Tag: Europe

Isle of Man Post Post Office Chairman on UK proposals

Posted by | May 15, 2008 | |

The Chairman of Isle of Man Post says there is much to be learned from the private sector.

Pam Crowe is responding to news in the United Kingdom, where the postal watchdog is recommending part privatisation of Royal Mail to avoid a potential slide in the standard of services.

She says the proposal wouldn’t necessarily be bad news if Royal Mail became more competitive and efficient.

Mrs Crowe says change is never easy, but she’s confident in this case it would be well handled (audio file attached):

Mrs Crowe retains the position of Chairman of Isle of Man Post, despite not being re-elected to the Legislative Council.

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Postbank to put property portfolio up for sale

Posted by | May 15, 2008 | |

Deutsche Postbank is putting up for sale a majority of its property portfolio, a spokesman for Germany’s biggest retail bank said on Tuesday.

He said the bank was evaluating the disposal of a packet called of 25 of its office buildings, confirming a story released by the Financial Times Deutschland newspaper on Tuesday ahead of publication on Wednesday.

The reason for the sale is that real estate management is not a core business for the bank, the spokesman said. A decision about the sale should come in the second half of the year.

The newspaper reported the buildings owned by Postbank were worth between 700 and 800 million euros (USD 1.1-USD 1.2 billion).

Postbank has hired Morgan Stanley, which has previously managed a real-estate sale for parent Deutsche Post, to handle the transaction, according to the report.

In April, Deutsche Post sold property worth a billion euros to U.S. Investor Lone Star LS.N.

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Deutsche Post World Net: First quarter on target

Posted by | May 15, 2008 | |

Deutsche Post World Net started the year of 2008 with solid performance in the first quarter: Underlying EBIT rose 6.4 percent to around 1 billion euros, meeting the Group’s own targets. That was despite the fact that the quarter had two working days less than the year-earlier period.

Reported EBIT declined 14.7 percent to 851 million euros due to non-recurring expenses at Deutsche Postbank tied to the crisis on the financial markets. Revenue totaled 15.7 billion euros, up 1.8 percent from the year-earlier period, excluding negative currency effects the increase was around 6 percent.

Deutsche Post World Net is aware of the uncertainties in the world economic development. Even so, at this point in time, the Group has no reason to change its full-year earnings forecast of around 4.2 billion euros in EBIT before non-recurring effects and around 3.2 billion euros in pretax profit.

The MAIL division projects EBIT of around 1.95 billion euros for 2008. The EXPRESS division is expected to generate EBIT of around 500 million euros, while the LOGISTICS division is scheduled to increase EBIT to around 1.05 billion. The FINANCIAL SERVICES segment projects EBIT of around 1.2 billion euros. A loss of around 550 million euros is forecast for Corporate Center / Other.

The guidance of around 4.7 billion euros in EBIT before non-recurring effects for 2009 has also been reaffirmed.

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Funding from the private sector will help Royal Mail deliver a valued universal service (UK)

Posted by | May 14, 2008 | |

Postcomm said that a universal service that is financially viable and safeguarded for the future is most likely to be achieved through a radical transformation of the governance and structure of Royal Mail.

Postcomm concluded in its first submission to the independent review of the postal market that Royal Mail’s current business model is unsustainable and that, unless some bold actions are taken very quickly, it is highly likely that its letters business will move to a position of managed – but accelerating – decline.

In its second submission Postcomm says:

– With the mail market now in structural decline, because of the increasing impact of e-mail and the Internet, Royal Mail needs access to private capital and a stronger set of incentives to enable it to restructure and become more profitable;
– Partnerships with the private sector, such as we are seeing in some European countries, could serve as a catalyst to more rapid transformation and greater efficiency from the universal service provider;
– As competition develops in segments of the market, it can replace regulation as the force which protects customers’ interests. This – and the need for much more transparency about the costs of Royal Mail’s business – will be a major theme of Postcomm’s proposals for the regulatory framework post April 2010;
– The transformation of Royal Mail will ensure a more dynamic mail market that can respond quickly and effectively to changing customer needs as mail increasingly is challenged by electronic media.

Postcomm believes competition and liberalisation should continue to be promoted as they are delivering far better customer focus and strong incentives for all mail operators to innovate and to become more efficient. Competition has already benefited large customers, and choice is now becoming available to smaller businesses. The regulator also urges the removal of artificial barriers to postal market entry – including the removal of new entrants’ VAT disadvantage – which could encourage wider competitor involvement in the collection, sorting and delivery of mail.

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