Tag: Europe

Postcomm reviews notification process for Royal Mail product trials

Posted by | Jan 31, 2007 | |

Postcomm, the independent regulator for postal services, is consulting to determine the most appropriate notification process for trials of new products and product changes by Royal Mail.

Postcomm and Royal Mail have been in discussions aimed at developing an approach to the notification of product trials and changes which is more streamlined than the approach set out currently in Royal Mail’s licence.

Postcomm wishes to ensure there is a pragmatic approach to trials which benefits users of postal services by encouraging innovation without hampering the development of competition in the market for postal services.

The consultation outlines Postcomm’s proposal for a new process for notification of trials and also sets out the background to the issue, and the regulator seeks views from stakeholders and interested parties on these proposals.

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Postcomm grants licence exemption to Royal Mail for changes to Sameday Service

Posted by | Jan 31, 2007 | |

Postcomm, the independent regulator for postal services, has decided to approve an application from Royal Mail for an exemption from the notification requirements under Condition 7 of its licence for changes to its Sameday service.

Condition 7 of its licence requires Royal Mail to notify Postcomm of any changes to existing prices and services three months before they are introduced and to publish information about such changes after this notification.

Following consultation on this issue, Postcomm approved Royal Mail’s request on the basis that Sameday appears to be offered in a developed sector of the market, so that lifting the notification requirements for this service should not adversely affect customers

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Ltvijas Pasts Postal Co must be sold off

Posted by | Jan 31, 2007 | |

The government should sell off Latvian postal operator Latvijas Pasts (LP), the company’s board chairman believes.
“I have always said — if someone approaches the government with a proposal to buy LP now, when its value is close to the maximum, then this should be done as follows — that’s how much it costs, let’s arrange an auction and sell it to the bidder who offers the highest price,” says the company’s board chairman Gints Skodovs in an interview published in the newspaper Dienas Bizness (DB).
Speaking about potential buyers, he told the newspaper that the Finnish Post is not interested in buying LP. “It is easier and cheaper to invest dozens of millions and create the system from a scratch. If they buy our company, they would receive a whole lot of problems they would have to solve. The main of them is that LP has a thousand of post-offices, two thirds of which are loss-making. LP employs nearly 8,000 people. Why would anyone need to get all these problems?” he said.
Skodovs also reminds in the interview that the government is against the privatization of LP. “We have done the evaluation of LP, which shows that the rise in the company’s value has grown by 18 million lats (EUR 25.61 mln) over the past three years (the value of the company stands at about 54 mln lats – DB). And by 2009, when the monopoly is over, we can make it even more valuable, which will continue to have an effect on the company’s value”, the head of the company said.

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Belgium’s La Poste injects EUR 22m in Taxipost

Posted by | Jan 31, 2007 | |

La Poste/De Post, Belgian’s national postal operator, has decided to inject EUR 22 million into its express and parcels subsidiary Taxipost, according to Belgian media reports.

The parent company believes Taxipost is on the right track to recovery following losses in 2005, although it is not expected to have made a profit in 2006 nor to make one this year, reports Brussels-based business newspaper L’Echo. The subsidiary now has a capital of EUR 44 million, says L’Echo.

La Poste is reinvesting in Taxipost following a good 2006. The postal group, which serves both the Dutch-speaking north, where it is known as De Post, and the French-speaking region in the south of the country, announced operating profit up 57% to an EBIT of EUR 100 million, and revenues up 5% to EUR 1.12 billion, in the first half of the year.

The group expects the restructuring of its distribution network to increasingly bear fruit, although it could be in for a year of industrial strife as unions claim management is planning 2,000 redundancies this year and are demanding a 5% salary rise for postal workers.

Taxipost has landed several important distribution deals in the highly competitive Belgian market over the 18 months, including one to distribute tickets for event organiser Sherpa and another delivering parcels for online retailer Neckermann.

New business since 2005 has seen its parcels volume increase by over one million and the company was last year named one of the top three performing express and parcel subsidiaries of European posts, in a study by the International Post Corporation.

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Belgian Post To Repay 13.2 Mln Euro Debt of Courier Services Subsidiary

Posted by | Jan 30, 2007 | |

Belgian postal company De Post/La Poste will repay 13.2 mln euro (USD17.1 mln) in debts of its subsidiary, direct courier services provider Taxipost, and will raise the company’s capital by 22.8 mln euro (USD29.6 mln), Belgian daily De Standaard reported on January 30, 2007.

Taxipost has been loss making for several years.

According to the newspaper, the trade unions were surprised with the decision of De Post/La Poste to invest in its unprofitable unit.

If Taxipost is integrated in the parcel distribution services Kilopost of De Post/La Poste, the company will have better perspectives, the De Post/La Poste CEO Johnny Thijs said.

Taxipost has 300 employees.

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