Author: Archive

Postcomm is increasingly minded to award licences for a range of competitive postal services to those who come up with the most creative ideas and have the best chance to deliver their promises. In the case of a prolonged postal strike, this programme of change might be brought forward. There are three main contenders for a postal licence. They are: Deutsche Post, the former state-owned German postal service, which has stakes in the DHL and Securicor delivery services and has been mentioned as a buyer for Hays; TNT, which has been bought by the Dutch postal service; and Hays itself, the only UK-quoted company with a look-in. Hays already operates an upmarket delivery service for lawyers and accountants, and has made a convincing case that it could run highly competitive deliveries in major cities, including London, Manchester and Edinburgh. Moreover, if the regulator were to slice away one sector of the market, such as direct advertising, then an application from Hays or Deutsche Post, whose shares are now quoted, would find favour.