Author: Archive

German government may extend Deutsche Post monopoly as EU liberalization lags

Posted by | Jun 5, 2007 | |

German economy minister Michael Glos is prepared to extend Deutsche Post World Net AG’s letter mail monopoly beyond the beginning of next year as it becomes apparent that a Europe-wide market liberalization likely won’t come before 2011, Handelsblatt reported, citing German government sources.

And European finance ministers are unlikely to agree at their upcoming meeting on a specific date on which they will open up the market for letter mail in their countries, the newspaper said, citing unidentified diplomatic sources in Brussels.

German media has said the liberalization of Germany’s mail market, which was initially planned for Jan 1, 2008, may be delayed if Germany cannot convince the other EU member states to open their markets as well.

Deutsche Post’s virtual monopoly on letter delivery for letters up to 50 grams is earmarked to expire at the start of 2008, with the EU seeking a continent-wide liberalisation of the market in 2009.

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First-class victory over Royal Mail's early collections

Posted by | Jun 5, 2007 | |

Royal Mail was told yesterday to scrap its policy of last collections at 9am or earlier.

The cost- cutting measure has meant many in rural areas have had to post first-class letters early in the morning to ensure delivery the next day.

But the industry regulator Postcomm has ordered that the last collection for most mail boxes should take place after midday.

Royal Mail is thought to have brought forward the times of last collection at 19,000 of its 116,000 post boxes.

Postcomm has demanded a review of the 7,000 boxes which have a final pick-up time before noon, with a view to switching to later collections.

Some 2,320 boxes have last collections at 9am or earlier.

Although the first of the changes are expected within five weeks some boxes will keep their morning cut-off times.

Earlier final collections are the most unpopular of a range of costsaving measures brought in by Royal Mail to fend off commercial rivals.

The policy has also made it much easier to hit targets for delivering first- class mail the next day.

Delivery times are measured from the moment post is picked up and not from when it is put in the box.

So a letter posted first-class on Monday afternoon – after that day’s last collection – would meet the next – day target when it arrives on Wednesday morning.

Postcomm, which conducted a poll of Royal Mail customers, stopped short of taking legal action and has given Royal Mail a grace period to review and change collection times.

If it fails to do so, the regulator could seek to rewrite Royal Mail’s operating licence to include set times for the last collection of post.

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Dutch parliament ends TNT's mail monopoly

Posted by | Jun 5, 2007 | |

The Dutch parliament passed the country’s new postal law on Tuesday, scrapping the remaining monopoly of mail company TNT NV in the Netherlands.

The law is due to take effect from January 2008 but includes an “emergency break” procedure to delay it if the government determines that TNT is hindered from effectively competing abroad, particularly in Germany.

TNT currently has a monopoly on letters up to 50 grams — around half of the 2 billion euro Dutch postal market.

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Korea Post focuses on high-tech mail service

Posted by | Jun 5, 2007 | |

Postal service has been traditionally regarded as a deficit-ridden business, largely due to its enormous labor costs. The president of Korea Post does not agree.

“Korea Post has strived to stay afloat by reducing unnecessary costs, increasing productivity and expanding businesses,” said president Jung Kyung-won, who took the helm of Korea Post in April this year.

Take Korea Post`s savings and banking service called EVERRICH as an example. It has recorded a net profit of 2 trillion (USD 2.2 billion) last year. EVERRICH has a 40 trillion won savings business and a 20 trillion won insurance business, the CEO said.

In less than two months since taking office, Jung has done a lot of things and will have a lot more to do during the remainder of his tenure.

Korea Post deals with several services including postal distribution, door-to-door delivery, international express mail services, and banking and insurance services. The state-run post has about 45,000 employees — 32,000 regular employees and 13,000 part-time workers.

“Korea Post has nearly 2,800 branches across the nation so that it can render banking and insurance services to residents of remote areas such as agriculture and fisheries towns, for which most private financial institutes cannot reach,” Jung said.

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Royal Mail agrees to examine customer concerns about earlier final collections

Posted by | Jun 5, 2007 | |

Postcomm has secured Royal Mail’s agreement to assess further the needs of its customers in all those geographic areas where the final daily mail collection is being made before noon.

