Kamlesh Chand, Deputy Director General (personnel), launched the second phase of `Project Arrow’ here on Saturday. Three post offices (Kanpur GPO, Nawabganj and Cantt) were selected for modernisation and computerisation.
Read MoreFedEx reportedly is in talks to buy all or part of Deutsche Post’s DHL delivery business in the U.S. in a deal that would help it challenge larger rival UPS.
Seeking to cut losses in the hyper-competitive domestic fast delivery business, Deutsche Post may move to trim its DHL business in the United States, without abandoning it completely, according to published reports on Friday.
Deutsche Post CFO John Allan was quoted by Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, a German newspaper, that a total sale of DHL in the U.S. is “very, very unlikely.”
A deal could be in the works by May at the latest, according to the report.
Shares of FedEx rose 1.6% to end at USD89.96, bucking the move down in the overall market. UPS fell 1.8% to USD69.97.
A spokesman for Memphis-based FedEx didn’t return a phone call from MarketWatch.
Analyst Rick Paterson of UBS said FedEx doesn’t really need DHL’s U.S. delivery assets, and that it simply has to wait for it to lose ground over time to eventually win over its domestic market share.
FedEx, however, would benefit if DHL allowed it to become the U.S. distributor of its hefty package traffic originating in Europe and Asia, he said.
FedEx would have the edge in any talks because Deutsche Post is under pressure from shareholders to produce some kind of value for DHL.
A deal between DHL and UPS is less likely because of the “more contentious relationship” between the two giants overseas, he said.
One of the world’s largest delivery companies with 4,000 offices, DHL traces its roots to 1969 in the U.S. before being acquired by Deutsche Post in 2002.
Read MoreDeutsche Post is considering its options for retail bank Postbank and its loss-making DHL Express unit in the United States but has not reached any decisions, a source close to the supervisory board told Reuters on Friday.
“There are considerations, but no decisions yet,” the person said. A second source familiar with the matter confirmed this.
Deutsche Post is exploring ways to stem losses from DHL in the United States, where economic weakness has stalled its recovery as it tries to take on dominant domestic rivals UPS and FedEx.
The company said this week it would write down around 600 million euros (USD879 million) on the value of the business after previously abandoning a target to break even at DHL in the United States in 2009.
And Deutsche Post’s chief executive, Klaus Zumwinkel, has said the role of Postbank in the group could be considered following the deregulation of the German mail market at the start of 2008. Many banks are interested, Zumwinkel told analysts in November.
His comments have been taken as a signal in the market that the bank would be sold.
The Financial Times Deutschland said on Friday that Postbank would be merged with another bank and not sold, while Post is in talks with FedEx about the U.S. package delivery business.
Teaming up with FedEx in the domestic U.S. business whilst offering FedEx a joint venture in Europe to enable it to deepen its presence could be the “most elegant solution for the massive profitability problems of DHL in the U.S.”, ING analysts wrote.
Read MoreTrack and Trace Manager – Skillweb
Read MoreTotal Visibility Manager – Skillweb
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