Author: Archive

No plans for UK Royal Mail sell-off

Posted by | Dec 12, 2004 | |

The Government today insisted it had no plans to sell off the Royal Mail.

The Department for Trade and Industry said ministers were not planning to privatise any element of the business.

A spokeswoman said: “We have no plans to privatise the Post Office, no plans at all. We have no plans to privatise any element of it.”

The unequivocal statement comes after reports that Royal Mail chairman Allan Leighton has privately been given permission to privatise a huge chunk of the business.

He has apparently been trying to persuade ministers it is the only way to ensure the company’s survival beyond 2007 when rival firms will be able to bid for contracts to deliver letters and parcels anywhere in Britain.

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UK Royal Mail set for partial privatisation

Posted by | Dec 12, 2004 | |

Royal Mail Group PLC chairman Allan Leighton has won a private pledge from the British government that he can partially privatise the 368-year-old mail delivery company, the Mail on Sunday reported.

The paper said the decision was the price Leighton demanded for staying on at the company for another three years.

The decision to hand 20 pct of the business to workers and sell off 31 pct on the market for around 4 bln stg could put Leighton on a collision course with the powerful Communication Workers Union.

Leighton reportedly plans to use some of the proceeds from the sale towards plugging the 2.5 bln stg hole in the Royal Mail’s pension fund in an effort to quell opposition.

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Saudi Post chief visits Emirates Post to enhance mutual cooperation in postal matters

Posted by | Dec 12, 2004 | |

Dr. Benten met Mr. Abdullah Al Daboos, Director General of Emirates Post, and held talks on a variety of mutually beneficial issues, with a focus on leveraging Emirates Post’s expertise for upgrading postal services in the Kingdom.

Dr. Benten later met a team of senior Emirates Post officials who briefed him on the ongoing as well as future projects of Emirates Post. Mr. Khaled Shahdoor, Assistant Director General, IT Sector, made a presentation covering the advances made by Emirates Post in various fields, especially in IT by developing the advanced POS systems that interlinks all postal outlets and speeds up transactions.

Dr. Mohamed Saleh ben Taher Benten, Chief of Postal Administration, Saudi Post, visited Emirates Post and discussed ways of expanding cooperation in the field of automation and innovative services in the postal field.

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UK Royal Mail sell-off wins go-ahead, says paper

Posted by | Dec 12, 2004 | |

Royal Mail Chairman Allan Leighton has won a private pledge from the government that he can partially privatise the state-owned postal service, the Financial Mail on Sunday has reported. But the Department of Trade and Industry denied there were any such plans. “We have no plans to privatise the Royal Mail,” said a department spokeswoman. The paper said the privatisation deal was the price Leighton demanded to stay on for another three years. On Thursday, the government said Leighton will serve a further three years as chairman of the Royal Mail, until March 2008. Leighton has been given the green light to hand 20 percent of the business to postal workers, and sell off 31 percent on the stock market for about 4 billion pounds, but this will put him on a collision course with the Communication Workers’ Union, the paper said.

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UK Royal Mail to increase price of first-class stamps

Posted by | Dec 11, 2004 | |

Royal Mail put the interests of its business customers firmly ahead of personal users yesterday by increasing the cost of first-class postage in a move designed to prepare the organisation for open competition in 2006.

Adam Crozier, the chief executive, announced he would raise the price of a first-class stamp by 2p to 30p from 7 April next year, and declared that the public could no longer expect to be subsidized by business customers.

The second-class stamp will stay at 21p and prices will fall for some business services, including Mailsort and CleanMail. Mr Crozier said: “Royal Mail last year lost about 5p for every first-class stamped letter and about 9p for every second-class stamped letter. Business customers cover those costs. As more competitors chase those big customers, we need to reduce that subsidy if we are to compete on a fair and equal basis.”

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UK postage prices to change to reflect costs of handling mail

Posted by | Dec 10, 2004 | |

The price of a basic First Class stamp will go up from 28p to 30p from 7 April 2005, Royal Mail confirmed today. Many business mail services will see very much smaller increases and, in some cases, real decreases, as Royal Mail takes the first steps toward rebalancing its prices to reflect actual costs and prepares for full competition in the market. The basic rate for Second Class mail will remain at 21p for all customers and overall the price of postage for 40% of Royal Mail’s daily mailbag of some 83 million items will not change.
Royal Mail’s Chief Executive Adam Crozier said that with the UK mail market potentially fully open to competition from January 2006, it was essential that Royal Mail’s postage prices started to reflect the true cost to the company of collecting, sorting and delivering mail. Mr Crozier also said that the current system under which some customers cross-subsidise others could not continue in an open market.

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U.S. wants Japan Post to have equal footing with private firms

Posted by | Dec 10, 2004 | |

The United States urged Japan on Friday to ensure that Japan Post will have an equal footing with private companies in express mail delivery, postal savings and insurance businesses after the state-backed entity is privatized, a U.S. government trade official said.

The official said it is important that the postal entity establish “a truly level playing field between Japan Post and its competitors in the insurance, banking and express delivery markets.”

The U.S. government made the request to the Japanese government when the two sides held working-level talks in Tokyo from Wednesday to Friday.

The talks are part of bilateral dialogue under the U.S.-Japan Regulatory Reform and Competition Policy Initiative. It is a key component of the Japan-U.S. Economic Partnership for Growth, launched in 2001 by Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi and U.S. President George W. Bush.

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Japan needs to stem foreign purchases of Japan Post units

Posted by | Dec 10, 2004 | |

The government needs to devise steps to prevent foreign firms from buying planned postal savings and insurance firms to be created through the privatisation of Japan Post, Internal Affairs and Communications Minister Taro Aso said.

Aso told a news conference, “It is necessary to prevent purchases by foreign companies and others.”

The government is to privatise Japan Post in stages from 2007 by dividing it into four firms, handling postal savings, insurance, mail delivery, and over-the-counter services, respectively.

Aso said the government will consider what methods should be adopted to block foreign purchases of savings and insurance units.

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