– Net sales increased one percent to SEK 18,215m (17,954)
– Mail and parcel volumes grew; financial service transactions fell
– Operating earnings were SEK 681m (-417). Earnings for the period include provisions totaling SEK -135m (-419) and capital gains of SEK 206 (-1)
– After-tax earnings improved to SEK 789m (-401)
– Cash flows before financing activities were SEK 289m (-868)
In Spain, the public works ministry has begun talks with private postal operators, state-owned postal operator Correos, trade unions and consumer groups to approve an amendment to the Postal Services Act of 1998. In practice, it would appear that the amendment would benefit Correos: in return for an extension of universal postal service obligations, according to which Correos would have to provide postal services to all parts of Spain, the government would pay the postal service provider subsidies and ensure Correos’ monopoly in certain areas. The implementation of the latter measure in particular would effectively reduce the size of Spain’s deregulated postal market. These measures are at odds with measures being proposed in neighboring countries.
Read MoreIn its meeting of November 6, the Supervisory Board of Deutsche Post World Net renewed the appointment of Klaus Zumwinkel as Chairman of the Board of Management until November 2008. The appointment of Hans-Dieter Petram as Member of the Board of Management for the Mail Corporate Division was similarly renewed until November 2007. Uwe Doerken has vacated his mandate as Member of the Board of Management. He will remain affiliated with the Group as Special Commissioner of the Chairman of the Board of Management. John Mullen (49) was newly appointed as Member of the Board of Management, with his term of office to run until the end of 2008. His area of responsibility is the DHL Express Americas, Asia Pacific and Emerging Markets (EMA) Board Department.
Read MoreAltadis SA affiliate Cia de Distribucion Integral Logista SA said it has completed the acquisition of La Poste Group’s Geopost Logistics Holding (GLH) for 12.8 mln eur. GLH posted revenue of 69.4 mln eur in 2003, Logista said, adding that its activities will allow the Spanish group to gain a foothold in the French market for promotions at service stations, travel agents and bank branches.
Read MoreA plan to subcontract out the delivery of mail in rural areas is among a set of radical proposals being discussed by management and unions at An Post. Under the proposals, self- employed postmen would be responsible for making deliveries using their own vans and they would not be on the An Post payroll.
The concept would not apply to major urban centres which are less costly to service. An Post is anxious to implement major change at the company’s “collection and delivery” operation. An Post faces an operating loss of EUR30 million for this year. Its chief executive, Mr Donal Curtin, has spoken about the company being on a financial “knife edge”.
Royal Mail today welcomed Channel Four’s acknowledgement that a key part of April’s Dispatches film concerning the alleged theft of a Barclaycard was inaccurate, and that a mock-up of a postal worker stealing money from a birthday card in a newspaper advertisement for the programme was not backed up by any similar acts filmed by undercover reporters. Chief Executive Adam Crozier said, “Royal Mail and its people face more scrutiny in the media than most organisations. That’s fair enough – but from time to time when a real inaccuracy is portrayed, we need to intevene to ensure that our side is put across in a fair and balanced way.“
Read MoreThe European Commission confirmed that it has received an complaint against Deutsche Post World Net AG, which said yesterday it faces allegations it flouted state aid rules by allowing its Postbank unit to use Deutsche Post outlets at below market rates. The commission said the complaint was brought by EP Europost AG, which is a letter and parcel delivery company owned by TPG NV.
Amelia Torres, competition spokeswoman, said: ‘The company (EP Europost AG) complained in June. After we received that we decided to send a letter to the German government asking for more information. We are waiting for a reply.’
She added that the commission is expecting a reply from the government in the next few weeks.
Royal Mail outraged the consumer watchdog Postwatch yesterday by proposing to charge less for franked mail than for customers who buy stamps. Peter Carr, chairman of Postwatch, called the proposals “a bloody riot”, adding that large numbers of small businesses, as well as residential customers, would be affected by the change. “We’re not at all happy with this,” he said. “First, we do not condone any price increases until service standards improve. And we don’t agree with metered-mail customers getting a better deal. “We’ve had four years of continually higher prices and service standards have not improved.”
Royal Mail is proposing to charge customers with franking machines a penny less per item of first-class mail, while businesses with pre-paid envelopes will be charged the same rate.
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