Author: Archive

Royal Mail may axe final salary pension scheme

Posted by | Sep 25, 2007 | |

Royal Mail is braced for strike action as it proposes to axe its final salary pension scheme for existing as well as new employees, according to a trade union.
Union Unite, which represents 12,000 Royal Mail managers, said that it expects the postal company to unveil plans to close the scheme to new and existing staff, and to take away GBP 1.5 billion of benefits. Unite said that in a meeting today Royal Mail confirmed the plans to the union.
A spokesman for Royal Mail refused to comment on the details of the proposals, saying: “It’s something we want to talk to our staff about first before giving a steer outside the company.”
Royal Mail is expected to inform employees of the proposed changes this week. Unite, which referred to the plans as the “great mail robbery” is involved in ongoing talks with the postal company.
Unite said that plans included raising the retirement age from 60 to 65, and from April 1 2008 replacing the final salary pension scheme for existing staff with a career average scheme.
Paul Reuter, national officer at the Union, said: “We call upon Royal Mail to honor their commitment to preserve the past services benefits that have been built up and paid for by our members.
Royal Mail is already facing two 48-hour walk-outs next month by members of the Communication Workers Union, over pension changes and pay.

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GBP 720m in unused foreign currency brought back to UK

Posted by | Sep 25, 2007 | |

The Post Office is offering returning holidaymakers the chance to donate their leftover foreign coins to national charity Help the Hospices.

Collection boxes are now on the counters of 600 Post Office branches across the UK – allowing holidaymakers to get rid of unused foreign coins and raise funds for charity at the same time.

New figures out today from Post Office®Travel Services reveal that over GBP 720 million was brought back to the UK last year in leftover foreign currency.* When asked what they did with the cash, less than three in ten holidaymakers (29 per cent) actually changed it back into pounds sterling and just under a quarter (23 per cent) said they put it to good use on their next holiday.

Of the rest, nearly a third of people (30 per cent) simply stashed leftover foreign currency at home unused. One in 50 said they planned to use the money on a next holiday but could not find it when the time came. Just three per cent said they had donated the leftover cash to charity.

The foreign coin collection is the latest initiative in the three-year partnership between Royal Mail Group and Help the Hospices, which has raised over GBP 1.1 million since it began in March 2005.

The Post Office is the largest bureau de change provider in the UK with a 25 per cent market share. Customers can buy euros over the counter at over 7,000 “on demand” branches and a selection of other currencies at 1,400 branches. All 14,000 Post Offices offer a next-day currency collection service.

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Christian Salvesen receives two acquisition offers

Posted by | Sep 25, 2007 | |

Indicative offer proposals are subject to a number of pre-conditions

Christian Salvesen has released a statement that its Board has noted the recent movement in its share price. In response to this, the Board confirms that it has received approaches from two parties which may or may not lead to a recommended offer for the Company. The indicative offer proposals received by the Board are subject to a number of pre-conditions.

The Board is currently continuing discussions and will provide an update to its shareholders in due course. The Company stated, as is usual in such instances, that there can be no certainty that a formal offer for the Company will be forthcoming or as to the terms on which any offer might be made.

Following a recent dip in its share price, a sharp increase (of almost 30.0% at one stage) was seen this morning. The Company, with a market capitalisation of some GBP 159.2 million (rising to around GBP 176.0 million after share activity this morning), has been the subject of takeover and merger speculation and approaches in recent years, most notably when discussions with TDG failed to result in a deal in late 2004.

Salvesen has faced difficult trading conditions for a number of years and has initiated a programme of restructuring to improve efficiency across the Group, particularly across its UK and Spanish transport businesses and the European food and consumer business. Its results have reflected continuing challenges in the UK transport market.

In August 2007, the Company announced that it was to concentrate on its logistics business with the sale of its frozen vegetable business, Christian Salvesen Foods, comprising stock, plant, machinery, people and contracts to Pinguin Foods.

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Survey Reveals Top 100 U.S. Online Retailers’ Customer Service Shortfalls

Posted by | Sep 25, 2007 | |

With U.S. online retail sales for Q1 2007 totaling USD 31.5 billion, an astounding independent study has revealed that U.S. online retailers are failing in key areas of customer service, which has the potential to be devastating to the online retail market which is forecasted to reach USD 329 billion in 2010.

