Tag: Europe

City Link improves service amid weaker market demand

Posted by | Aug 1, 2008 | |

City Link is on the road to recovery with improved customer service but faces the challenge of weakening demand in the British express and parcels market, according to its parent group.

City Link, whose operating profits dropped 44 pct last year and then turned into a Q1, 2008 loss due to poor integration of Target Express and management errors, has embarked on a seven-point recovery plan focused on better customer service, more centralised operating control and a network review.

In a recent trading update, parent Rentokil Initial said that implementation of the recovery plan had had a positive impact on City Link’s service performance. “Customer relationships have improved, attrition has slowed and overall service levels have been restored to a very high level – now consistently above 98.5 pct,” it commented.

But it warned: “Despite the service improvement, the revenue trend has weakened as the quarter progressed. This was not due to customer losses but is indicative of weakening demand generally.” The company had indentified “substantial” cost saving opportunities which should produce improvements within 12 -18 months, but which would not improve 2008 results.

Rentokil chairman Alan Brown was cited as saying that City Link was likely to make a loss in the GBP 40 – 45 million range this year and would hopefully break even in 2009.

Rentokil saw its share price slump dramatically after issuing a fourth profit warning for this year, and highlighting serious problems in six of its seven diverse operating divisions.

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Deutsche stays in black despite further GBP 1.8bn

Posted by | Aug 1, 2008 | |

Deutsche Bank has written off a further EUR 2.3bn (GBP 1.8bn) to take its total credit crunch bill to more than GBP 5bn – one of the largest reported by any European bank.

Germany’s biggest bank was forced to admit to further losses caused by investments in mortgage-backed securities, commercial property loans and the monoline insurers that support bond issuers.

The write-downs drove its second-quarter earnings down to EUR 642m compared with EUR 1.8bn in the same period last year. There was some relief that the bank had managed to stay in the black after reporting a first-quarter loss.

This helped prompt speculation that Deutsche may be interested in bidding for Postbank, the retail banking division of Deutsche Post.

The losses also prompted discussions about whether Deutsche is too reliant on investment banking, which contributes about a third of its pre-tax profit.

The pain felt by Deutsche from the seizing up of financial markets has not been as great as that reported by UBS, which has recorded about GBP 19bn of write-downs. Wall Street firms have been hit harder. Merrill Lynch is trying to shore up a balance sheet dented by GBP 26bn of write-downs.

Deutsche may manage to avoid raising capital as the bank’s tier one capital ratio, used to measures its financial strength, is 9.3 pct. Its target is 8-9 pct.

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Royal Mail delivers new service ‘Ask Sarah’ (UK)

Posted by | Aug 1, 2008 | |

The Royal Mail is delivering enhanced online customer service through ‘Ask Sarah’, a new intelligent web self-service system.

Powered by Transversal, Ask Sarah enables the Royal Mail’s 4.5 million monthly web visitors to receive immediate answers to their questions online, reducing the need to email or call Royal Mail.

Fully launched at the beginning of June 2008, Ask Sarah has already reduced overall email queries by 50 per cent and by 96 per cent in some areas, improving service to customers.

The number of routine calls to the contact centre have also been significantly reduced, freeing up staff to spend time answering more complex queries and increasing job satisfaction.

The Royal Mail has seen a dramatic increase in usage on its web site – rising from 3.5 million to 4.5 million monthly visitors between 2007 and 2008.

This has been driven by the increasing number of services, such as online postage, parcel tracking, redirections and redelivery now available via the site, as part of the organisation’s drive to enhance the services it provides.

With such a broad range of customers, spanning the whole population, Royal Mail needed a system that was easy to use, regardless of the visitor’s technical ability. Following extensive research, Royal Mail chose Transversal to help deliver self-service through the approachable and engaging image of ‘Sarah’, providing an immediately recognisable and reassuring figure for customers on both the business and consumer parts of the site.

Ask Sarah is integrated closely with Royal Mail’s services available via its web site. For example, daily analysis found that customers were asking Sarah questions about the delivery status of parcels.

Ask Sarah now recognises parcel tracking reference numbers and links automatically to Royal Mail’s parcel tracking system, showing customers current delivery status.

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Affiniti selects UK Mail specialist services for time-critical operation

Posted by | Aug 1, 2008 | |

Affiniti, the network solution and communications integrator, is working with same-day expert UK Mail Specialist Services to provide round-the-clock repair and maintenance support to blue-chip clients including major financial institutions. Under the GBP 1 million strategic storage contract, UK Mail Specialist Services will play a vital role in supplying time-critical parts to field engineers, so essential work can be carried out without delay and operational disruption.

More than 10,000 different parts will be stored at 18 UK Mail Specialist Services sites, providing complete coverage across the UK. Effective inventory management with safe storage and accurate stock control will enable release of goods within 30 minutes, resulting in the delivery to field engineers within 2.5 hours of the order being placed. UK Mail Specialist Services will liaise direct with the engineer via SMS to coordinate delivery to fit within their job allocation schedule.

Orders will be placed online via an inventory management system that dovetails into UK Mail Specialist Service’s distribution system. This sophisticated technology solution will interface with Affiniti’s own back-office systems to create a seamless supply chain process that provides complete visibility over the company’s service management operation.

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French E-Commerce

Posted by | Aug 1, 2008 | |

Online merchants in France took in EUR1 billion (USD 1.71 billion) during Q2 2008, according to the Association pour le commerce et les services en ligne (ACSEL) and PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC).
However, Q1 actually represents just a fraction of total French e-commerce—and less than one-quarter. Not only is Q4 the biggest of the year, but the ACSEL/PwC figure does not include online travel.
Another French trade group, the Fédération des entreprises de vente à distance (FEVAD), said that e-commerce sales in France will reach EUR 20.9 billion (USD 32.4 billion) this year. FEVAD includes both online travel and online B2B purchases.
The association projects e-commerce growth through 2010, when sales are expected to reach EUR 31.4 billion (USD 44.3 billion).

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