Business Post Annual Report 2007 – presentation
UK pallets Annual Report 2007 – presentation
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Royal Mail fears exodus
The exodus of big business from the Royal Mail could see as many as one in five letters being handled by competitors such as Dutch group TNT and the UK Mail arm of courier group Business Post, it has emerged.
Senior Royal Mail executive Stephen Agar has admitted latest figures show that about 12.5% of the post was lost to the competition last year.
But with major customers continuing to ditch the Royal Mail at alarming rates, Agar said that figure could rise to 20%.
The defection of companies with major bulk billing operations to Royal Mail’s rivals has become increasingly embarrassing for the former state postal monopoly.
Earlier this year, the £8m-a-year BBC TV licensing operation took its postal needs to UK Mail, following an earlier decision by the Department of Works and Pensions to switch its £12m-a-year contract to the same operator.
That followed the decisions, recently revealed by the Evening Standard, of BT and British Gas group Centrica to move to TNT for their mail needs, together worth GBP 150m over three years.
Most of the mobile phone companies, banks and utilities have also decided to quit Royal Mail, citing price and quality of service.
Royal Mail chief executive Adam Crozier, pictured, today defended the business’s ability to handle competition.
‘We’ve gone through the process [of market liberalisation] that BT went through over 25 years,’ he said. ‘We’ve concertinaed it into three.’
Read MoreBusiness Post sees FY 17 pct revenue growth
Business Post Group PLC said it expects full-year revenue growth of around 17 pct driven by continued strong performance of UK mail, and adds that its results for the year to March 31 will be in line with its previous expectations.
In a trading update, the parcel and mail delivery firm said it expects to report 18 pct revenue growth in the second half and that good progress is being made to develop Business Post into an independent integrated postal group.
The company affirmed that it will incur an exceptional cost of about 1 mln stg in the current financial year related to exit costs from the FedEx Corp contract, which is progressing satisfactorily, but this will be offset by an exceptional gain of 1 mln stg from a recent property disposal.
Preliminary results for the year to March 31 will be announced on May 23.
Read MoreRoyal Mail soars to victory in Courier Challenge 2006
Royal Mail topped the courier league for consistently delivering packages on time and at low cost, in a new ranking by Research International.
Rival courier services fell short against Royal Mail’s performance for its Special Delivery 9am and lunchtime guaranteed delivery services.
Early morning service costs averaged GBP 9.46 with Royal Mail, more than GBP 30 cheaper than competitor, TNT, at GBP 40.57. TNT came last for the morning service, leaving them trailing behind other couriers tested.
Royal Mail’s Special Delivery service was also cheapest among rivals for guaranteed next day delivery by lunchtime averaging at GBP 5.05, nearly GBP 23 less than its highest priced competitor.
The results illustrate Royal Mail’s winning combination in performance on promise at the lowest cost compared with its competitors. The five main national couriers were included in the independent study: Business Post, DHL, City Link, Royal Mail and TNT. A total of 2,479 test items were sent.
Test routes were selected to provide consistent transit times, as accepted by EU, Postcomm, DTI, IPC and Royal Mail.
Test items were prepared centrally for consistency too and reflected the most common business items sent by package type, size and weight. Items could not be identified as test items by the courier as senders placed items in each couriers own packaging.
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