Tag: Europe

PZU to Cooperate with Poczta Polska

Posted by | Aug 7, 2006 | |

PZU group, Poland’s major insurance company, will co-operate with Poczta Polska state postal service. The latter launched similar co-operation with PKO BP a year ago. PZU’s management nominated its Deputy CEO for sales and products Piotr Kowalczewski to hold talks with Poczta Polska on Tuesday. Kowalczewski declined to provide details of the future joint enterprises of the two firms. Miroslaw Jakubowski of Poczta Polska divulged that the talks concerned tightening mutual relations. He said PZU hoped to sell its products at Poczta branches, of which there are 8,350 around the country. Since the national postal service already has insurance partners and controls wealth insurer Pocztowe Towarzystwo Ubezpieczen Wzajemnych, it will need to commission detailed analysis and prepare several variants of co-operation agreements with PZU. Nevertheless, many projects are being considered, including joint real-estate management. – Bank Pocztowy Concludes Agreement with PKO TFI

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Parcel services circle Belgian rival

Posted by | Aug 7, 2006 | |

Leading European parcels delivery groups were on Friday, Aug. 4, circling ABX Belgium, the domestic parcels service that the Belgian national railway company Société Nationale des Chemins de Fer Belges, or SNCB Holding, must sell by the end of the year.
An SNCB spokesman declined to comment on reports that several players — General Logistics Systems BV, or GLS, the Oude Meer, Netherlands-based European parcels arm of Britain’s Royal Mail Group plc; Dutch logistics, deliveries and postal services group TNT Holding BV; and the Belgian postal service De Post/La Poste — might drive in an offer.

However, the SNCB spokesman did confirm that “different parties” were interested in the business.
One banking source, who declined to be identified, said the three groups would be at the top of his list of likely buyers, though he thought France’s GeoPost SA, the parcels service of the French post office, should not be ruled out as a possible bidder. He also said United Parcel Service of America Inc., which last year bought U.K. parcel delivery group Lynx Express Ltd. and had signaled plans to grow further in the sector, could also be a player.
The parcels business, which the banker said could fetch around euro 70 million, roughly equivalent to annual revenue, has been carved out of ABX Logistics Worldwide SA/NV, the international freight-forwarding business that SNCB sold to 3i Group plc and Fortis Banque SA/NV on Aug 3

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Small firms balk at post increases

Posted by | Aug 6, 2006 | |

Smaller businesses are concerned that changes to the Royal Mail’s postage rates this month will increase costs and mean more administration.
A survey by the Forum for Private Business, which represents about 25,000 small and medium-sized UK firms, has revealed that more than a quarter of the companies questioned believe their postage costs will rise by 15 per cent or more.
More than 60 per cent of companies think that not only will their costs increase but that they will have to spend longer on administration after the new size-related system is implemented on August 21.

The “pricing in proportion” scheme is the first significant move in Royal Mail’s strategy to become a competitive business after the industry was opened to competition at the beginning of this year.

The change to the post office’s pricing is costing Royal Mail more than pounds 20m, including pounds 10m spent on a marketing campaign.

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TNT Aims To Strengthen Parcel Operations, Mulls Acquisitions

Posted by | Aug 4, 2006 | |

Dutch postal and express company TNT NV aims to strengthen its European Express activities, and could make an acquisition such as Belgian parcel service ABX, spokesman Pieter Schaffels said Friday.
TNT’s European Express is its express delivery service for packages. With an operational hub in Liege, Belgium it handles package traffic from 67 European airports.
Schaffels declined to comment on whether TNT has made a bid for ABX Logistics SA, which is part of NMBS Holding Ltd.
Earlier Friday, Belgian newspaper De Tijd reported that three European postal groups are bidding for ABX, among them U.K.’s Royal Mail, The Belgian Post Group and TNT.
Under European Union regulations, ABX must find a buyer before NMBS merges with U.K. company 3i Group PLC.
With a market share of 21%, TNT is the largest European express delivery company. Chief Executive Peter Bakker has said he wants to further strengthen the division in Europe. “We always look at takeover opportunities to achieve that,” spokesman Schaffels said.

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Wales attractive to businesses according to Royal Mail’s business barometer

Posted by | Aug 4, 2006 | |

Welsh towns and cities are proving attractive to both established companies and new start ups according to Royal Mail’s latest Business Barometer out today.

The Business Barometer*, a detailed analysis of active business growth within the UK, reveals that both Swansea and Newport moved into the top 10 UK towns and cities with the highest business population growth.

In Royal Mail’s business league for October 2005 – March 2006, Swansea jumped 13 places from its ranking in April – September 2005 to take second place with an impressive 4.11% increase. In the previous study, Swansea’s business population growth was 2.23%.

And Newport climbed 44 places to ninth spot with a 2.85% business growth compared with 1.74% previously.

The Royal Mail study also revealed that the Top 100 towns ranked by active business population show an average 2.96% business growth, an increase of 55% on the period April 2005- September 2005, which recorded an average rise of 1.78%.

Stockton-on-Tees in Cleveland topped the latest league table with 4.45% business growth while Liverpool secured third spot with 4.09%.

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