Tag: Germany

Deutsche Post performance criticised

Posted by | May 11, 2007 | |

Major institutional investors are accusing German national postal services provider Deutsche Post of poor operating results, poor profit growth and a lack of clarity. Klaus Kaldemorgen, head of German investment fund DWS Investment, which holds a 1.8 per cent stake in the company, fears that Deutsche Post could face being broken up if it does not improve profitability quickly, as the individual divisions of the company could be worth more than the company as a whole.

Mr Kaldemorgen has said that the forecast of only a 3 per cent increase for 2007 indicates the slowness of Deutsche Post’s restructuring and integration of different areas and regions, and doubts that the company will attain its mid-term target of 5.2bn euros in 2009. Michael Gierse, head of German investment fund Union Management, which holds a 1.6 per cent stake in Deutsche Post, has criticised the company for its profit growth not being in line with turnover growth, and for operating margins not only having dropped considerably in 2006 but for falling below the margins attained in 2004 and 2003. This is being attributed to problems in German parcel business and US business, the figures of which are no longer released. Mr Gierse has also queried the annual 500m euros registered for legal, consultancy and auditing fees; a representative for Deutsche Post has said that these figures arise from major takeovers in the past.

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GLS ups profits, eyes Europe, express growth

Posted by | May 10, 2007 | |

GLS, Royal Mail’s European parcels company, again grew rapidly last year and is planning to expand in Southern Europe and broaden its portfolio with more express services, according to CEO Rico Back.

In 2006, the parcel logistics operator increased revenues by 8.7% to EUR 1,595 million and improved its operating profit (EBITA) by 15.4% to EUR 179.4 million, he told the German transport newspaper DVZ in an interview. Volumes grew by 6.9%, including an increase of 20.1% in cross-border shipments.

In the financial year ending March 31, 2006, GLS increased operating profits by 37% to GBP 100 million (EUR 146.8 million), its revenues rose 13.6% to GBP 1,037 million (EUR 1,522.6 million), and volumes grew 14% to 293 million parcels. GLS said in May 2006 that it aimed for turnover of EUR 1.6 billion in 2006/07.

Back said that he aimed to strengthen GLS’ business in Italy and Spain this year. In Italy, the operator is currently represented through a franchisee. Back recently told German media that GLS is in talks to acquire a Spanish company. A start-up business is planned in Romania.

The GLS chief executive also said that the operator planned to expand its express services this year but did not provide any further details. GLS launched a small air express operation last autumn, linking Germany and the UK, and said that this would be extended to more European countries.

Back told the DVZ that GLS had no plans to enter the German mail market once it was liberalised due to the dominance of Deutsche Post and mail substitution by electronic communications. “There is no growth there. That is why the mail market is unattractive really,” he said.

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German publishers interested in Sunday deliveries of Deutsche Post

Posted by | May 10, 2007 | |

German magazine and newspaper publishers are interested in the plans of Deutsche Post, the German postal service operator, to begin delivering on Sundays. The company has announced plans for a pilot project together with the publishers of ‘Spiegel’, the German weekly news magazine; the pilot phase, which will last for three months, is to begin in Dusseldorf on June 3 and in Hamburg on August 19. Around 30,000 copies of the magazine are expected to be delivered. If the pilot phase is successful, the project will then be extended to the whole of Germany.

German publishing group Burda says that it will have its magazine ‘Focus’, the closest rival of ‘Spiegel’, delivered on Sundays if Deutsche Post decides to make these services permanent. The publishers of German daily newspaper ‘Suddeutsche Zeitung’, who are considering the launch of a Sunday edition, are also interested. German publisher Axel Springer Verlag, which currently has a virtual monopoly on the market for Sunday deliveries, says that it intends to defend its position on the market.

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Austrian Post Acquires Direct Marketing Service Provider meiller direct GmbH of Germany

Posted by | May 10, 2007 | |

Österreichische Post AG (Austrian Post) announces the acquisition of meiller direct GmbH (to be termed “meiller” hereafter), a 100% subsidiary of the listed schlott Group. The Management Board and the Supervisory Board of Austrian Post have already approved the transaction, which is subject to approval by the responsible anti-trust authorities.

meiller is one of the largest direct marketing service providers in Europe. The services provided range from the production of documents and mailings, dialogue services (e.g. CRM, address management and response management), as well as the further processing and finishing of dialogue media (e.g. binding and polywrapping of catalogues). meiller operates production facilities in Schwandorf (Germany) and Nyrany (Czech Republic), and is also represented with sales offices in several Western and Central European markets. Last year, meiller produced a total of 685m documents, of which 175m were designed for international delivery. Starting with its initial business focus on the mail-order business, meiller has succeeded in attracting top customers from other branches in recent years (e.g. Daimler Chrysler, E-on/IS).

In the year 2006, meiller achieved revenues of EUR 112m, employing a total of 1,180 people (business year Oct 2005 – Sep 2006). The enterprise value of the company as at March 31st, 2007, was determined to be EUR 60.5m. It was agreed by the parties to the agreement that the purchase price (enterprise value less net financial liabilities) would not be disclosed.

”With meiller, we are consistently pursuing our acquisition strategy along the value added chain. In addition to the recently acquired company Scanpoint, specialist for the scanning and digitalisation of documents, meiller complements the service portfolio of Austrian Post in the field of printing and direct marketing”, says Anton Wais, Chairman of the Management Board of Austrian Post.

“Based on the acquisition of meiller, Austrian Post has emerged as a full service provider for our customers. National and international customers of Austrian Post now have access to comprehensive services, ranging from the production of their mail items (e.g. invoices, account statements, official letters of notification, policies, mailings) and delivery to the internal processing of documents (e.g. digitalisation and response management)”, says Walter Hitziger, Member of the Management Board with responsibility for the Mail Division and the Parcel & Logistics Division.

In particular, meiller will be able to provide considerable support to the subsidiaries recently acquired by Austrian Post in the core countries of Slovakia, Czech Republic, Hungary and Croatia, to assist them in more effectively penetrating these markets. At the same time, the transaction opens up significant new sales potential for meiller in the Central and Eastern European region.

Austrian Post customers with subsidiaries in neighbouring countries can now take advantage of cross-border services in the fields of direct marketing and document production by one single provider.

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