Tag: International

German Cartel Office says new rules will help Deutsche Post 'cement' monopoly

Posted by | Jan 25, 2008 | |

The minimum wage in the German postal-services industry and plans to maintain a sales tax exemption for Deutsche Post AG will help the company ‘cement’ its monopoly, the head of the German Cartel Office told Sueddeutsche Zeitung.

Imposing a minimum wage on the industry was a ‘regulatory sin’ and plans to only grant a sales tax exemption for postal services to companies that provide country-wide services will subdue burgeoning rivals, German antitrust regulator Bernhard Heitzer said in an interview with the newspaper.

‘We shouldn’t make the same mistakes that were made in the energy industry, where the market was liberalised without providing for the right competitive framework,’ Heitzer said.

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Deutsche Post rises on report it may sell U.S. unit

Posted by | Jan 25, 2008 | |

Deutsche Post AG rose as much as 5.9 percent in German trading after Financial Times Deutschland said it may sell the unprofitable U.S. package and express-delivery unit to FedEx Corp.

Deutsche Post shares advanced as much as 1.27 euros to 22.70 euros and were up 3.9 percent at 12:15 p.m. in Frankfurt.

Bonn-based Deutsche Post may sell the U.S. delivery operation to FedEx and seek a merger partner for the Deutsche Postbank unit later this year, the German financial daily said today, citing unidentified company officials.

Deutsche Post spokeswoman Silje Skogstad declined to comment on plans for the U.S. DHL unit and said the company is evaluating several options to improve earnings. Regarding Deutsche Postbank, she referred to earlier comments by Chief Executive Officer Klaus Zumwinkel, who said the company is currently the lender’s most suitable owner.

“Elimination of these losses will provide a material boost to earnings,” London-based Collins Stewart analyst Andrew Fitchie said in a note to investors. “The clear message from the group is that restructuring is definitely under way, at long last.”

Deutsche Post will write down the value of the DHL Express Americas division by 600 million euros (USD 874 million), the company said Jan. 23. Chief Financial Officer John Allan said yesterday that the company would reveal details of a turnaround plan for the U.S. business in a “small number of months.”

The German company planned for DHL to break even in the Americas by 2009 and scrapped the deadline last year. The postal service bought the business in 2002 to compete with Atlanta-based United Parcel Service Inc. and Memphis, Tennessee-based FedEx in their home market.

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Agility, TNT and UPS join forces to help the humanitarian sector

Posted by | Jan 25, 2008 | |

Agility, TNT and UPS, three leading logistics and transport companies, are joining forces to help the humanitarian sector with the logistics of emergency response to large-scale natural disasters. The World Economic Forum has facilitated these initiatives by offering a neutral platform for the development of partnerships between the humanitarian relief sector and member companies.

The first initiative is a set of ten high-level Guiding Principles designed to guide both the private sector and humanitarian community as they work together to provide effective relief to those in need. The second initiative is a unique, pioneering example of collaboration between several companies and the humanitarian relief sector.
The three companies and the United Nations Global Logistics Cluster today on guidelines and conditions for the intervention of joint ‘Logistics Emergency Teams’ (LETs). LETs’ support includes providing logistics specialists (e.g. airport coordination, airport managers and warehouse managers), logistics assets (e.g. warehouses, trucks, forklifts) and transportation services. LETs will intervene for the first three to six weeks following natural disasters such as earthquakes, floods, or storms.

The companies stand ready to deploy Logistics Emergency Teams worldwide upon request from the United Nations Global Logistics Cluster. The nature of the request, local situations and the companies’ available resources will dictate the teams’ size and composition. As a general rule, they will serve in countries where member companies already operate, thereby leveraging their knowledge of local constraints. A committee representing the member companies is to answer requests from the Global Logistics Cluster led by the UN World Food Programme (WFP) and decide on the deployment of LETs.

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An Post gets the stamp of approval and delivers profit

Posted by | Jan 24, 2008 | |

For a service provider that was on its knees just a few years ago, An Post has engineered a remarkable reversal of its financial fortunes.

Between 2001 and 2003 it made accumulated losses of EUR 67m, having reported a loss of almost EUR 43m in 2003 alone. There was little doubt the organisation was fit for intensive care.

By late 2003, it was selling assets simply to meet its wage bill. For the first time in its history, it resorted to an overdraft, using the facility during the final weeks of that year. An Post had become a financial basket case.

In early 2004, the then chief executive, Donal Curtin, said the company was on a “knife edge”. He sold off the loss-making SDS delivery business and, in the process of shaking up An Post, alienated the unions. But in 2004, An Post returned to the black, making a profit of over EUR 11.6m from continuing operations. In 2005, that rose to EUR 16.2m, but in 2006 it slipped to EUR 14.6m before exceptional items.

However, the overall profit figures were skewed in 2005 and 2006 by the sale of a site on the Naas Road in Dublin, which resulted in a net gain of EUR 94.7m, and by a further EUR 59.3m gain from the company’s Post TS UK and An Post Transaction Services businesses, which were sold to Alphyra. An Post accounts have yet to be released for 2007.

For years the organisation, faced with the prospect of a completely liberalised market from 2011, has been hatching plans to reduce overheads and boost revenue.

That has resulted in its joint venture with Belgian-Dutch bank Fortis, but also in other attempts to revamp the traditional notion of the service.

Among the ideas previously floated has been the elimination, in some areas at least, of direct-to-door postal delivery. Customers might instead be expected to collect their post from the local post office.

None of this has happened yet, and it could an unemployable strategy as An Post gradually reduces the number of rural post offices, in particular, with a view to streamlining the organisation and preparing for a tougher environment.

But part of its plans to shrink its footprint and save money has incensed some interests, particularly some so-called postal contractors, who provide services in mainly rural areas.

There are currently just under 1,300 such outlets, typically located in local shops such as newsagents.

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Swiss Post International strengthens its presence in Sweden

Posted by | Jan 24, 2008 | |

Swiss Post is continuing to pursue its international niche strategy. Its international unit, Swiss Post International (SPI), has acquired the Swedish letters processing company IMS Europe AB. It is thus expanding its presence in Scandinavia and will become a key provider in the Swedish postal market. IMS Europe AB, which has a staff of five, generated sales of around CHF 3.6 million in 2007.

The takeover of IMS Europe AB by Swiss Post International (SPI) took place with effect from 1 January 2008. IMS Europe AB is an independent letters processor based in Limhamm, near Malmö in southern Sweden. The company operates with the product groups marketing mail, business mail, business to consumer as well as press and packaging, and generated sales of around CHF 3.6 million in 2007 with five employees. With the takeover, SPI has gained a second foothold in Sweden in addition to its branch in Stockholm. SPI is thus strengthening its position in southern Scandinavia and is advancing to become a key provider in the Swedish postal market. It was agreed that the purchase price will not be disclosed.

With the acquisition, Swiss Post is continuing its strategy of generating growth in international niche markets, in line with the strategic objectives set by the Federal Council. In the meantime, Swiss Post already generates 20 percent of its sales abroad and in its cross-border business. Swiss Post International is a wholly owned subsidiary of Swiss Post and currently employs 1,200 people in eleven European countries, four countries in Asia and the USA. For 2007 SPI is predicting sales of over 1.1 billion Swiss francs. SPI is now number five on the cross-border letters market after Deutsche Post, United States Postal Service, Great Britain’s Royal Mail and France’s La Poste.
1 US Dollar = 1.09657 Swiss Franc

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