Tag: Royal Mail

UK Royal Mail halves losses after big cuts

Posted by | May 23, 2003 | |

Royal Mail Group yesterday showed signs of a turnround as it announced a halving of full-year losses to GBP600m. However, progress was marred by widening losses at Post Office branches and by the announcement of a GBP4.6bn pensions black hole. The group said it would pour GBP100m a year into its pensions scheme until it filled the hole, the result of falling equity prices. Royal Mail went into the red in 2001 and last year reported a record loss of GBP1.1bn. It has since shed 16,000 jobs and closed 345 post offices to cut costs. Its industrial relations have also improved, with a 90 per cent fall in industrial action.

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UK Royal Mail’s 2002/03 results – Postwatch welcomes progress

Posted by | May 22, 2003 | |

Royal Mail Group today announced, as expected, an improving financial performance and predicted a return to profit in 2003/04. They also announced continued growth in mail volumes and their best industrial relations for over 10 years. At the same time the new Chief Executive admitted, (in advance of announcing the details next week) that it was disappointing only 3 of the 15 performance targets were met. One of the targets missed was for the flagship 1st class stamped and franked service. Royal Mail revealed that only 91.8% of 1st class letters arrive next day. This means that over a million letters per day are not arriving on time. Peter Carr, Chairman of Postwatch, commenting on the announcement said, “This is very good news and the new management should be congratulated – in particular they should be applauded for a year without industrial conflict. “Customers will remain concerned that, although improving, standards of service are still short of target at a time when prices have increased”.

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Lower access prices encourage independent operators to compete for share of UK business mail market

Posted by | May 20, 2003 | |

UK Mail is the first independent mail operator planning to use Royal Mail’s delivery offices to win a larger chunk of the lucrative business mail market. At the price proposed yesterday many others should soon follow. Hays, which runs a document exchange service, Holland’s TPG, Germany’s Deutsche Post and Express Dairies all have either interim licences or seven-year licences to compete with Royal Mail. These allow them to carry and sort bulk mail as well as provide document exchange and guaranteed delivery services. Express Dairies can even deliver certain items on its milk floats. But none has been able to establish a national door-to-door network to rival Royal Mail’s. Postcomm’s proposed prices, which will go out to consultation, should encourage rival operators to hit the market hard.

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UK Companies set to benefit from changes early next year

Posted by | May 20, 2003 | |

Joe Public is unlikely to see a change in the price of sending a letter as a result of yesterday’s decision. The postmen and women delivering mail will not change either, although much of the post they will be carrying will soon no longer bear the Royal Mail name. But businesses could benefit from the changes as early as next year if a low access price encourages, as Postcomm predicts, the development of new services and competition over existing ones. Postwatch, the consumer watchdog said: “Access to the Royal Mail pipeline, could in time, grow the size of the overall market – again, good news for customers.”

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Postcomm proposes access arrangements to enable UK Mail Ltd to use Royal Mail’s network

Posted by | May 19, 2003 | |

Postcomm today sought views on arrangements to allow UK Mail Ltd, an
independent postal company owned by Business Post Plc, to use Royal Mail to
provide final delivery of its post. Once it is in place, the arrangement will enable UK Mail to collect mail from its customers, transport it to its Birmingham hub, and from there transport it direct to Royal Mail’s 1,400 delivery offices for final delivery by postmen and postwomen along with the mail they already handle. The access arrangements, as they are called, have been proposed today in a formal Notice of a proposed direction by Postcomm after the two parties were unable to agree terms between themselves. The prices proposed by Postcomm range from 11.46p up to GBP4.06 depending on the weight of the letter or package and the work done by UK Mail Ltd. The proposed prices would allow Royal Mail to recover a 6% operating profit from this business by 2006.

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