Peter Bakker – Where the streets have no name, this Dutchman is aiming to deliver our post
Interview with Peter Bakker
Read MoreTag: Netherlands
Dutch group looks to hire rival force of British postmen
Peter Bakker, head of the Dutch post office, said yesterday that the company is considering hiring its own force of postmen to compete head on with Royal Mail.
The company, TPG, trades as TNT Mail in the UK, and already delivers heavier mail door-to-door using Express Dairies. Mr Bakker said that although replicating Royal Mail’s entire network was “not viable”, hiring large numbers of postmen was “one of the models” TNT was looking at in the UK. He expected there would be “one or two companies with competing networks to Royal Mail” after the mail market was fully opened up to competition. Royal Mail would still maintain its leading position, but he saw no reason why TNT Mail could not have between 10pc and 15pc of the UK mail market. “We have the capability to succeed,” he said. Mr Bakker is looking at an “end to end” delivery strategy that doesn’t use the Royal Mail’s access agreement which TNT Mail uses at the moment.
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TNT to sell off French truck unit
TNT has put up for sale its loss-making French trucking operations and expects to complete a deal this year, the Dutch post and logistics group said yesterday. The activities represent 60 per cent of the French unit, which has proved a drag on revenues for several quarters and has resisted efforts to stem losses running at EUR17m (USD20.6m) in the first half on revenues of EUR117m. TNT will also divest those parts of the remaining activities of the unit where it cannot earn its cost of capital, in order to focus on areas such as supply chain solutions for the automotive industry. French and international buyers are interested, said Peter Bakker, TNT chief executive, adding that it expected to complete the majority of the disposals this year. In total the portions to be sold account for 25 per cent of French logistics revenues of EUR250m, he said. The unit generated 5 per cent of logistics revenues of EUR1.2bn in the second quarter, and 2 per cent of group sales of EUR3.4bn.
Read MoreTNT Q2 results show strong mail/record express margins
The second quarter of 2005 showed continued good performance of the Mail and Express divisions. The Mail division reported another strong operating margin, despite higher pension costs, and the European Mail Networks business continued to record strong organic revenue growth of 20%. Express revenues grew double digit and operating income was up 28%, reaching another margin record. The division is firmly on track to reach its ambitious target of a 10% operating margin in 2007.
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