Tag: Swiss Post

Swiss Post International posts good but slightly lower half-year results

Posted by | Aug 27, 2008 | |

Swiss Post achieved a good result in H1 2008. With net income of EUR 265 million the result was EUR 51 m or 16.1 pct below the record figure of the year-back period. Swiss Post International – Swiss Post’s international unit – generated operating income of EUR 327 m, which was EUR 28 m below the year-back period. The reason for this was due mainly to the current currency situation. SPI is nevertheless likely to contribute to the Group profit of Swiss Post in 2008.

Swiss Post International (SPI), which operates in the international mail, parcel and express business, posted a good operating result again in the first half of 2008. The performance was not quite as good as that in 2007, however. SPI generated operating income of EUR 327 m in the first half. This is EUR 28 m below the year-back figure. SPI lost around EUR 6 m as a result of transactions in foreign currencies, which were converted at a lower rate than in mid-2007. The result from translation of amounts due from international partners was also around EUR 21 m lower.

Most SPI subsidiaries were able to lift their operating income again compared with last year. SPI intends to continue along its growth path in the next few years with a number of ongoing projects in sales and with additional acquisitions. SPI is thus driving the steady expansion of its international network. Already at the beginning of 2008 SPI acquired the Swedish letter processor IMS Europe AB.

Read More

Swiss Post Delivers RFID to Its Parcel Centers, Transportation Hubs

Posted by | Aug 20, 2008 | |

The company is adding EPC Gen 2 tags to containers that shuttle mail and packages in and around nearly 50 facilities in Switzerland.

Swiss Post is rolling out the company’s third RFID application—this time a system to track 45,000 rolling container cages used to transport mail and packages at buildings throughout the Alpine country. Implementation of the application, believed to be the largest in Switzerland, began in October 2007 and will be completed by this October.

A public company that provides postal services to Switzerland, Swiss Post transports more than 1 million parcels per year. Wheeled container cages play an important role in transporting the parcels. Before Swiss Post decided to tag its rolling container cages, it had no reliable way to conduct an inventory of them. The company counted them manually every two years, a labor-intensive process that required an estimated 200 workdays involving two people at each location.

Swiss Post is investing 4 million Swiss francs (USD 3.6 million) in the project, which covers software, hardware and consulting fees. It expects to save 1.5 million Swiss francs (USD 1.4 million) a year because it won’t have to manually count the cages and will be able to manage the cages more effectively. By knowing how many cages are on hand and where they are physically located, it can make sure it has the right number of cages at each site in order to handle the expected volumes. The information will also help the company better manage the cages, transport them less between sites to meet demand and avoid delays due to unavailable cages.

Read More

SwissPostCertificate : The simple way to a secure digital identity

Posted by | Jul 24, 2008 | |

The SwissPostCertificate is available at over 2,400 post offices and can now be acquired more easily and at a more attractive introductory price. The SwissPostCertificate is a form of digital ID and can be likened to a passport or ID card for the digital world, enabling users to communicate confidentially. Swiss Post’s digital ID is now available at a more attractive introductory price and via a much simpler procedure. With the help of the new wizard, customers can now download the digital certificate for authentication, signing and encryption with just a few clicks of the mouse after completing the registration and identification procedure.
The personal identification (yellow identification) required for the SwissPostCertificate has been possible at all of the 2,400 Swiss post offices since April. Thanks to the new means of identification, which requires a notarially certified or legally attested copy of an identity document, the certificate can now be purchased worldwide. Registration is the key to secure identification as SwissPostCertificates are only issued once the registration documents and the customer’s identity have been carefully checked.
Another benefit is that the customer can now choose whether to pay for the SwissPostCertificate annually or for three years in advance. Furthermore, the introductory price for the various certificates has been reduced for natural persons. The cost for the first year was previously CHF 90 for the starter kit plus a minimum annual fee of CHF 35. Now, the entire package is available for under CHF 100. Anyone opting for the three-year deal will benefit from a discount. New Swiss customers needing to use the certificate immediately will be able to apply their digital signature in just 24 hours, thanks to the express order option.
1 CHF = 0.963112 USD

