Tag: Poste Italiane

Poste Italiane's long-term issuer credit rating upgraded to 'A'

Posted by | Jun 14, 2007 | |

Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services said it has raised its long-term issuer credit rating on Italian Poste Italiane Group (Poste) to ‘A’ from ‘A-‘, reflecting Poste’s increasing orientation toward commercial activities.

The ratings agency also affirmed its ‘A-1′ short-term issuer credit rating on Poste, and added the outlook is stable.

The ratings reflect Poste’s strong state backing due to the group’s social importance and its economic role in the domestic market, the state’s grandfathering of almost all Poste’s financial debt, and Poste’s gradually improving stand-alone creditworthiness,’ S&P credit analyst Myriam Fernandez de Heredia said.

S&P said the ratings remain burdened, however, by Poste’s financial profile, and by uncertainties around the envisaged market liberalisation, which may result in a more competitive environment.

It added a weakening of the state’s support, along with a deterioration of the group’s financial profile, could put the ratings under pressure, but this is unlikely in the next 2-3 years.

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EU delays postal service shakeup

Posted by | Jun 13, 2007 | |

The result is more important than the speed of the liberalisation, the German EU presidency has said, signalling that some EU member states will get more time to open up the postal services market than the 2009 deadline proposed by the European Commission.

Berlin had aimed to wrap up the talks on the postal plan by July, when Portugal takes over the EU’s chair, but the meeting of transport and telecommunication ministers in Luxembourg on Thursday (7 June) highlighted severe opposition in around 10 countries, such as France and Poland.

The new emerging timetable looks likely to list different dates for different countries, with the latest deadlines mooted between 2012 and 2013, according to observers.

Speaking to journalists after the debate, the German minister for economy, Michael Glos, tried to play down the differences, pointing out “There is some tension but I get the impression that there’s awareness that it [liberalisation] will be in favour of competition and European consumers.”

But it was precisely the potential consequences of competition for both postal workers and consumers in remote areas that the opponents of the 2009 plan cited as their main reason for rejecting it.

Mr Glos maintained that no country wanted to “derail the process” but he suggested that the compromise plan to be worked out by the German presidency and taken up by Portugal will propose that countries can “proceed at different speed.”

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EU delays Postal Service shakeup

Posted by | Jun 11, 2007 | |

Rather than stick to a 2009 deadline to open postal markets, the EU will likely O.K. different dates for different countries

The new emerging timetable looks likely to list different dates for different countries, with the latest deadlines mooted between 2012 and 2013, according to observers.

The EU started out on the road to opening up the 90 billion postal sector 15 years ago and the current proposal would finalise the process, meaning that national postal operators would lose their monopoly over the distribution of any type of mail, including letters weighing less than 50 grammes.

Britain and Sweden have already completed the liberalisation of their postal markets while Germany, the Netherlands and Finland are en route to doing so – with their ministers favouring the Brussels plan.

But in countries where a public company still has a full or partial monopoly to deliver these services – such as France’s La Poste or Italy’s Poste Italiane, the liberalisation move could lead to considerable job losses.

Some new member states such as Poland also expressed concerns that their postal services are not yet prepared for such a step forward.

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PostEurop 5th IT Forum 2007

Posted by | Jun 5, 2007 | |

The PostEurop IT Forum takes place once a year to spur exchanges in the field of new information and communication technologies among postal operators across Europe.

Innovative IT Solutions will be crucial for the future success of European postal companies. At the PostEurop 2007 IT Forum experts from all across the industry will discuss the latest developments and IT solutions in light of increasing electronic substitution and deregulation. The IT Forum will be hosted by Deutsche Post World Net and take place in the DHL Innovation Centre near Bonn, Germany.

Among the topics to be discussed will be hybrid mail solutions, RFID tags, e-government solutions, digital franking and other hot issues for electronic postal services. Speakers come from postal operators such as CTT Correios de Portugal, DPWN, La Poste Group, Poste Italiane and Itella, and from international consultancies like Accenture and Strategia Group.

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European postal operators express caution on the liberalisation of the postal market.

Posted by | May 31, 2007 | |

As the European Parliament and the Council of the European Union are about to decide on a proposal of the European Commission to fully liberalise the European postal market in 2009, 12 postal operators, in charge of providing the universal service in their countries, express their support for the cautious approach followed in the ongoing debates.

The postal operators of Austria, Belgium, Cyprus, France, Greece, Italy, Hungary, Latvia, Luxembourg, Malta, Poland and Slovakia observe with interest the caution that characterises the majority of debates in the EU Parliament on the issue of postal market liberalisation.

Over the past few months several signatory postal operators have highlighted the difficulty of identifying and implementing a financing mechanism that guarantees the continuity of the universal postal service in the event of full liberalisation of the market.

Faced with this problem, several debates in the EU Parliament called for caution and raised crucial issues such as viable financing mechanisms of the universal service, dangers of social dumping and the necessary conditions for a level playing field between market players. As a result, three European Parliamentary Committees as well the European Social and Economic Committee proposed new dates for the completion of the internal market for postal services, to be confirmed if appropriate. In the meantime, all efforts must be constructively spent to propose adequate solutions to the above mentioned points which are essential to make liberalisation possible.

The 12 signatory postal operators support a responsible approach and assert that the actual uncertainties must be addressed before the current system of financing of the universal postal service is put to an end.

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