Tag: Spain

Financial investor bids over EUR 500m for Seur controlling stake

Posted by | Aug 1, 2008 | |

British private equity company Doughty Hanson has bid more than EUR 500 million to buy a 52 pct majority stake in Spanish express parcels operator Seur in an offer valuing the company at about EUR 1 billion. DHL and UPS were apparently also interested in the company.
According to Spanish business newspaper Expansión, the UK financial investor has made the offer to a group of Seur franchisees who have decided to sell off their shareholdings in the group. The offer, valuing the whole company at EUR 1 billion, is thus worth about EUR 520 million.
Expansión, citing market sources, described the bid as “friendly” and said that Doughty Hanson was ready to work with other Seur shareholders, including La Poste subsidiary GeoPost, which owns a 19.6 pct share in the group.
The other Seur shareholders now have 45 days to decide whether to exercise their right to block the bid with a counter-offer of at least the same size, the newspaper wrote. Sources close to La Poste said that no decision has yet been taken about this, it added.
Seur, with revenues of EUR 665 million last year, has a complex, decentralised ownership structure comprising regional franchisees who also own small stakes in the parent company Seur SA. Seur has 85 franchisees in total controlled by 54 companies. The franchisees seeking to sell their holdings represent 52 pct of Seur capital, 65 pct of the franchises by number, and generate 5 pct of gross profits, according to the newspaper.

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DHL enlarging in Seville

Posted by | Jul 31, 2008 | |

DHL Express, a member of Germany’s giant mail service provider Deutsche Post World Net, recently phased in a new logistics terminal on an almost 21,000 sqm tract of land in the Carmona logistics park in the province of Seville (Andalusia, Spain). The facility provides 7,390 sqm of useable space and is equipped with a total of 90 loading bays, 26 of which are for HGVs, and 64 for small delivery vans and CEP vehicles. The new DHL logistics platform handles domestic and international overland traffic, as well as sea and airfreight services. DHL invested over EUR 7.7 million in the new complex, which can process up to 3,500 parcels per hour.

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Spanish unions seek a study into universal service

Posted by | Jul 30, 2008 | |

The Spanish Postal Advisory Council, the highest advisory body of government in postal matters, discussed on the 29th of July the proposal submitted by UGT and supported by CC.OO (both unions are affiliates of UNI Post & Logistics Global Union) for an Observatory on the provision of universal service. The Council has agreed to the creation of a working group for analysis and study of the provision of universal postal service in rural areas and in special environments. The unions welcomed the decision which responds to a need that has long been targeted in connection with the mismatch and neglect suffered by these areas in recent times.

The unions also said they believed that the Government, in the form of the Ministry of Public Works, wants to impose unilaterally reform of the postal sector without discussion with the unions. UGT believes that with the creation of the proposed Observatory, the Government rightly responds to a very real social unrest. The unions said there is a need improve management, as at this moment the post office needs to meet the European quality standards for the provision of universal postal service.

On another issue, the President of the Council (Assistant Secretary of Public Works) reported that the Government does not have in its agenda, any project under way to change the current Postal Law. The Government has a period of 2 years to transpose into Spanish law the recently adopted European Postal Directive. In this connection the unions demanded that when this takes place that the government immediately open negotiations with all unions.

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Chile, Spain and Uruguay launch new electronic money transfer service through postal network

Posted by | Jul 28, 2008 | |

Chile, Spain and Uruguay launched a new electronic money transfer service linking their countries, bringing Latin America into the fold of the Universal Postal Union’s international financial network.

People in all three countries will now be able to use the postal network to send and receive money to and from abroad. The service is currently offered in 110 post offices in Chile, in 2,300 in Spain and in 60 in Uruguay. The service is fast and secure; money transfers can be executed and delivered in 15 minutes.

The service relies on the International Financial System (IFS) application developed by the UPU’s Postal Technology Centre. IFS is the backbone of the UN specialized agency’s international financial network. The launch of the new service between Spain and Latin America is part of the UPU’s global efforts to modernize the obsolete paper postal money order and respond to some of the challenges posed by the phenomenon of international migration, including better access for migrant workers to secure remittance services through formal channels, such as the 660,000 or more post offices around the world.

According to World Bank data, more than 220 million migrant workers send over 300 billion dollars annually through formal channels. But officials believe that just as many remittances are being sent through informal channels, promoting money laundering and financing terrorist-related activities. Spain is home to 4.5 million immigrants, 1.6 million of them from Latin America. In 2006, these immigrants sent in excess of 6.25 billion euros to their families in their countries of origin, according to the Bank of Spain. By joining the UPU’s international financial network, Spain will be better able to meet the needs of this Latin American population, and there is now the potential for opening exchanges with countries in North Africa.

The new service is being launched following an agreement signed last December between Spain and the UPU.

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Postal Operators – Fuel prices hitting profits

Posted by | Jul 24, 2008 | |

Higher fuel prices are having an impact on operating profit for all postal operators, and with many European countries already investing in alternative fuel sources, the U.S. Postal Service is now looking for ways to reduce it’s annual fuel bill, expected to increase by USD 600m this year.

The U.S. Postal Service has around 195,000 local delivery trucks and is already testing alternative transport powered by hydrogen, ethanol, lpg, and electricity.

French postal operator La Poste has a long-term plan to replace as much of its fleet as possible with electrically powered cars and is already using the battery-powered CleaNova, produced by Société de Véhicules Electriques (SVE), a joint venture between Dassault and Heuliez. Italian postal operator, Poste Italiane, has continued to replace many of its vehicles with gas-powered versions and has carried out several trials on alternative fuel vehicles, with special interest on serial-hybrid vans.

Royal mail aims to reduce its fleet fossil fuel usage by 14 pct by 2010 and has already bought Smith Edison and Newton higher function delivery vehicles which have a top speed of up to 50mph and can cover up to 150 miles on one battery charge. Royal Mail recently launched a company wide awareness programme to help its 180,000 people switch to greener driving, whether for social or work driving. And almost 1,000 Royal Mail drivers have received in-depth classroom training to help them adopt more environmentally-friendly motoring practices with plans to train a further 2,000 in the coming months.

With petrol and diesel prices expected to stay high this year, alternative fuels are likely to play a greater part in the selection of replacement vehicles for most postal operators.

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