Read More

Swiss Post International acquires German-based GPD

Posted by | Jul 22, 2008 | |

Swiss Post International (SPI), the international Group unit of Swiss Post, has taken over Global Press Distribution GmbH (GPD) in Germany. With this acquisition, SPI is consolidating its position in the German export press market, the largest in Europe. GPD has a staff of 31 and generated sales of CHF 8 million in 2007.
The acquisition of Global Press Distribution GmbH (GPD) by Swiss Post International (SPI) will take effect retroactively to 1 January 2008. It was agreed that the purchase price will not be disclosed. GPD, whose registered office is in Moerfelden near Frankfurt, provides services connected with the international and national dispatch of magazines. Its customers in Germany include publishers, printers, lettershops and other service providers in the publishing industry. With a workforce of 31, GPD generated sales equivalent to CHF 8 million francs in 2007.
With this acquisition SPI is reinforcing its position in the export press business. The German press market is the biggest in Europe, with 400 newspapers and 200 magazine publications. By entering this market, Swiss Post is pursuing its strategy of establishing itself in international niche markets. Swiss Post now already generates 20 percent of its sales abroad and in its cross-border business. SPI is a wholly owned subsidiary of Swiss Post and currently employs 1,200 people in eleven European countries, five major cities in Asia and in the USA. SPI is now number five on the cross-border letters market after Deutsche Post, United States Postal Service, the UK’s Royal Mail and France’s La Poste.

Read More

A long and stony road to European postal competition

Posted by | Jul 18, 2008 | |

Following full liberalisation in four European countries (UK, Germany, Sweden and Finland), about 54 pct of the total EU mail market in volume terms is now completely open to competition, Alex Dieke, head of Postal Services and Logistics for German-based market research institute wik-Consult, told last month’s World Mail & Express Europe conference in Budapest organised by Triangle Management Services. But experience from these four liberalised markets showed that “it will take a long time for effective competition to arrive”, he commented. In the long-term, competitors might be able to gain up to 20-25 pct of larger markets, he forecast.

In Britain, which liberalised in 2006, competitors such as UK Mail and TNT Post had gained a 10 pct market share in terms of “upstream” volumes collected from customers but there was still no major competitor to Royal Mile for “last-mile” deliveries to businesses and consumers, Dieke said. In Sweden, where the market was opened in 1993, competitor CityMail still only had about 10 pct of the market. In Finland, which liberalised in 1997, high entry barriers meant there was no real competitor to Itella. In the Netherlands, which along with Slovakia might open its market before the official EU-wide liberalisation date of January 2011, competitors Selektmail and Sandd had gained 12 pct of the market despite TNT’s remaining monopoly, he noted.

Iain McLure, CEO of Spring Global Mail, criticised European postal operators for the repeated delays to liberalisation in recent years. “How long does the postal sector need to get prepared for competition?” he asked. In future, postal operators would have to focus on offering products in line with customer demand, better customer service and opportunities to achieve cost savings, the experienced postal manger forecast.

Spring, the TNT/Royal Mail/Singapore Post subsidiary, regularly used alternatives to national postal operators in some markets in order to provide quality services and lower costs, McLure pointed out. But he stressed: “As a broker, we are more of a customer (to postal operators) than a competitor.” Spring had been profitable for the past eight years, he noted.

Read More

Advertisement

Advertisement

Advertisement

P&P Poll

Loading

What's the future of the postal USO?

Thank you for voting
You have already voted on this poll!
Please select an option!



View ResultsHide Results

Post & Parcel Magazine


Post & Parcel Magazine is our print publication, released 3 times a year. Packed with original content and thought-provoking features, Post & Parcel Magazine is a must-read for those who want the inside track on the industry.

Subscribe to the Magazine

 

Pin It on Pinterest