Tag: Europe

Cerberus-Led Bidder Group Becomes New Owner of BAWAG P.S.K. – Invitation extended to Austrian Post to acquire a stake in the bank

Posted by | Dec 15, 2006 | |

Austrian post welcomes quick decision to more intensively use the 1,334 post branches and 535 post partner offices to safeguard the interests of Austrian customers
Austrian Post welcomes the quick decision on the part of the Austrian Trade Union Federation to sell BAWAG P.S.K. to the bidder group led by Cerberus, which also consists of Generali and Wüstenrot. Cerberus has expressed its interest to further develop BAWAG P.S.K., and to pro-actively exploit the advantages provided by Austrian Post’s distribution network.

The new owner has made a clear commitment to dynamically expand the financial services business and positioning of BAWAG P.S.K. as a “universal bank for private customers and medium-sized businesses“ with attractive products and services. Another designated aim is to attract new customers and expand the financial institution’s market share by means of more pro-active, aggressive marketing activities carried out in cooperation with Austrian Post.

Austrian Post currently offers financial services products of BAWAG P.S.K. via its own branch network, for which Austrian Post derived an income amounting to EUR 96m in the year 2005. Austrian Post is pursuing the goal of further expanding the financial services offered at its 1,334 company owned branches and 535 post partner offices in Austria.

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Internet shopping hits GBP3bn in November

Posted by | Dec 15, 2006 | |

UK internet retail sales reached GBP3 billion in a month for the first time in November, as Britain’s 25 million online shoppers reaffirm their affinity with online Christmas shopping.
IMRG estimates that GBP3,260,000,000 was spent online during the month, at an average rate of GBP4.57 million per hour, approximately 45% (44.7%) more than in the same period last year.

November’s internet sales were more than half a billion pounds higher than those of the previous month, when the IMRG Index recorded a value of GBP2,729 million for October. This increase was ten times the average monthly increase of GBP50 million recorded during the first ten months of 2006.

During the same 10-month period two years ago, in 2004, the average growth rate was just GBP16 million per month.

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An Post seeking 15% rise in standard stamp price to 55c

Posted by | Dec 15, 2006 | |

The Commission for Communications Regulation (ComReg) has today launched a public consultation following An Post’s recent application for an interim price increase in the price of the basic stamp. ComReg is the National Regulatory Authority for the postal sector in Ireland and its prior approval is required for postal rate changes in the reserved area.

If approved, prices for domestic standard letters (up to 50g) would increase to 55c; however, prices for mail in the 50-100g category (for example, a typical large letter) would decrease from 60c to 55c. In addition, business customers using An Post’s Ceadúnas (Permit) services or meter franking machines would also receive a discount of 1c per item. The effective date of any interim price increase, if approved, would be 1st March 2007.

An Post outlines in its application that it has, or will, absorb significant cost increases during the period from August 2003 to May 2007 (including wage increases of 18.9% under National Wage Agreements) and that it will have to meet further cost increases over the next 12 months including wages, energy and fuel costs; hence, its requirement for a price increase.

Overall, and on the basis of An Post’s application, it is estimated that the weighted price increase proposed for all ‘letter’ products is 9.6% based on the prices concurred with in August 2003. This compares with a movement in the Consumer Price Index (CPI) of 10.3% over the 42 months ending November 2006.

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2,500 post offices to be axed in the UK from next summer

Posted by | Dec 15, 2006 | |

The government yesterday unveiled plans to close 2,500 rural and urban post offices over 18 months – the fastest closure programme in the history of the network.
The cuts, which are expected to start next summer after national and local consultations, will slash the network to about 11,700 branches, fewer than half the peak of 25,000 in the 1960s. The trade and industry secretary, Alistair Darling, said a GBP1.7bn support package would be provided to fund rationalisation and maintain the GBP150m-a-year payments to the rural network at least until 2011.
He told the Commons that the post office network was losing GBP4m a week and had 4 million fewer customers than two years ago. The “big problem,” he said, was that “people are simply not using post offices as they once did … There is widespread recognition that the current size of the network is unsustainable.”

Royal Mail said it welcomed the proposals and would study their impact on its wider funding needs, which include new investment in the letters business, funding for the pension fund deficit and offering shares to employees.

Mr Darling outlined a series of criteria which the new network would have to meet: 99% of the population must be within three miles of an office and 90% within one mile. In deprived urban areas 99% of the population must be within one mile while in remote areas at least 95% should be within six miles.

The slimmed-down network will be supported by some 500 new outlets, including pubs, churches and village halls and even mobile offices.

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ANC deliver the HR Director of the Year 2006

Posted by | Dec 14, 2006 | |

Wendy Dean, HR Director for the express parcel carrier ANC, was awarded the Personnel Today ‘HR Director of the Year’. The awards took place at the Grovesnor Hotel in London and hosted over 1200 human resources professionals from the UK. These awards, judged by the HR industry, received more entries this year than ever before, making the win even more significant. The win comes as a result of her work to integrate the mission statement ‘Delivering Peace of Mind’ into the company culture, which has been a huge success and embraced by employees at all levels. ANC were also delighted to be nominated as a finalist for the ‘HR Strategy in line with Business’ award but narrowly missed out to The AA Group.

Angela O’Connor Executive Director of HR for the National Policing Improvement Agency, last year’s winner of the HR Director award judged this year’s competition, she said “Wendy is clearly at the heart of the business and has been given responsibility for a number of wide ranging areas. She has a clear understanding of how to bring value back into the business through a range of interventions that can easily demonstrate benefits to the bottom line”. Wendy said “I am totally overwhelmed by the award and it is a true reflection of the support and encouragement I have had from the board at ANC. I am also delighted for my team who nominated me for the award, and without their help this simply would not have been possible.” Wendy has been employed with ANC for over 16 years and is responsible for over 1,800 employees. During the past three years alone Wendy and her team have reduced absenteeism and employee turnover significantly. Wendy has also started a driver training division and begun developing the ANC Training Academy for all employees.

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