Tag: TNT

Germany's CDU party against postal services wage deal applying to whole industry

Posted by | Nov 1, 2007 | |

Germany’s CDU, the senior member of the nation’s two-party ruling coalition, has demanded that an accord between Deutsche Post AG and the ver.di union on minimum wages should not be declared binding for the entire postal services industry.

The collective bargaining agreement cannot be extended, as initially agreed by the government coalition, because it does not cover half of the industry’s employees, Die Welt newspaper cited CDU secretary general Ronald Pofalla as saying.

The Labour Ministry, led by Franz Muentefering from CDU’s coalition partner SPD, insists the bargaining agreement meets the conditions for general validity set forth by the government, Die Welt said.

Deutsche Post Chief Executive Klaus Zumwinkel claims Pofalla is overstating the number of postal services workers, thus underestimating the percentage covered by the agreement, Die Welt reported.

The government in August said it is planning to declare the wage agreement binding for the entire industry, drawing fierce criticism from logistics companies such as PIN Group AG and TNT NV, which are trying to make inroads into the German mail delivery market dominated by Deutsche Post.

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Royal Mail posts drop in profits

Posted by | Oct 31, 2007 | |

Royal Mail said on last Wednesday 31st October revenue in its letter business was down 78 million pounds (USD 162 million) in the first five months of the current year and annual operating profit dropped by one third.

State-owned Royal Mail, which lost its 350-year monopoly on postal services last year and recently faced strikes by workers, said it expected to be trading around breakeven this year and next due to declining mail volumes and investment.

The group reported operating profit for the full year 2006-2007 year of 233 million pounds, in line with expectations, following a sharp rise in pension fund costs to 722 million pounds from 193 million, falling mail volumes and increased competition.

Royal Mail said it faced making annual payments of 800 million pounds over the next 17 years to cover both its pension deficit of around 5 billion pounds and ongoing contributions.

Royal Mail’s Chief Executive Adam Crozier has said the company desperately needs to modernise, and was investing around 4 billion pounds to do so, to compete and prevent the business from failing.

The firm has plans to reduce its workforce by around 40,000, or 27 percent, by automating mail sorting processes and to fight private competition from Business Post Dutch mail company TNT NV and others.

The growth of email, text messages and the availability of vehicle tax discs and television licences online have also dented profits.

The Communications Workers Union (CWU) said earlier this month over 130,000 staff walked out in a dispute over pay, pensions and shift changes, causing delays and disruption, particularly to firms dependent on mail order business.

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Cabinet considers FDI cap in couriers

Posted by | Oct 31, 2007 | |

This is one mail courier companies would be praying is returned to the sender. A Cabinet note circulated by the department of posts has mooted 49 pct cap on FDI in courier business.

If the proposal goes through, multinationals like Fedex, DHL, UPS and TNT who hold more than 49 pct in Indian ventures will have to pare stake. The draft of the Indian Post Office (Amendment) Bill has another whammy in store for the private sector.

It proposes to make letters, parcels and packets weighing up to 150 gm the exclusive preserve of India Post. Private players will have to charge 2.5 times the tariff specified by Speed Post to operate in this segment.

The proposal to amend the Indian Post Office (Amendment) Act has been revived despite opposition from other government departments and the courier industry. A source said posts secretary I M G Khan has sent a communication on the proposed changes to department of industrial policy & promotion (Dipp) secretary Ajay Shankar.

The proposals specify that a person eligible to seek registration for operating in the mail sector has to be a company in which not less than 51 pct of the paid-up share capital is held by the citizens of India.

The draft Bill has been sent to the Cabinet and, once approved, the government can introduce the Bill in Parliament, source added.

The private courier companies had vehemently opposed the amendments earlier too. “In an era of free economy, if the country is embracing any legislation of such nature, it would send a wrong image internationally and it would also wipe out a vibrant part of our economy,” EICI had said in a communication to telecom minister A Raja.

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TNT N.V. announce 2007 Q3 results

Posted by | Oct 29, 2007 | |

Express
– Strong volume and revenue growth versus very strong Q3 2006 comparatives
– Earnings before depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) € 190 million, up 11.1%
– Operating margin excluding recent acquisitions consistently strong

Mail
– Continued good revenue growth due to EMN expansion
– First volume success of differentiating product offering in Mail Netherlands visible
– Operating margin stable

Group
– Net profit EUR 167 million
– Outlook confirmed

CEO Peter Bakker:
“The development of our results is satisfactory, certainly compared to the very strong Q3 of last year. Both Express and Mail revenues showed good organic growth and we continued to invest in emerging businesses in Express and Mail.

In Express, the operating margin, excluding the planned start-up costs of our recent acquisitions is above last year’s. In Mail, EMN revenue continues to develop strongly, particularly in the UK and Germany, whilst in Mail Netherlands we saw the positive impact of our product differentiation strategy on volumes.

In The Netherlands, we are continuing discussions with the trade unions on the new masterplan initiatives. As a first step, the Mobility Agreement, which will be part of the overall collective labour agreement, has now been agreed between the unions and ourselves.

Finally, I am pleased that TNT ranks first in the Dow Jones Sustainability Index 2007 and that we achieved the highest score in the entire index.”

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Homeserve deals Royal Mail another blow

Posted by | Oct 26, 2007 | |

Homeserve, the emergency policy and repair business, has handed TNT Post its mailing contract, signaling another blow to Royal Mail.

The deal, which will see Homeserve move its business from Royal Mail to TNT, is due to competitive prices and TNT’s clearer view of its business delivery service.

The move will cause another blow to Royal Mail – already in the midst of internal turmoil – as Homeserve is just one of the many businesses that has moved its business out of the postal operator in the past year. Royal Mail lost out to TNT for Emap’s GBP 1.6m subscriptions contract in August and BT’s delivery of The Phone Book contract in April.

The repeated loss of business and necessity to keep up with competition is one of the main reasons why Royal Mail wants to modernise its business, which has resulted in weeks of postal strikes recently.

TNT also handles contracts from customers including Centrica, Lloyds TSB, HBOS and Barclays.

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