Tag: Royal Mail

Alliance & Leicester Commercial Bank partners with Post Office UK

Posted by | Oct 28, 2008 | |

Alliance & Leicester Commercial Bank has teamed up with Post Office Limited to launch a new scheme for small businesses.
Under the new agreement, Post Office branches will be able to introduce a range of Alliance & Leicester business current accounts to small business customers.
The bank noted that the launch follows a successful pilot which was carried out with the National Federation of Sub Postmasters over a three-month period at 41 Post Offices across the UK.
Alliance & Leicester said that the customers of the bank already benefit from being able to carry out their day-to-day banking transactions at any of the UK’s network of Post Offices. Business customers are able to pay in or withdraw cash and check their account balance and deposit checks over the counter, as well as receive a change giving service. The new agreement further strengthens and extends Alliance & Leicester Commercial Bank’s support for the Post Office network, the bank added.

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Royal Mail delivers postal service warning

Posted by | Oct 24, 2008 | |

Royal Mail said its profit had more than doubled but warned its one-price-goes-anywhere universal postage service was in the red and under threat.
The company said the challenge from electronic media and rival postal services meant it needed to step up modernisation while plunging stock markets had sent its pension fund deficit soaring.
Chairman Allan Leighton said: “This strong performance has been delivered against a backdrop of falling mail volumes, increased competition, an unsatisfactory regulatory regime and the challenge of meeting the demands of our pension scheme.” Royal Mail said the deficit in its pension fund, in accounting terms, had risen about GBP 1bn to GBP 4bn owing to plunging equity values. It is expecting next year’s actuarial valuation to show a larger hole. The letters business was facing tougher competition from email and private-sector rivals, and now has a daily postbag of 79m letters – down 5m on two years ago. It warned the economic downturn could mean an additional squeeze on the operation as companies cut back on advertising.
Chief Executive Adam Crozier said that, despite the improvement in performance and reduction in costs, the business still had problems. “The scale of these challenges means there is an urgent need to step up the pace of modernisation and ensure everyone is playing their part in transforming our operations and delivering a world-class postal service.

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Singapore hosts 15th ASEAN postal business meeting

Posted by | Oct 23, 2008 | |

Singapore’s Minister for Information, Communications & the Arts, Dr Lee Boon Yang, opened the 15th ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) Postal Business Meeting (APBM), hosted by Singapore Post (SingPost).

About 50 delegates from the 10 ASEAN countries namely Brunei Darussalam,
Cambodia, Republic of Indonesia, Lao People’s Democratic Republic, Malaysia, Union
of Myanmar, Republic of the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and the Socialist Republic
of Viet Nam, as well as ASEAN countries ie People’s Republic of China, Hong Kong,
Japan, India and the Republic of Korea, are attending the meeting in Singapore.
Meetings

The Singapore Meeting will begin with the election of the new Vice-Chairperson and the
adoption of the business timetable. Malaysia holds the chairmanship of the ASEAN
Postal Business Meeting.

During the two-day Meeting, senior postal officials from the 10 ASEAN countries will
receive updates from the 24th Universal Postal Union (UPU) Congress and its impact on
ASEAN, and will discuss the leveraging on Singapore and Indonesia, both of which were
recently re-elected into the Postal Operations Council (POC), as the conduit for
UPU/POC information between the ASEAN members and the UPU/POC, as well as
establishing funding projects that can reinforce ASEAN’s collective competitiveness as a
region, so as to realise equitable and sustainable growth. The meeting will also provide
updates from the previous meeting held in Philippines on 4-5 September 2007.

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Post-Switch – Royal Mail most inefficient operator in Europe

Posted by | Oct 23, 2008 | |

Post-Switch says that Royal Mail has failed to react to the commercial world, describing it as one of the most inefficient operators in Europe.
Jonathan DeCarteret, Senior Market Analyst at Post-Switch, says that Royal Mail, under threat from competition, a ballooning pension deficit, shackled to a trade union and a conspicuous lack of innovation has put the USO (universal service obligation) in financial deficit and under threat.

“Royal Mail is one of the most inefficient operators in Europe and there is an urgent need to modernise, streamline, cut costs and compete on customer service. There is a general consensus that Royal Mail has failed to shake off a culture of complacency that reigned under monopoly protection and there is a real need for a culture of change that is about customer obsession and innovation. Royal Mail need the commercial talent to create new revenue streams and take advantage of a liberalised European postal market.” he said.

His remarks follow the announcement by Royal Mail this week that the pension deficit has grown and the universal service is now seriously in the red. The Hooper review, to be released imminently, is expected to recommend a radical shake-up of the Royal Mail, including part privatisation of the delivery network.

In a closed door speech on the Independent Review of the Postal Services Sector, Richard Hooper stated that “The situation in the postal services sector in the UK is and remains untenable”.

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Royal Mail: Half year trading statement 2008-09 (UK)

Posted by | Oct 23, 2008 | |

Royal Mail Group’s operating profit more than doubled from GBP 86 million to GBP 177 million in the first half of the 2008-09 financial year compared to the same period the previous year despite a further fall in mail volumes, the company announced today.

The strong financial performance came alongside a rise in customer quality of service with the most recent figures showing the vast bulk of mail hitting or exceeding its targets.

Operating profit grew by GBP 91 million in the first half of the year compared to the same period last year. The company’s continued focus on reducing overheads as competitive and economic pressures mount played a significant role in the financial uplift with reductions in IT and other costs in the Post Office network and efficiency gains in the Royal Mail Letters business.

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