Tag: Europe

Private German mail operators PIN, Xanto link up

Posted by | Apr 17, 2007 | |

Two leading private mail operators, PIN Group and Xanto, have announced a strategic cooperation to strengthen their operational networks. PIN Group aims to establish itself as the leading competitor to Deutsche Post while Xanto plans to create an independent network for local mail operators.

In a joint statement, the companies said that Xanto would take over nationwide linehaul transportation for PIN with immediate effect. This covered the linehaul services from local PIN mail depots to regional hubs where regional and national shipments are interchanged as well as onward transportation to the two PIN central hubs in Würzburg and Hanover, and traffic between the two central hubs.

At present, PIN Group transports about one million domestic shipments per day on these routes within one working day. The company, owned by leading German media groups, has 7,000 employees, annual volumes of over 1.2 billion shipments and turnover of some EUR 350 million.

Xanto was founded in spring 2006 by five German logistics companies to develop a nationwide mail transportation network. Until now, its strategy was to sign up as many as 100 local and regional mail operators as partners and create an alternative nationwide distribution network. Last October it announced that night express operator Night Star Express would provide the physical long-haul transportation services.

Günter Thiel, PIN Group CEO, declared: “The competence of Xanto in freight forwarding ideally complements our nationwide logistics network.” Xanto managing partner Christian Holland-Moritz added: “As the largest competitor to Deutsche Post, PIN Group with its nationwide delivery network and growing shipment volumes is a central partner for us.”

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Postcomm announces new safeguards for management of address information

Posted by | Apr 17, 2007 | |

Postcomm, the UK’s independent postal services regulator, has today announced new safeguards for the future management of the postcode and address data contained in Royal Mail’s Postcode Address File (PAF).

PAF lists details of every postal address and postcode in the United Kingdom. As such, it is a very valuable asset for Royal Mail, since many other organisations – including new postal operators, banks, insurance companies and firms offering home delivery – need to use the information it contains.

The four key issues covered in today’s document – “Royal Mail’s future management of PAF” – are:

* The definition of PAF – what information should Royal Mail be obliged to supply? Postcomm considers that ‘PAF data’ is not only made up of postcode details, but also includes other information needed to allow users to identify specific addresses.

* The creation of an advisory board. Royal Mail has agreed to set up an advisory board to represent the views of PAF users, and has already started the recruitment process for the board’s independent chairman.

* Ringfencing of PAF. As competition develops in the mail market – and also with other suppliers of similar address data – it is crucial that Royal Mail ringfences PAF from its other activities, in order to avoid potential conflicts of interest.

* Profits. There is increasing demand for PAF data from a wide range of organisations, which rely very heavily on the information it provides. This puts Royal Mail in a very powerful position where setting prices is concerned. Although PAF does not fall within the ‘price control’ that Postcomm uses to set a pricing and service quality framework for Royal Mail, the company has agreed to aim for an operating profit margin in the range of 8-10%. If profits exceed this range, the excess would be either returned to customers or reinvested in PAF.

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French plan green postal service

Posted by | Apr 17, 2007 | |

The French postal service, La Poste, plans to order 10,000 electric delivery vehicles, which it says are far more economical than normal cars or vans.
The state-run service is inviting tenders from European manufacturers for the first batch of 500.

“There has never been such a big order [for the vehicles] in the world,” said French Industry Minister Francois Loos, quoted by the AFP news agency.

La Poste wants to reduce its 70m-euro (GBP 48m; USD 95m) annual fuel bill.

La Poste has been testing eight French electric vehicles since 2005, made by SVE – a firm owned by the defence group Dassault and vehicle manufacturer Heuliez.

“According to our tests, it is six times cheaper to run an electric vehicle than a diesel vehicle,” said La Poste chairman Jean-Paul Bailly.

La Poste believes the change will also cut emissions of the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide (CO2) by four tonnes per vehicle annually.

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Irish Financial Services Regulator issues licence to Postbank

Posted by | Apr 17, 2007 | |

The Financial Services Regulator has approved the award of a banking licence to Postbank, the joint venture retail banking service between the international financial services provider Fortis and the Irish postal service, An Post.
Announcing the news today Postbank said that the service expects to begin trading as early as next month. “Now that we are to receive our banking licence from the Irish Financial Services Regulator we can start to finalise our plans for market entry”, said Postbank CEO Margaret Sweeney. “We hope to be ready to begin offering products to the public within a few weeks.”

The JV said that the company is to be called Postbank.

Postbank will initially offer savings and investment products, expanding to provide full banking services including current accounts, loans, credit cards and internet banking by the autumn. Postbank will be represented in over 200 post offices to begin with and to expand through the Post Office network over the following 12-months.

Postbank expects to formally receive its banking licence within a fortnight after some final procedural matters have been dealt with, paving the way for a launch within weeks.

Postbank also announced two further senior appointments today. Maurice van der Putten is Chief Operations Officer. Maurice has spent the last 12 years working for Fortis in a number of senior positions. Prior to joining Postbank, Maurice held the position of Deputy Director Fortis Insurance Netherlands Life Insurance’s back office Robert Jan Van Pelt is Manager of Sales and Distribution. Van Pelt has held senior management positions within Fortis Retail Banking since 1990. Prior to taking this position Mr van Pelt was Head of Project Management in Fortis with responsibility for the project portfolio of Retail Banking.

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Polish direct mail operator Integer.pl sees PLN 20-25 mln IPO in Q2

Posted by | Apr 16, 2007 | |

Polish direct mail operator Integer.pl, which holds Poland’s largest alternative postal service InPost, plans an initial public offering (IPO) by the end of the second quarter of this year, hoping to raise PLN 20-25 mln, Krzysztof Kolpa, executive board member of InPost and Integer.pl, told Interfax Central Europe Wednesday.

“We are finishing the preparation of the IPO prospectus,” Kolpa said. “We expect the debut by the end of the second quarter and hope to raise PLN 20-25 mln, with 80-90% to fuel the growth of InPost.”

InPost is Poland’s first nationwide postal service alternative to the country’s postal administration Poczta Polska. The company currently handles parcels weighing more than 50 grams, with Poczta Polska enjoying the monopoly for letters under 50 grams until 2009.

InPost currently has 800 customer service points in 87 cities and plans to expand to a total of 1,000 outlets in 110 cities by the end of this year.

The company expects have 15 postal products, as well as sell financial and insurance products starting next year. InPost ias aims for 10% of the postal market within three years.

There are 154 alternative postal operators registered with the Electronic Communication Office (UKE), but the geographical coverage of most of them is limited to single townships or regions. InPost’s chief executive Rafal Brzoska told a press conference Wednesday the company believed the Polish market offers room for three-four large nationwide postal operators after the liberalization planned for 2009.

“Foreign companies are seriously considering entering the Polish market in 2009,” Brzoska said. “Those companies include [Germany’s] Deutsche Post, [France’s] La Poste, and the Austrian postal administration.”

Brzoska said that despite denials voiced by the executives of Europe’s largest postal operators, they were conducting marketing and feasibility studies of the Polish market ahead of the launch in 2009.

“Those companies will be building their networks from scratch rather than taking over local businesses,” Brzoska said, adding InPost also focused on organic growth and was not planning any acquisitions in the near future.

InPost’s owner Integer.pl is a distributor of direct mail with 75 regional officers, operating in more than 500 cities and towns in Poland. The company distributes 50-70 mln pieces of direct mail a month.

InPost’s Brzoska, who is also one of the main shareholders of Integer.pl, said the company would not be sold to a foreign investor within the next few years.

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