Year: 2005

UK govt should extend Royal Mail dividend exemption to help pension fund deficit

The government should extend Royal Mail’s exemption from dividend payments to help ease its pension deficit and allow it to invest in its network, a committee of MPs said. In a report, the all-party Trade and Industry committee accepted that postage prices would have to rise to help bridge the 4 bln stg deficit in the fund. Earlier this month Royal Mail was given the go-ahead by industry regulator Postcomm to raise the price of a first-class stamp to 36p to help fund the shortfall. This will provide an extra 320 mln stg a year and help to pay off the difference over anything from eight to 17 years, depending on equity market performance. However, the committee warned that the government should take its share of the blame for taking 2.3 bln stg in dividends from the business between 1984 and 1999, depriving it of investment capital.

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Business postal customers win wrongly withheld GBP40 million in compensation battle

In a landmark Judgment the High Court has found in favour of the postal watchdog, Postwatch, against the economic regulator, Postcomm. This is the first time a Consumer Council has successfully Judicially Reviewed an industry regulator. Millie Banerjee, Chair of Postwatch, commenting on the High Court’s decision said: “We are, of course, delighted the Judgment is in our favour. This is an important outcome ensuring Royal Mail’s customers receive the GBP40 million of withheld compensation they were due for service failures in 2003/04. Customers have been patient but hopefully can now see light at the end of what has been a long legal tunnel. One of our first challenges is to put in place the processes that will ensure Postwatch and Postcomm work jointly to achieve the right outcomes for customers. Royal Mail now needs to deliver what the Court has decided and pay in full the compensation due to customers.”

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Postbank buys 850 Deutsche Post branches

Postbank, the banking arm of Deutsche Post, said Tuesday it had agreed to take over 850 branches belonging to its parent company for 986 million euros (1.2 billion dollars). “We will take over the 850 most lucrative branches of Deutsche Post from January 1,” Postbank said in a statement.

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EU to approve creation of French postal bank

The European Commission will approve on Wednesday the creation of a new entity which will regroup the banking activities of France’s La Poste, said a source close to the case.

The commission, which has been examining the case for several months, will only give its ‘partial’ approval, the source said, as Brussels can only give a general green light, but leave other issues untouched, such as the ‘Livret A’ savings account distribution monopoly which La Poste has with the Caisses d’Epargne.

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Austria Post and TNT are evaluating co-operation in Slovenia

Considering economies of scale, Austrian Post has decided to change its strategy in the Slovenian parcel market towards a partnership model. Austrian Post and TNT are currently engaged in negotiating a respective agreement. This agreement is expected to be signed by year end.
Anton Wais, CEO of Austrian Post: „Our current business strategy for parcel logistics in South Eastern Europe requires a flexible approach that can be tailored individually to local market environments. In a small market like Slovenia bundling of resources is crucial and therefore we give preference to a co-operation model.“

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Dutch TPG Post to buy German mailXpress

TPG Post will take over German regional mail delivery company mailXpress GmbH in Stuttgart, TNT Post said on December 19, 2005. The acquisition will come in effect on January 1, 2006. Financial details of the deal were not disclosed.
With the acquisition, TPG Post will expand its network in the region of Stuttgart, southwestern Germany.

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DHL announces rates for 2006

DHL Express (USA) today announced new rates effective February 5, 2006, in line with recently announced annual increases in the express and parcel industry, including a 5.5% increase for DHL Domestic Air Express and International Express and a 3.9% rise for DHL Ground Service. Concurrent with the 2006 rate changes, DHL will institute a cap of 14.5% on its published fuel surcharge for Domestic Air Express and International Express, a move that will allow customers to better predict and control their transportation spending, and will reduce the index used to determine its air fuel surcharge by 2%, resulting in an effective rate increase for DHL Domestic Air Express and International Express services of 3.5%. The fuel surcharge index calculation for Ground products remains unchanged. Rates for DHL@Home, the company’s expedited business-to-residence shipping service, will increase an average of 6.5%, effective January 2, 2006.

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Compensation case victory for UK bulk mail customers

Thousands of Royal Mail customers who have received poor service could be in line for new compensation payments following a High Court ruling today. The Consumer Council for Postal Services, known as Postwatch, won a legal challenge against Postcomm, the UK postal regulatory body. The case arose after Postcomm refused last January to order the Royal Mail, which has already paid out some GBP35 million, to pay another GBP35 million to users of bulk mail services which were not up to standard. Postcomm declined to make an enforcement order under the 2000 Postal Services Act for the financial year 2003-4. Postwatch argued that Postcomm was under a statutory duty to enforce. Today, Mr Justice Sullivan, sitting at the High Court in London, ruled in favour of Postwatch but gave Postcomm and Royal Mail time to consider appealing to the Court of Appeal.

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The Mail & Express Review (MER) Magazine is our quarterly print publication. Packed with original content and thought-provoking features, MER is a must-read for those who want the inside track on the industry.

 

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