With just under two months to go until the postal market is open to full competition, TNT Mail UK chief executive Nick Wells reveals how the TPG-owned group is planning to break Royal Mail’s 350-year grip on the delivery business.
Read MoreRoyal Mail is planning one of the largest marketing campaigns in its 350-year history, thought to be worth nearly GBP15m, for the launch of its controversial pricing in proportion (PIP) scheme. The push, to target both businesses and consumers, will include a PIP ‘template’, allowing customers to work out exactly how much they will pay before going to the Post Office. Every UK household – about 26 million – is to be targeted. The campaign will feature a major direct marketing blitz. A Royal Mail spokesman says: “We will be using a mix of media to promote what is possibly the biggest change in the postal service’s history. We have already started communicating with more than 200,000 businesses, so that they can prepare for the new pricing structure.”
Read MoreThe postal route reorganisation planned by the Belgian postal service company De Post/La Poste might cost 1,000 full-time jobs, Lieve Vanoverbeke with the local ACV-Transcom trade union said on November 11, 2005.
The re-planning of the postal routes, dubbed Georoute 2, started on November 5, 2005 and will last between 16 and 18 months.
The introduction of the Georoute postal routes scheme in 2003 and 2004 was opposed by De Post/La Poste staff, who initiated strikes at a number of post offices.
Read MoreAustrian state-owned postal company Oesterreichische Post (Post AG) plans to buy German logistics company Transoflex for up to 500 mln euro (USD584.4 mln), Austrian daily Kurier reported on November 11, 2005. A Post AG spokesperson declined to comment the report saying the company had a growth programme which envisages acquisitions both in eastern and western Europe. The deal could be carried out by the end of 2005, according to Kurier. The 500 mln euro corresponds to Post AG’s total investments planned for expansion in the neighbouring countries by 2008.
Read MoreAs shares of the world’s fourth-largest package carrier fizzled Thursday, Wall Street matchmakers couldn’t resist thinking FedEx Corp. would be the perfect suitor. Dutch transportation company TNT NV lost more than 5 percent of its stockholder value Thursday, a day after a private German investor said he was putting together a group, including an unnamed strategic investor in the logistics field, to buy it. When nothing materialized, investors began jumping ship. Analysts say it’s very possible FedEx is the strategic investor, interested in buying the express delivery or logistics division, or both.
“It would give FedEx a strong presence within Europe and the ability to offer comprehensive logistics and supply chain solutions,” said Jon Langenfeld, analyst at Robert W. Baird & Co. While UPS has also been touted as a possible suitor, the move makes more sense for FedEx because UPS already has a strong presence in Europe and a logistics platform for nonpackage solutions. FedEx would not comment.
The government said Friday it has picked former Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corp. President Yoshifumi Nishikawa as president of a holding firm to be established in October 2007 for the privatization of Japan’s postal system. The government expects Nishikawa, 67, who is known for his leading role in tackling the disposal of bad loans at banks, to show his expertise and leadership. But his selection may be a shock for workers at Japan Post, the public corporation in charge of postal services, as the banking industry Nishikawa once represented is a strong critic of the state-run postal system, calling for a reduction in postal savings services. At a news conference held to announce the appointment, Heizo Takenaka, minister of internal affairs and communications, said Nishikawa accepted the post in a meeting with Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi on Friday.
Nishikawa, who also attended the press conference, expressed his resolve to push forward with the privatization, Koizumi’s pet policy.
Read MoreFederal Express Corporation has reach an agreement with its Chinese partner Tianjin DTW Group Co Ltd. to buy up Federal Express-DTW Co Ltd, a Beijing-based 50-50 express joint venture between both sides, a source disclosed on November 8. The acquisition will be announced at the end of November or the beginning of December, according to the source. After UPS paid up to USD 100 million to end a marriage with Sinotrans Ltd, FedEx is believed to also want a divorce from Tianjin DTW Group because it has long been eager to become a player that wholly owns its operations in China. For now FedEx has two acquisition solutions: to buy a 50% stake in the venture from Tianjin DTW Group or to buy both the stake and DTW Express Co Ltd, a service under its Chinese partner. FedEx inclines to the first one while Tianjin DTW Group to the second one. FedEx wants to buy the stake at a low price in order to gain the venture’s service network in China and not to additionally buy a repeated service network from Tianjin DTW Group, the source said.
Read MoreUK mail delivery company DX Services PLC warned annual profit is likely to fall below prior expectations owing to weak revenues from clients in the financial services and property industries. ‘Based on the year to date, results for the full year to 30 June 2006 may be around 5 pct below our previous expectations, with some 40 pct of the operating profit for the year arising in the first half,’ chairman John Maxwell said in a statement released ahead of today’s annual general meeting. He added that the success of arrangements to deliver residential mail with the Royal Mail, the country’s leading postal company, would have an important bearing on the full-year outcome.
Read More
Post & Parcel Magazine is our print publication, released 3 times a year. Packed with original content and thought-provoking features, Post & Parcel Magazine is a must-read for those who want the inside track on the industry.