In a mystery shopper exercise conducted from April to June 2007, an overwhelming 34 pct of emails went unanswered by 100 of America’s top online retailers, with just over 50 pct of responses providing accurate and complete information. The findings of the audit are highlighted in a report published today by customer service specialist and leading Customer Interaction Management (CIM) software solution provider Talisma Corporation.

Talisma’s audit awarded each online retailer a score out of 100, based on a range of customer service criteria, including speed of response, accuracy, completeness of information provided, and the personalization of interactions. Although 93 pct of companies audited responded to phone queries within 30 seconds, only 5 pct were able to communicate with personalized content – by referring to caller ID or a customer profile. Personalization is increasingly being recognized as a critical factor in delivering customer service excellence. In fact, customers are beginning to expect to be acknowledged and treated as “special” on return visits across all channels of communication.

According to Jupiter Research, consumers’ expectations of service performance increase as they spend more time online. As such, the repercussions of poor service experiences also increase.

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Neopost announces the acquisition of PFE, a worldwide supplier of folders/inserters

Posted by | Sep 25, 2007 | |

Neopost announced the acquisition of PFE International Ltd, a worldwide supplier of folders/inserters.

PFE is a privately-owned UK company which was founded in 1963. PFE generated sales of GBP 29.3 million in 2006, of which almost 80 pct came from outside the UK. PFE has a distributor network covering 55 countries as well as 10 subsidiaries located in Australia, Austria, Belgium, France, Germany, Ireland, Portugal, Singapore, the United Kingdom and the United States. The company employs 480 staff.

A strong complementarily exists between Neopost and PFE’s lines of folding and inserting products. Neopost is mainly focused in the lower volume market while PFE is strongly focused in the higher volume market. The transaction will result in a more comprehensive product line and a reinforced distribution network as well as increased synergies with Neopost’s mailing systems. The companies signed an agreement covering the acquisition of most of PFE’s activities.

The activities to be acquired generated sales of GBP 27.5 million in 2006 with an EBIT margin of about 5 pct. The transaction will be based on an enterprise value of GBP 27.2 million, around one times sales, and will be financed by the existing credit lines. The transaction remains subject to approval by the relevant regulatory authorities.

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Middle East Transport & Logistics Market Report 2007

Posted by | Sep 25, 2007 | |

The Middle East’s position as an important trading region has been boosted by the
region’s continuing infrastructural development and diversification into non-oil
products and services. This growing import/export trade is not only within Middle
Eastern countries, but also on a global level.

While China, India and Eastern Europe are still widely predicted to be the largest
growth markets of the next decade or two, the Middle East is considered an
important region for expansion in the transport and logistics industry. An
eyefortransport survey of North American third party logistics operators (3PLs) earlier
this year identified the Middle East as one of the regions where trade links will
increase in number and significance. A similar survey among European 3PLs in 2006
indicated that the Middle East has more growth potential for logistics and transport
than either North or South America.

And in this 2007 survey of the Middle East, between 20pct and 30pct of all
respondents indicated that their business expansion strategies would include
development of their Middle East trade routes and infrastructure.

Straddling the crossroads of the major Asia-to-Europe and Asia-to-Africa trade
routes, the Middle East has historically been a strategic hub for east-west
intercontinental trade – not merely for transshipments, but it is also a huge trading
region in its own right for both merchandise and commercial services.

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VNPT seeks okay for reshuffling proposal

Posted by | Sep 24, 2007 | |

VNPT Group will not establish more than three telecommunication corporation affiliates in the north, central and southern regions under its reshuffling proposal.

The Ministry of Information and Communications (MoIC) has agreed in principle to allow the group to make changes to its restructuring proposal, but it must receive prime ministerial approval. VNPT wants provincial telecom companies to be separated from post offices and operate under its current direction instead of belonging to the regional telecommunication corporations as planned.

MoIC Minister Le Doan Hop said the separation of telecom and postal businesses would pave the way for the group’s Vietnam Post Corporation to start operating independently from early next year.

“The MoIC agreed with the reshuffling and the group must clearly explain its reasons for this change to the government and facilitate the operation of Vietnam Post Corporation along with ensuring operations for the provincial telecom offices,” said Hop.

The move comes amid a backdrop of telecommunications convergence market trends and fierce competition from other operators.

Pham Long Tran, acting president of VNPT’s board, said the original VNPT Group proposal was submitted to the government in 2002 and approved in 2005, and during that time network technologies have changed which the group must adjust to.

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