ABX Logistics has agreed to sell its French domestic parcel delivery business to its current MD, Jackques Caille. A company officeial told IFW that ABX Logistics France, which has been the focus of restructuring plans over the past 18 months or so under Cailles leadership, was still making losses but declined to comment on the scale of its financial difficulties.
Read MoreAn unprecedented study has taken data from 9.4 million direct mail packs sent by brand owners to consumers, and matched it with their purchases, as tracked by the Tesco Clubcard database. The results, exclusively published in Marketing Direct, show that direct mail provides significant short- and long-term positive effects on the sale of fast moving consumer goods (FMCG).
The two-year study set out to examine the actual effects that direct mail has on consumer behaviour. Commissioned by Royal Mail and conducted by Dunnhumby, the database and marketing consultancy that manages the Tesco Clubcard database, the study looked at 31 campaigns for 25 brands using information supplied by leading brand owners, including Unilever, Procter & Gamble, Masterfoods and Heinz.
The study looked at the purchasing habits of 10,000 consumers and more than nine million direct mail pieces, using Dunnhumby’s Crucible database, which anonymised Clubcard profiles to protect identities.
Read MoreNightspeed Secure Worldwide Express has delivered its own GBP 1 million investment in giant new trucks.
The Tipton-based group splashed out on 16 specialised double-deck trailers – one of the biggest double deck fleet upgrades seen in the industry this year.
Bosses said the move would improve reliability and efficiency of the crucial overnight trunking operation. Managing director Ian Pickford, said: ‘The investment in these double-deck units comes after a range of other key investments throughout the year in both the trunking and collection and delivery fleet.’
Read MoreSlovenska posta, the Slovak Post Office, expects to raise revenues by seven per cent to Sk8.106 billion this year, chief executive Jan Ptacin told reporters today. He added profits should reach Sk254 million. The company plans to focus on permanent profitability and on market liberalisation expected in 2009.
Slovenska posta also plans to change postcodes as of next year. The company expects to lay off 266 people to cut staff numbers to 16,421. Jozef Vavrek, director for operations, said Slovenska posta registered a nonstop increase in the number of deliveries, both inland and international, despite the boom in electronic mail and short messages.
The agreement between the troubled German retail giant KarstadtQuelle and Deutsche Post will see the express and logistics unit DHL taking over parts of the logistics operations of the retailer beginning in April. For Deutsche Post the new acquisition represents an opportunity to expand its market share in the growing German mail order sector.
KarstadtQuelle, the German department store operator, announced the agreement with Deutsche Post [DPW.F] following the green light from the German antitrust authorities. Although financial details were not disclosed, it is believed the logistics operation generates over E1.1 billion in annual sales. As part of the deal, DHL will take over KarstadtQuelle’s central warehouse in Unna, western Germany, the industry centers in Essen-Vogelheim and Brieselang, and a number of regional logistics centers, as well as part of Karstadt’s existing logistics business, Optimus.
Read MoreThe government has entered the final stage of negotiations on working out a system that will in principle not require universal service for parcel delivery after the privatization of the postal services in fiscal 2007, government officials said Saturday. The universal service will cover only ordinary mail items, including postcards, the officials said. In other countries, universal service is usually required for parcel delivery, but the government decided against this because the door-to-door parcel service in the private sector is highly developed. The current system requires Japan Post to submit to the Internal Affairs and Communications Ministry a report on its parcel delivery fees before it raises them.
Read MoreTroubled German retail giant KarstadtQuelle said on Monday it had agreed to sell parts of its logistics operations to the semi-privatised German postal service Deutsche Post in a deal which sources said was worth more than one billion euros (1.3 billion dollars). A spokesman for KarstadtQuelle declined to comment on the price. The activities, which KarstadtQuelle did not specify, would be sold to Deutsche Post’s express and logistics unit DHL, the retailer said in a statement. The transaction still had to be approved by the regulatory authorities, but was expected to take effect from April 1. The divestment represented a “further important step in KarstadtQuelle’s reorganisation programme,” the statement said. Deutsche Post already applied to the Federal Cartel Office last month for permission to buy KarstadtQuelle’s logistics activities.
Read MoreThe Serbian parliament completed Monday its debate in principle on the bill on postal services, which introduces market competition and liberalization and envisages the creation of an agency for postal services and integration in the European PTT system. All parliamentary parties except the Serbian Radical Party (SRS) supported the bill, describing it as revolutionary as regards competition, as it should lead to lower prices and better quality of service.
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