Tag: Royal Mail Group

As much as one quarter of the £450 mil set aside by the govt for rural post offices could be invested in IT, according to the Dept of Trade and Industry (DTI). The govt body said it would invest £150 mil over three years, including around £79 mil for ‘front line systems’ in the first years, and £74 mil in both the second and third years. A Post Office source said that up to half of this expenditure could go towards IT systems. The National Federation of SubPostmasters, which will decide how to spend the money, said it is too early to speak about specific allocations. The Post Office claims it costs it £100 mil/y to maintain its Horizon automation system to which 40k terminals are connected, including 12k at rural branches.

The Royal Mail Group is considering an MBO bid for its in-house PR division, it emerged this week.

The division – Communications Services – competes against external agencies to provide PR, internal communications, events, exhibitions and design support for the group’s three divisions: Royal Mail, the Post Office and Parcelforce Worldwide.

It is understood that an MBO bid, being led by division director Mick Kelly, is under consideration by senior group staff.

Gillian Wilmot, managing director at Royal Mail, said yesterday that she was leaving the postal organisation because there was no longer a suitable role for her there. Sources close to Mrs Wilmot said yesterday that she had found the management team, chaired by Allan Leighton, to be “a boys’ club”. Mrs Wilmot arrived at Royal Mail two years ago and was responsible for both the business and consumer markets of the mail delivery business, which is worth over pounds 4 billion. Her arrival was hailed as heralding a new era for the predominantly male management team.

Royal Mail is to scale down dramatically its use of trains to transport first-class post in a move that could cost Britain’s biggest railfreight company millions of pounds.

The changes, part of Royal Mail’s transport strategy review, have caused a row about the performance of the freight company, English, Welsh and Scottish.