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TNT plans aggressive UK expansion

Posted by | Jul 30, 2007 | |

TNT, the Dutch mail group, is planning a further aggressive expansion in the UK and elsewhere in Europe in a new drive to offset its declining postal business at home.

Executives said in Amsterdam that the company was raising its forecast for volume growth in its European mail networks (EMN) division – mainly Britain and Germany – to between 30 pct and 35 pct this year from 25 pct and its operating margin to 17.5 pct from 17 pct. Volume growth was 37 pct in the second quarter.

TNT, which has capitalized on the running series of strikes by postal workers at Royal Mail, said organic growth in EMN was up 21.3 pct in the first half, driven overwhelmingly by its UK business. It has started up a new parcels business in Britain. But mail volumes in Holland declined by 3.5 pct in the second quarter.

The former Dutch monopoly, one of Royal Mail’s biggest new rivals, has already indicated that it plans to develop a full-scale network in Britain rather than use that of its UK rival to deliver mail. Peter Bakker, chief executive, said today the group’s new strategy would be disclosed in December.

Giving an upbeat outlook for the full year, Mr Bakker said operating income fell 2 pct in the second quarter to EUR 330 m (GBP 223 m) because of one-off costs but half-year sales were up 9.6pct at EUR 5.4 bn and profits up 2.6 pct at EUR 681m. TNT is raising the interim dividend by 15 pct to EUR 0.30 and initiating a further EUR 500m share buy-back.

Mr Bakker made plain that TNT is worried by the delayed date – 2011 rather than 2009 – for the introduction of full-scale liberalization of EU postal markets and the impact of this in Germany which is due to bring in full competition for Deutsche Post next year. Britain’s market has been open to competition since 2006 and TNT is active in eight of the 27 domestic European markets.

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Empost signs for new courier system

Posted by | Jul 30, 2007 | |

UAE courier service Empost has deployed a courier and consignment tracking application from Avanza in a bid to improve efficiency.

The new core front post office system is designed to provide Empost with an end-to-end tracking capability, allowing the courier to follow a parcel from arrival in its system to its transfer to another courier service or the addressee. It also allows Empost staff to book and amend jobs, allowing comprehensive call centre functionality.

“Empost wanted to revamp its core postal front office system; the previous system was on an older technology,” said Muzaffar Jamil, regional manager at Avanza. “The project also included interfacing with multiple hardware systems for the front office, and handheld devices for the riders. The availability of the system is also very critical since Empost provides the main postal service across the UAE, and a small downtime can create a lot of problems.”

One of the requirements was to add Empost branding to the procuct, because Empost wants to project its experience to to other postal systems. “Empost also has mail rooms at external organisations, such as banks and government ministries, to facilitate the mail dispatches and pickups. This solution enabled Empost to extend its automation to these mail rooms resulting in central storage and reporting of consignments details and status,” said Waqas Mirza, project manager at Avanza.

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Malta privatizes postal company

Posted by | Jul 30, 2007 | |

The Maltese government said on Monday it was privatizing Maltapost, the Maltese postal company, transferring the majority shareholding to Lombard Bank Malta and floating 40 percent of the shares on the Malta Stock Exchange.

Public Investments Minister Austin Gatt said that the bank, which already has a 35 percent stake, will buy a further 25 per cent stake for 2.4 million euros. The remaining government shareholding will then be floated.

Maltapost currently enjoys a monopoly in addressed mail items of under 50 grams and is the biggest operator in the delivery of heavier postal articles. It has post offices all over Malta.

Lombard Malta is Malta’s third largest bank but accounts for only a tiny fraction of Maltese banking business with just four branch offices.

The Maltese banking sector is dominated by HSBC Malta and Bank of Valletta, but a Portuguese bank, the Banif group, recently announced plans to involve itself heavily in Maltese retail banking.

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TNT profit from continuing operations up 12.0 pct – 10.0 pct increase in group revenues

Posted by | Jul 30, 2007 | |

Group revenues increased by 10.0 pct in the second quarter to reach EUR 2,689 million. Operating income of EUR 330 million was slightly (-2.1pct) below last year’s Q2 mainly explained by some significant one-off items in last year’s numbers.

The profit attributable to shareholders was EUR 244 million, an increase over last year of 16.7 pct.

