Postcomm today granted its third long term postal licence to Express Ltd, which will use its milk delivery network to provide postal services to business customers. The licence covers bulk mail, consolidation and enhanced document exchange services. The new standard licence, which will have a minimum life of seven years, replaces the interim postal licence formerly held by Express, which will now be revoked.
Read MoreA new report on Home Shopping from Mintel’s Retail Intelligence argues that retailers are missing out on a big opportunity in home shopping. However, the study finds the European home shopping sector continuing to lose retail share, with the few areas of sector growth failing to offset the slow declining big book mail order sector. While overall retail sales are predicted to grow by 16% between 2000 and 2005, mail order is expected to show an increase of just 8.2%, representing 2.7% of total retail sales in Europe by 2005. British shoppers are spending more per capita on home shopping than any other European country.
Read MoreA little-known underground railway carrying letters and parcels beneath London’s streets is to be mothballed at the end of May, according to a leaked memo circulated to Royal Mail employees. The 75-year-old Mail Rail network, which runs from Paddington to Whitechapel, has fallen victim to cost cutting. Its closure will come under attack this week from London assembly members, who say alternative uses for the line should be explored, including transporting valuable items such as money or jewellery. Talks to try to save the railway have been under way since November, with the Communication Workers Union staunchly opposing the closure.
Read MoreThe Brazilian subsidiary of the logistics multinational TNT inked a contract with Philips to distribute the consumer electronics produced by the company nationwide. The three-year agreement involves Reais 30mil turnover per year.
Read MoreUPS today reported solid first quarter results driven by its international and non-package businesses, with both segments generating strong revenue growth and record-setting profits. For the quarter ended March 31, 2003, revenue totaled USD8.02 billion, up 5.8% from the USD7.58 billion reported during the prior-year period. Consolidated operating profit fell 0.2% to USD945 million. Net income increased 24.4% to USD611 million compared to the prior year’s USD491 million.
Read MorePakistan International Airlines (PIA) plans to start a courier service in an alliance with the Pakistan Post Office by the middle of the year. The new service named “Speedex” is aimed at grabbing a slice of the USD86.4 million courier business in the country, the PIA official said.
Read MoreSingapore Telecommunications will float its Singaporean postal operations as early as next month, with plans to raise DS684 million (USD627.5 million). SingTel said it planned to sell 60 per cent of the postal business, with 1shares on offer at a price that could reach USD60c each. Final pricing will not be set until May 7, with shares expected to start trading on May 14, the company said. SingTel’s proposed float of the postal business places a value of DS1.1 billion on the division, around 10 to 11 times earnings for the 2002 year.
Read MoreThe U.S. Postal Service violated federal regulations and undermined management’s credibility when it failed to disclose anthrax test results promptly to workers at a contaminated Connecticut mail facility, the General Accounting Office charged in a report released yesterday. The GAO said postal officials did not comply with Occupational Safety and Health Administration rules in early 2002 when they did not fulfill a request for test results from union representatives at the Southern Connecticut Processing and Distribution Center in Wallingford.
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