Tag: Europe

PostFinance quarterly results: 62,000 new customers and a solid profit

Posted by | Oct 21, 2008 | |

PostFinance has continued to expand at a brisk pace in 2008, lifting the number of customers by 62,000 and chalking up increases in both accounts and new money. At the end of the third quarter, profit stands at around CHF 200 million. Thanks to a cautious investment policy, impairment losses in the amount of CHF 95 million represent a milli-fraction of the overall investment portfolio.
PostFinance continues to grow apace. In the period to the end of September, Swiss Post’s financial arm attracted 62,000 new customers and saw an extraordinary surge in new account openings. The number of customer accounts rose by 222,000 to 3.56 million, an increase of 55 percent over the prior-year period (143,000 new accounts). In the space of a year, PostFinance has received CHF 4.8 billion in new money.
1 USD = 1.16529 CHF

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Lord Mandelson to face MPs' questions over economy and Royal Mail privatisation

Posted by | Oct 21, 2008 | |

The Business Secretary is expected to be asked about a newspaper interview in which he signalled support for the partial privatisation of Royal Mail, which drew condemnation from Labour colleagues and unions.
John McDonnell MP said: “This proposed privatisation of the Post Office by the newly anointed Business Secretary is madness. It would undermine an essential public service.
“In the current economic climate, throwing the Post Office to the wolves of the private sector will lead to further job losses and cuts in services on an unprecedented scale.”
Billy Hayes, general secretary of the Communication Workers Union, said: “Peter Mandelson has only just come back into Government, but he should be aware that there is a clear commitment from the Labour Government to keep Royal Mail in the public sector, restated earlier this year at the national policy forum in Warwick.
“At a time of economic instability the last thing the British public wants to hear is that privatisation is the solution to Royal Mail’s problems.”
Lord Mandelson is also under fire following the decision by his deparment to re-examine the costs and benefits of new regulations that would extend flexible working.
Although business groups welcomed the move unions, opposition politicians and family campaigners attacked the announcement.

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La Poste expands self-service kiosk network

Posted by | Oct 21, 2008 | |

Pitney Bowes announced that it has signed a contract to provide 50 stand-alone postal kiosks to La Poste, so that La Poste can enhance its retail network in large urban areas.

The contract is one of the largest Pitney Bowes has ever signed for postal kiosks, and includes the design, installation and servicing of postal kiosks that will be located in post offices in some of France’s largest cities, beginning in 2009.

The Pitney Bowes kiosks allow postal customers to perform a wide range of tasks, including weighing a mailpiece or a parcel, ordering special postal services such as insurance, and printing and applying the correct postage or transport label, including a barcode for tracking. By allowing many customers to handle these tasks on their own, the kiosks permit postal retail counter employees to focus their attention on those customers who have special or hard-to-meet needs more efficiently.

Many kiosks provide services during hours when the regular post office is closed, thereby enhancing public access to the national postal network.

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TNT drivers embrace electric vehicles

Posted by | Oct 21, 2008 | |

TNT claims its drivers have adapted well to the new fleet of electric trucks brought in earlier this year. The company introduced 47 battery-powered 7.5-tonne zero-emission Newtons from Smith Electric Vehicles, in May this year. They have a top speed of 50mph, a 70-mile range from one battery charge, and are expected to cut 1.3 million kg of CO2 a year from TNT’s carbon footprint.

The vehicles, which have replaced diesel equivalents, are currently carrying out deliveries and collections in cities and towns across the country from 21 depots.
TNT says it is currently considering introducing a further 50 electric vehicles in 2009.

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