Postcomm’s intervention was prompted by concerns raised over Royal Mail bringing forward some final collection times, mainly in rural areas, to as early as 9am. Postcomm wanted to find out how widespread these practices were and whether these changes cause significant problems for mail users.

Postcomm has reached an agreement with Royal Mail which has been informed by some extensive market research and by a public consultation. The consultation found that, although earlier collection times do not present any widespread problems, final collections at 9am do not meet customers’ needs.

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Preliminary results announcement for the year to 31 march 2007

Posted by | Jun 5, 2007 | |

Financial Highlights

– Revenue up 10 pct to GBP 899m (2006: GBP 819m)
– Underlying operating profit before exceptional decreased to GBP 18.1m (2006: GBP 20.7m)
– Underlying profit before tax and exceptional down to GBP 12.5m (2006: GBP 15.4m)
– Earnings per share of 17.90p (2006: 4.46p)
– Strong free cash flow of GBP 61m, reflecting the GBP 46m from the property sale & leaseback
– Significant reduction in net debt to GBP 39m (2006: GBP 94m)
– Final dividend unchanged at 2.45p

Operational Highlights

– Sales growth momentum continues
– New business wins ahead of last year at GBP 130m
– Food and Consumer sector performed strongly
– UK businesses had an excellent year
– Transport sector had a difficult year
– Review of UK Transport complete and turnaround actions underway
– France continued strong revenue growth with new wins
– Strengthened management team

Stewart Oades, Chief Executive, said:

“Whilst the continued improvement in growing the business through new wins and increased retention rates is pleasing, there remains much to be done. The markets we operate in are still highly competitive and the performance of UK Transport is not acceptable. We have completed a thorough review of this business unit and have put in place a plan to move this business back into profit. Although this will take time, UK Transport is an essential part of our strategy to create a pan-European shared-user business.

“In the current year we expect revenue growth to continue and anticipate some benefit from the restructuring, although it will take longer before we see the full impact.”

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DHL presents the major league baseball delivery man of the month award

Posted by | Jun 5, 2007 | |

Trevor Hoffman of the San Diego Padres was selected as the winner of the “DHL Presents the Major League Baseball Delivery Man of the Month Award” for May, it was announced today. This officially-sanctioned Major League Baseball (MLB) award recognizes the most outstanding relief pitcher during each month of the regular season.

In recognition of this honor, DHL will donate $1,500 to STAR/PAL, San Diego’s Police Athletic League chapter, in Hoffman’s name. This donation will be made in conjunction with the Baseball Tomorrow Fund (BTF), a joint initiative of Major League Baseball and the Major League Baseball Players Association. With this donation, STAR/PAL will have the opportunity to purchase a pitching machine package from ATEC, the official supplier of pitching machines and other training equipment for MLB. In addition, Hoffman will be recognized in a special advertisement in USA Today this week.

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New TNT service taps demand for speedier express service

Posted by | Jun 5, 2007 | |

Called the Emergency Express service, the premier delivery service literally ensures that a customer’s urgent overseas shipments get out on the first available flight and is timed around a customer’s schedule with 24X7 immediate response and pick up.

TNT’s latest innovation taps on the growing demand for even speedier express services as there is a strong need to maintain shorter business cycles and low downtimes to avoid holding inventory costs and obsolete products.

This is particularly the case among high tech and aviation industries where managing business continuity for enterprise customers is vital. The perishable nature of some specimens within the life science industry also requires time critical services.

TNT has put in place a dedicated Emergency Express team in Asia who are on standby 24 hours, seven days a week, to meet the critical on-time pick-up and delivery of urgent shipments.

Instead of using fixed express networks, TNT provides a customised routing system to select the first available flight out for immediate deliveries of urgent shipments. As a result, consignments on the Emergency Express service can reach any major city in South East Asia as fast as between six and 16 hours.

Currently available in all major cities across seven countries in Asia – namely Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Hong Kong and Japan – TNT has plans to expand the service to include Korea, Taiwan and China before the end of this year.

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