Strong revenue growth in Express (+14.1 pct) propelled the Group’s revenue increase. Our growth in international volumes remained strong at a solid double digit percentage, whilst domestic volumes developed slightly better than the market in general, at low single digit.

The integration of the Express acquisitions made good progress, with a marked service quality upgrade in India, the launch of a new truck fleet in China and better than expected results in Brazil. The operating margin of Express remained solid at 10.1pct, excluding the effect of acquisitions.

The trend in Dutch addressed mail volumes was ‘as expected’ (-3.5pct, day-count adjusted), with a favourable price/mix effect reducing the impact on revenues. Revenue growth in EMN was 33.3pct (37.0 pct for the half year). The operating margin decreased compared with last year in Mail overall, affected by one-off elements in Q2 2006 and higher start-up costs in EMN.

The 2007 interim dividend is set at 30 cents (2006: 26 cents), up 15.4 pct.

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Correos renovates equipment and vehicles fleet

Posted by | Jul 30, 2007 | |

Correos will invest EUR 1.5 million for the purchase of 2,000 trucks and 499 sorting machines. Correos expects to improve the mail sorting process and intern transport between the Correos postal offices and depots.

Correos will also acquire 4 vans with 3.5 Tn. of capacity. The investment of these vehicles is € 150,000.

These acquisitions represent € 1.7 million and are part of Correos’s equipment renovation plan for 2007.

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Charities fear reduced income due to postal strikes

Posted by | Jul 30, 2007 | |

Major UK charities fear that the UK-wide postal strikes could reduce fundraising revenue.

Response rates are set to suffer because of the strikes, with some smaller charities likely to experience the biggest problems with income over the two-week strike period.

“The postal strike has not only delayed the appeals we have sent out to donors, but it has postponed incoming funds from those who want to help us support disabled people,” said Karen Barnes, head of direct marketing and legacies at Scope.

However, Barnes stressed that the charity had taken steps to ensure that the services it provides were not affected.

Geraldine Cetin, marketing manager for acquisitions at the Royal National Lifeboat Institution said that in combination with the recent flooding across large areas of the UK, the strikes could prove most detrimental to smaller charities, which lack the contingency funds of larger organizations.

As well as delays to campaigns, charities are concerned about the strike’s potential impact on response rates and subsequent income.

“If donors receive two-week’ worth of mail in a couple of days, response rates will decrease,” said Andrew Jones, head of direct marketing at the Royal British Legion. “The strike could mean that we have significantly reduced direct mail income for two weeks.”

Jones also highlighted problems with response management at mailing and fulfillment houses and disruption to planned campaigns as further issues.

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French e-retail growing at 42 pct

Posted by | Jul 30, 2007 | |

E-commerce in France is growing at 42 pct according to the French e-commerce association ACSEL. The industry turned over 2.7 billion Euros during the second quarter of 2007.

This growth is partly due to an increase in the number of e-retailers as well as French shoppers’ growing confidence in e-retail. Some 19 million people now shop online, an increase of 22 pct over the same period last year.

E-commerce in France is growing at 42 pct according to the French e-commerce association ACSEL. The industry turned over 2.7 billion Euros during the second quarter of 2007.

This growth is partly due to an increase in the number of e-retailers as well as French shoppers’ growing confidence in e-retail. Some 19 million people now shop online, an increase of 22 pct over the same period last year.

Further details of the French e-retail market is available (in French) on ACSEL’s site. A delegation from the Association will be visiting the Internet Retailing conference in London on 2 October and is keen to meet with UK e-retailers.

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DHL reduces aircraft noise levels in Riverside, CA

Posted by | Jul 30, 2007 | |

DHL has announced plans to reduce noise impacts on the local community by changing out certain aircraft used during its night-time operations at March Air Reserve Base in Riverside, California.

Working with its contract airlift provider and leaders from the March ARB Joint Powers Commission, DHL will replace one DC-9 aircraft currently in operation with a quieter aircraft in September this year.

The company also continues to work with its airlift providers to potentially remove a second DC-9 from its operation in Riverside, as soon as September.

Red Alexander, DHL Express’ vice president for aviation & commercial transportation, acknowledged that switching aircraft presents considerable operational and financial challenges for the company.

However, in order to enable daytime ground deliveries, overnight delivery service providers must fly at night, so DHL hopes to reduce the impact by using the quietest planes practicable.

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