Tag: La Poste

La Poste reports billion-euro net profit

Posted by | Mar 27, 2008 | |

The French state-run postal service, La Poste, reported on Thursday a net profit of nearly a billion euros (1.5 billion dollars) and said it would pay a profit-sharing bonus to its employees for the first time.

The company is also to pay EUR 141 million, about 15 percent of its net profit, as a dividend to the state.

Net profit totaled EUR 943 million, operating profit reached EUR 1.285 billion and sales were EUR 20.8 billion, the company said.

GeoPost, the express holding, increased revenues by 6.8 pct to EUR 3,171 million, thanks to an 11 pct rise in international business and good domestic growth in Central Europe, Eastern Europe and the UK. The separate French domestic parcels business ColiPoste increased revenues by 7.4 pct to EUR 1.33 billion, driven by e-commerce which now generates more than 10 pct of sales.

La Poste said it expected to grow in line with its targets. It expected to invest a similar sum to last year’s EUR 1.2 billion on “internal” measures such as post office modernisation but was also ready to “seize opportunities for acquisitions in each of its businesses”.

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La Poste serious about environment

Posted by | Mar 26, 2008 | |

Venturi Automobiles and PSA Peugeot Citroën have joined forces to supply Citroën Berlingo First or Peugeot Partner Origin-type electric vans in response to a tender from the French Post Office, La Poste.

Issued in April 2007, the international tender initially involves the supply of a small number of test vehicles. Following a six-month trial period, during which the vehicles with be thoroughly tested, La Poste will select the supplier of 500 mail delivery vans.

As Venturi Automobiles’ partner, PSA Peugeot Citroën feels that this phase of real-world testing represents a valuable opportunity to fine-tune the technological solutions equipping these delivery vans, to align them seamlessly with La Poste’s expectations.

The Citroën Berlingo / Peugeot Partners will be tested with an entirely new powertrain proposed by Venturi. This extremely compact technology makes it possible to fit the electric motor, battery and other EV components inside the van’s engine compartment, in lieu of the internal combustion engine. This offers the major advantage of ensuring the same load volume and payload as in a conventional version.

The electric Berlingo / Partners will have a range of up to 100 kilometers, which is amply sufficient to cover their mail delivery routes.

PSA Peugeot Citroën will contribute its automotive expertise and experience, particularly in electric vehicles.

Venturi will provide a particularly compact and innovative powertrain solution, as well as its short-run production capabilities

The partnership will enable PSA Peugeot Citroën to relaunch its EV business, where it was a pioneer and European market leader, with nearly 10,000 vehicles sold. The Group believes that in the future, electric vehicles will play an important role in reducing automotive emissions, with sales being driven primarily by city delivery vans.

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New parcel services meet booming online demand in New Zealand

Posted by | Mar 20, 2008 | |

Significant growth in parcels due to online trading has sparked new parcel services says New Zealand Post.

Parcels marketing manager Mike Stewart said New Zealand Post’s research found that online traders had particular needs from a parcel service.

These requirements have been incorporated into the new ParcelPostTM range, which starts on 28 March, he said.

“We found there was a real gap in the market for an economic alternative to couriers,” said Mr Stewart.

“E-traders want to know their parcels have been delivered, but they don’t necessarily want to pay a fortune for overnight delivery.

“We’re introducing a tracked parcel service that gives e-traders proof of delivery – but at a cheaper price than courier alternatives.”

A tracked parcel has a barcode on it that’s scanned at various points along its journey. Progress is updated online so that senders will know the time and date when their parcel has been delivered to the door.

The new ParcelPostTM Tracked service takes between 1 and 3 days for delivery with prices starting from $4.00.

Mr Stewart says that easy pricing is another high priority for online traders.
“The ParcelPostTM range has a simple nationwide pricing structure and the pre-paid bags have the pricing printed on them. You know exactly what you’ll pay – and there are no extra charges.”

Mr Stewart said online buyers would also benefit from Post’s new PO Box Priority parcel service, which is delivered overnight for a Standard Post price.

“We’re seen growth in the under 3kg parcels in particular – mainly using FastPost because customers are looking for next-day delivery,” he said.

“The PO Box Priority service also allows you to receive items without revealing your home address, which can be a concern when you’re buying from strangers online.”

Trade Me’s head of commercial Mike O’Donnell said that they were pleased to see the development of new postage solutions for online traders.

“Sending an item to a buyer is often the most time consuming part of an online trade. If the new ParcelPostTM range helps make this easier and more cost efficient for our members, then it has to be a good thing.”

New Zealand’s largest online bookstore, Fishpond, says the new ParcelPostTM Tracked product is exciting for their business.

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La Poste targets parcels and services growth in new five-year plan

Posted by | Mar 18, 2008 | |

France’s La Poste aims to grow its international express and parcels business, build up new mailstream flows and offer new services under a five-year strategic plan unveiled yesterday, French media reported. The group is also apparently interested in troubled German mail operator PIN Group.

As part of the 2008-2012 plan “Performance and Confidence”, La Poste aims to increase its turnover by 2% a year on average and reach revenues of EUR 23.2 billion by 2012, reported Les Echos. It is targeting an operating profit of about EUR 2 billion and a profit margin of 8.5% in 2012.

Growth would be driven by the parcels and express business, which expects average annual growth of more than 5%, and by La Banque Postale. But most investment will go into the mail business which is mid-way through a major modernisation programme, the newspaper wrote.

La Tribune cited La Poste president Jean-Paul Bailly as saying that La Poste was increasingly “a service group” in which each division should focus on what it can do best. He was not questioning the postal group’s public service obligations, including the universal mail service and the loss-making newspaper distribution, but wanted their financing transparent and clarified, the newspaper said.

The AFP news agency cited Bailly as saying that the parcels and express market would be “much more of a driver in terms of development and growth”. Marc-André Feffer, strategy director, pointed out that e-commerce would generate parcels growth.

Paul-Marie Chavanne, head of parcels and express unit GeoPost, said the group, which was number two in Europe, wanted to become a “global player”, AFP reported. La Poste had last year sealed an important alliance with Air France-KLM to transport parcels in the airline’s fleet, he noted. In future, La Poste would invest in “domestic networks outside Europe”, and had recently acquired companies in Russia, South Africa, the USA and set up businesses in China and the Middle East. India and South America were also on the map.

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La Poste CEO says eyes Germany's PIN Group

Posted by | Mar 17, 2008 | |

La Poste is considering taking over insolvent German postal firm PIN Group, Germany’s Handelsblatt newspaper quoted exectives at the French company as saying.

“It goes without saying that we are looking at it,” La Poste Chairman Jean-Paul Bailly was quoted as saying in a preview of the paper’s Tuesday edition.

Raymond Redding, head of La Poste’s mail division, was quoted as saying: “Parts of PIN are viable and therefore interesting. Takeover possibilities in the mail business are very rare.”

La Poste planned to reach a decision by the end of this month, the paper added.

La Poste, which is owned by the French government, did not have any immediate comment on Monday when contacted by Reuters.

PIN ran into financial difficulties after German publisher Axel Springer, which owns 64 percent of PIN, gave up on a rescue for the business in December after the German government agreed to a minimum wage for postal workers.

This came ahead of liberalisation of the sector and amid pressure from dominant German mail company Deutsche Post.

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