Express delivery group Business Post this week embarked on a media relations onslaught in a bid to take advantage of plans to deregulate the postal market. The group is aiming to raise its profile in the business and consumer press as postal regulator Postcomm finalises details of market liberalisation.
Read MoreAnother conflict was brewing last night between Consignia, the renamed Post Office, and its new regulator over the price Royal Mail can charge competitors for delivering mail over the “final mile”.
Sources said Consignia would expect to be paid around 20p a letter for sorting and delivering mail for rival operators – although discounts could be given for bulk mail. But consumer groups warned that access charges paid by competitors to use the Royal Mail network must be realistic. “No access means no competition,” they said last night.
Business Post, one of the UK’s leading express delivery companies, is pleased to note that, as part of its proposals to open up postal services in the UK to competition, Postcomm has today reaffirmed its original plans to introduce, in the first phase, competition to 30% of the UK letter market. Business Post confirms that it will be immediately applying to Postcomm for an indefinite licence, to be operational from 1 January 2003.
Read MoreA private postal company has been forced to delay for six months the introduction of a service to compete with Consignia after failing to reach agreement with the state-owned firm over the cost of doorstep deliveries.
Now Business Post has asked the independent industry regulator, Postcomm, to intervene and impose a tarrif on the two parties. Shares in Business Post fell 5% to 428p despite the company yesterday announcing a 19% surge in pretax profits to £15.1m for the year to March 31.
Business Post, one of the UK’s leading express delivery companies, announces an 18.9% increase in pre-tax profit to £15.1 m for the year ended 31 March 2002. In a subdued economic environment, the increase in operating profit margins to 11.1% from 9.9% was a particularly pleasing result.
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