Tag: North America

UPS adopts new financial policy to enhance shareholder value

Posted by | Jan 9, 2008 | |

UPS today announced its Board of Directors has approved a change in financial policy regarding the company’s capital structure designed to enhance UPS’s value to shareowners. Under the new policy, UPS intends to significantly increase the debt component of its balance sheet.

Going forward, the company intends to manage its balance sheet to a target debt ratio within a range of 50-to-60 pct funds-from-operations-to-total-debt. Previously, there was no stated metric.

“We have been studying our capital structure options for some time,” said Kurt Kuehn, UPS’s chief financial officer. “This change in policy will permit us to make increased investments in the business, pursue selective acquisitions and undertake larger share repurchases.”

To begin implementation of the new policy, the Board authorized an immediate increase in the amount of funds available for stock repurchases from approximately USD 2 billion to USD 10 billion. The company intends to complete that level of share repurchases in the next 24 months. Repurchases may take the form of an accelerated share repurchase program, open market purchases or such other methods as the Board deems appropriate.

“UPS has had a long-standing commitment to a very strong balance sheet for decades and that will not change,” added Scott Davis, UPS’s chairman and CEO. “Indeed, we are putting that balance sheet strength to work to more efficiently deploy capital for the benefit of our shareowners. UPS’s consistent, stable cash flows mean we can accept a higher degree of debt while continuing to strategically grow our business.”

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Pitney Bowes launches online resource for Intelligent Mail barcode

Posted by | Jan 9, 2008 | |

Pitney Bowes has launched an Intelligent Mail barcode resource area on its postal information site, www.pbpostalinfo.com.

“The Intelligent Mail Barcode is the key that will unlock a host of new services for mailers,” said John Ward, president of mail services for Pitney Bowes Inc. “We will have tremendous new opportunities to use information to enhance the value of each mail piece, which will help mailers, recipients and the entire mailstream value chain.”

The site includes background on the Intelligent Mail barcode, which was developed by the US Postal Service to encode routing and tracking information on mail. It first became available for use in 2006. The site also contains a link to a Pitney Bowes whitepaper called “Getting Smart About Intelligent Mail.”

The US Postal Service is currently seeking feedback on proposed rules related to the use of Intelligent Mail barcodes. According to these rules, as of January 2009, automation prices will no longer be available for the Postnet barcode. In contrast to the Intelligent Mail barcode, the Postnet barcode only encodes routing information.

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DHL to offer shipping services from Walgreens

Posted by | Jan 8, 2008 | |

DHL said on Wednesday it has entered into an agreement with Walgreen Co to offer shipping services from Walgreen’s stores by the end of 2008.

DHL said in a statement that the agreement to offer overnight, ground or international package shipping services from 6,500 stores — Walgreen is projected to have that many outlets by the end of this year — will more than double its retail presence in the United States.

The “DHL Shipping Spot” will be staffed by Walgreen employees at photo counters, DHL said.

DHL has a far smaller U.S. presence than United Parcel Service Inc and its main rival FedEx Corp, which dominate the market.

Both package giants have their own branded retail presence, FedEx Kinko’s and UPS Stores.

DHL generated about USD 4 billion of revenue in 2006.

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Pitney Bowes launches web site focused on Intelligent Mail (R) barcode implementation

Posted by | Jan 8, 2008 | |

Recent years have seen profound changes sweeping through the
mailing industry: postal reform, shape-based pricing, and a host of
other initiatives that have forced mailers to rethink every aspect of
their strategies and operations.

This pace of change will not let up in 2008 as the industry
prepares for the next major shift: widespread deployment of the
Intelligent Mail(R) barcode requirement, a change that will be largely
invisible to consumers but that has vast implications for mailers of
all sizes.

To help these organizations learn more about the Intelligent
Mail(R) barcode and other initiatives, Pitney Bowes maintains a web
site dedicated to providing information on such major initiatives and
has now added the latest information about the Intelligent Mail(R)
barcode.

The Intelligent Mail(R) barcode is the tool that the United States
Postal Service will use to dramatically enhance its service to
mailers. The barcode has the capacity to uniquely identify every piece
of mail entering the postal system, a first for the Postal Service.
This technology will enable unprecedented visibility into the postal
network for mailers and for the Postal Service itself, opening the
door to a host of new and valuable opportunities for companies to make
their mailings even more efficient and effective. For example, the
advanced barcode will enable mailers to track all outbound statements
and inbound payments, greatly improving customer communications when
there is a question about a bill or payment.

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USPS plans to save USD 1B this year with automation

Posted by | Jan 8, 2008 | |

The U.S. Postal Service starts 2008 with ambitious goals for cost-cutting and modernization.

The agency last month unveiled a series of changes to its “road map,” the plan aimed at boosting its revenues over the next few years. The changes are driven, in part, by the 2006 Postal Accountability Enhancement Act, the first postal reform law in 36 years.
The plan sets an annual goal of USD 1 billion in cost reductions that the agency plans to achieve primarily by increasing automation. The cost reductions are necessary, said postal executive Linda Kingsley, even though the new law gives the Postal Service the flexibility to raise revenue by developing new products and raising prices for competitive services, such as package delivery.

“The competitive products are 10 percent of our revenue pie. Even if we double that, it still won’t do it,” said Kingsley, senior vice president for strategy and transformation. “And the likelihood of doubling our market share is pretty thin.”

The law also limits the Postal Service’s profits in market areas it dominates, such as first-class mail. The law caps postal rate increases for those products by tying them to the Consumer Price Index. The change is a benefit to consumers, particularly large mailers, but a challenge for USPS.

So the Postal Service hopes to lower costs by using automation to work smarter.
It has aggressively pursued a high-tech system called Intelligent Mail for tracking all classes of mail and identifying bad addresses. The program is in limited use by large mailers, and the Postal Service hopes it will be widespread by January 2009.

It also hopes to unveil the Flats Sequencing System in 2008. The equipment will sequence “flat mail” — magazines and large envelopes — much like letters, which are already automatically sequenced. That means mail carriers won’t have to spend time manually sequencing those items. Kingsley called it “the biggest thing we’re investing in” for the near future.

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