Long the butt of jokes by Italians waiting days or weeks for mail, Italy’s state-owned postal service said Tuesday it achieved its first profit in 50 years and reiterated plans to be listed on the stock market in the second half of 2004.
Poste Italiane SpA’s net profit for 2002 was 22 million euros (nearly USD24 million), a sharp contrast from the 74 million euro (USD79 million) loss a year earlier.
Read MoreThe US Postal Service is expanding its agreement with Royal Mail Group’s parcel delivery company, General Logistics System (GLS) for delivery of Global Express Mail (GEM) to Europe from 6 to 14 countries. GLS currently delivers GEM items to 6 countries: Austria, Denmark, Germany, France, Netherlands, and Sweden. The 8 additional countries to which GLS will deliver GEM items effective March 29, 2003, are Belgium, Italy, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Malta, San Marino, Switzerland, and Vatican City. Note that San Marino and the Vatican City are being added to the countries that can be reached using GEM.
Read MoreTPG NV said it has signed a three-year outsourcing logistics contract worth about 120 mln eur with Telecom Italia SpA, after receiving approval from the Italian Competition Authority and completing union consultation procedures.
Read MoreAlice Kijak
The Reader’s Digest
Massimo Sarmi, managing director of the Italian post office (Le Poste), has announced that his company’s turnover rose by around 4 per cent in the second half of 2002. Speaking to the Italian senate, Mr Sarmi explained that a slight drop in the volume of mail has been off-set by the performance of Le Poste’s value-added products and the development of new services.
When asked whether Le Poste expected to meet its 2002 targets, however, the managing director was more circumspect. In the first half of last year, Le Poste’s turnover rose by 1.6 per cent. Its operating result, on the other hand, amounted to a 62m-euro loss. The figures for the second half are due to be released in the coming weeks.
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