MorePaced by its growing international package operation, UPS today reported a strong 16.2% gain in net income for the first quarter of 2005. Consolidated revenue for the three months ended March 31, 2005, rose 10.8% to USD9.89 billion, reflecting in part the addition of revenue from the recently acquired Menlo Worldwide Forwarding. International package revenue climbed 13% while US package revenue rose 2.8%. Operating profit rose 13.8% to USD1.39 billion compared to USD1.22 billion for the prior-year period. International operating profit jumped 25.6% to USD348 million, while US domestic operating profit increased almost 13% to USD1.03 billion.
Read MoreDHL Global Mail opened its first distribution centre outside London yesterday as part of its plans to be a national network rivalling Royal Mail for business post. The German postal operator, which is one of eight companies licensed to handle UK mail, already has a contract to use Royal Mail’s extensive delivery network for “the final mile”. Similar arrangements have been made with other licensed carriers ahead of the introduction of full competition next January.
However, DHL hopes that by building its own network for business-to-business deliveries it can guarantee a faster, more reliable service than the national carrier. The new service, called Smartmail Citispeed, aims to deliver 99 per cent of mail on time, including the option of overnight delivery.
Palletways has begun operating a pallet hub in Nijmegen, The Netherlands, covering the Benelux countries, Western Germany and Northern parts of France. These areas are served by 13 member companies, but Palletways has a three-year recruitment programme to have 61 members feeding into the hub by the end of 2008.
Read MoreThe Pallet Network says it is to focus on developing its European operations this year and next, but that it will not attempt to keep up with its rivals’ increasingly complex information technology. Managing director Adam Leonard, speaking at the new hub at Rugby to which the company relocated in January, said the network is in talks with potential partners based in Germany, France and Switzerland. It recently launched TPN Ireland and already has a service to Benelux. Leonard said the network moves around 3,500 pallets a night. “Growth will be controlled by the members but we would like to achieve 4,500 pallets by the end of the year,” he says.
Read MoreLast night the United States Postal Service along with a number of prominent companies won excellence awards for their deployment of interactive self-service applications. The USPS won three first place awards for the Automated Postal Center. Janet Webster, Manager Retail Service Network and Access Management for the United States Postal Service was named Deployer Leader of the Year and was recognized for the strategic role she has played in driving the Postal Services kiosk deployment.
Read MoreDHL Global Mail is further expanding its domestic mail activities in the United Kingdom, thereby strengthening Deutsche Post World Net’s international mail network. The goal is to offer business customers in all important United Kingdom trade centers domestic and international mail services, possible until now only in Greater London. Additionally, Global Mail’s British network will be expanded by additional regional distribution centers by year-end. The first new center, where operations have just started up, is located in Manchester and serves Northwest England.
Read MoreThe US Postal Service is looking for input on its next Strategic Transformation Plan for 2006 through 2010, according to a notice published Monday in the Federal Register. The current strategic plan covers 2002-06. It was created in 2002 in response to calls from Congress and the comptroller general for a transformation plan addressing the challenges confronting the USPS. The update will extend the ongoing transformation of the postal service, the USPS said. Publication of the update is expected by Sept. 30.
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