Tag: Germany

CEO of Springer's troubled postal arm to quit (Germany)

Posted by | Dec 18, 2007 | |

The head of Axel Springer’s troubled postal business PIN Group is quitting and withdrawing an offer to buy the unit, according to a magazine report on Tuesday, casting uncertainty over PIN’s future.

Last week, German publisher Springer pulled the financial plug on its loss-making mail service company and said it was looking to sell its majority stake.

Springer has been considering options for its stake in PIN ever since the German government last month agreed to impose a minimum wage in the sector higher than that paid by PIN.

The publisher said it was now no longer willing to provide more financial support to PIN group, which PIN Chief Executive Guenter Thiel has said lost 50 million euros this year.

On Tuesday, German magazine Focus said that Thiel has told PIN Chairman Bodo Hombach he will withdraw his offer to buy the company and will resign from his post. PIN was not immediately available for comment.

Springer, publisher of Europe’s best selling tabloid Bild, acquired a majority stake in PIN for 510 million euros (USD 741 million) earlier this year in anticipation of the liberalisation of the postal market in Germany. Deutsche Post loses its domestic mail monopoly next year.

The publisher hoped to challenge Deutsche Post by merging the PIN business with Dutch TNT’s German mail division, a person familiar with the matter told Reuters. But those plans were thwarted by the agreement on minimum pay.

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No cause for gloom and doom in the postal market

Posted by | Dec 18, 2007 | |

Kurth: “Sober assessment reveals opportunities for competition”

The Federal Network Agency has today publicly presented its Activity Report 2006/2007 for the telecommunications and postal markets. Looking at the development of the German postal market the president diagnosed a cautiously positive trend for the last two years. “In light of the heated debates of the past weeks I would initially recommend a level-headed analysis and assessment. When the gun smoke has settled a little, people will once again be able to recognise the opportunities for competition, which market liberalisation presents. In my opinion there is no cause for painting a gloomy picture without alternatives. Using flexible solutions and creative business models, competition can be built up and developed successfully”, Kurth said.

The annual turnover in the postal market has reached almost 24 billion Euros, 18 billion of which were achieved on a competitive market.

At present around 750 licensees are active on the letter market. With a turnover of over one billion Euros they have now reached a market share of more than ten percent. These companies have formed networks that are targeted at covering the largest possible area. That way they can expand the offering for their own customers.

“In the last five years the prices for single letters in Germany have decreased by more than five percent, contrary to the trend in other European countries. This benefits the consumers in general, and not just the business customers”, Kurth continued to elaborate.

According to the words of the president the basic postal services within the scope of the universal service will still be provided to their full extent, even after liberalisation. However, should problems with their provision occur the Federal Network Agency could remedy the situation using the instruments laid down in the Postal Act. The provision of basic postal services would therefore still be ensured, Kurth declared at the end.

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TNT to undercut German governments planned minimum wage for postal sector

Posted by | Dec 17, 2007 | |

Deutsche Post AG rival TNT NV plans to introduce its own, lower pay scale in response to the German government’s planned introduction of a minimum wage in the postal sector, Financial Times Deutschland reported.

‘We will insist on the independence of our pay structure and if necessary do so via the courts,’ TNT Post Germany CEO Mario Frusch told the newspaper.

TNT, which is number two to Deutsche Post in the German mail market, plans a minimum wage of no more than 7.50 eur per hour, Frusch added.

This compares to the 9.80 for the industry contained in the government bill due to go before the upper house of parliament on Dec 20.

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Springer puts postal division up for sale (Germany)

Posted by | Dec 15, 2007 | |

Axel Springer put Pin Group, its domestic logistics subsidiary, for sale after the Berlin parliament passed a controversial minimum wage bill for the postal sector which the company claims will make it impossible to compete.

Springer, which publishes Germany’s leading tabloid newspaper Bild , said it was withholding additional funding to Pin and was prepared to sell its 64 per cent stake in the company, after the lower house of parliament adopted the minimum wage bill by an overwhelming majority of 84 per cent.

Springer said minimum wages made the cost of competing with Deutsche Post “too high”.

Pin said the company’s senior management led by Gunther Thiel, chief executive, was prepared to buy Springer’s stake and inject a high double-digit million euro figure into the business. Pin declined to comment on German press reports suggesting it had agreed to buy the stake for a symbolic EUR 1.

Springer this summer paid EUR 510m (EUR 735m) for a 48 per cent stake in Pin in anticipation of the German postal market’s full liberalisation on January 1 2008. It owns 64 per cent of Pin.

Pin, which employs more than 9,000 and pays staff between EUR 7.50 and EUR 8.20, said it would look at additional job cuts to the 1,000 announced two weeks ago.

A spokesman for Deutsche Post said the agreement “does not mark the end of competition in the German postal market. We still pay 80 per cent of our delivery staff an average hourly wage of EUR 16.63, significantly above the new minimum rate.”

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Post Office Networks Abroad

Posted by | Dec 14, 2007 | |

This information was collected as part of the background for Postcomm’s work on the future role of the UK’s network of Post Office branches. It provides a brief overview of the common issues faced by post office networks abroad and how governments and postal operators have tackled them.
Covers: Austria / Australia / Belgium / Canada / Denmark / Finland / France / Germany / Republic of Ireland / Italy / Japan / Netherlands / Norway / New Zealand / Portugal / Spain / Sweden / Switzerland / UK / USA
P:LibraryPostalPostComm Formal DocumentsPost Office networks abroad Dec03.pdf

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