Tag: UK Mail

Business Post: Statement from AGM

Posted by | Jul 9, 2008 | |

At today’s AGM of Business Post Group plc, Chairman Peter Kane will announce the following
statement to shareholders covering the period 1 April 2008 to 30 June 2008.
“Group revenues for the period increased by some 16% on the equivalent period last year.
Parcel revenues showed satisfactory improvement on last year. In particular, we continue to see
good growth in our B2B parcels business which represents in excess of 80% of parcels revenues.
Our Mail business, UK Mail, continues to achieve strong growth, driven by new business wins
together with further mail volumes from existing customers.
Revenues in Specialist Services for the period were up significantly on last year. In particular our
Courier business has benefited from the contract with Orange which commenced in the period.
We have made a good start to the financial year with continued revenue growth and with trading
performance in line with management expectations.

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Business Post Group: Pre-close period trading update

Posted by | Apr 9, 2008 | |

Business Post Group plc issued the following pre-close period trading update for the year ended 31 March 2008.

Group revenues for the financial year increased by 10.1pct on the previous year. Excluding the revenues from the FedEx contract, which terminated on 30 April 2007, underlying Group revenue increased by 16.5pct.

The company continues to see good growth in the B2B parcels business which represents around 80pct of parcels revenues. In B2C, which represents 15pct of the parcels business, the company is seeing an improving trend of performance.

Revenues in our Mail business, UK Mail, increased by some 50pct on the previous year, derived from both new contract wins and substantial further business from existing customers. The company claims to handle some 10pct of all mail collected in the UK.

Revenues in Specialist Services are now recovering with the fourth quarter showing growth.

The courier business, now trading under the UK Mail brand, has recently won a number of new same-day contracts.

The Group has maintained strong revenue growth, both during the fourth quarter and for the year as a whole. The overall performance is in line with the Board’s expectations.
Business Post Group plc will report its preliminary results for the year ended 31 March 2008 on 21 May 2008.

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Splitting of Royal Mail operations proposed (UK)

Posted by | Jan 17, 2008 | |

Royal Mail’s postal operation could be split in two under proposals put forward by the postal regulator to increase competition and reduce the burden of regulation.

Postcomm has written to all postal operators, organisations representing mail users and Postwatch, the consumer watchdog, asking them for their views on five options for regulating the industry from 2010.

Two of the options involve the principle of “wholesale equivalence”, which would split Royal Mail’s collection arm from its delivery arm by creating separate business units. That would make it easier to eliminate cross-subsidies; ensuring competitors had equal access to Royal Mail’s network, which they rely on for final delivery to homes and businesses.

At present, equal access is ensured by regulating a range of Royal Mail prices, including what it charges competitors for final delivery. This means 77 per cent of the state-owned operator’s revenues are controlled by Postcomm – a split, it says, could reduce the proportion to as little as 15 per cent.

This would be similar to the approach adopted by Ofcom, the media regulator, to reduce the regulatory burden on BT by requiring it to separate its retail operation from Openreach, the wholesale arm that handles calls for other telecom companies.

Postcomm said a split was unlikely to be effective in creating a level playing field for competitors unless the two organisations were physically separated. The businesses would need different management incentives, for example, so that the delivery arm was encouraged to offer equal service to Royal Mail and competitors.

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Business Post has 10 pct of UK mail

Posted by | Jan 17, 2008 | |

Business Post, the parcel and mail delivery group, is now handling one in 10 mail items posted in the UK after winning contracts to deal with letters and packages for large business mailers.
MBNA, the credit card company, and Norwich Union, Britain’s largest insurer, were among new customers for the group’s UK Mail postal operation, contributing to an increase in its share of the retail mail market from 7.5 per cent to 10 per cent in the last quarter of 2007.
UK Mail collects and sorts post from bulk mailers, before handing it over to Royal Mail for delivery over “the final mile” to homes and businesses around the country. Other customers include BBC TV Licensing, Carphone Warehouse, Royal Bank of Scotland and the Department for Work and Pensions.
Mail revenues during the three months to December 31 were up 60 per cent on the previous year, the group said in an interim management statement following the close of its third quarter.
The parcels arm also grew over the quarter with underlying revenues up 6 per cent. This contrasted with the experience at Rentokil Initial, which blamed falling volumes at its City Link parcel delivery service when it issued a profits warning in December.
Business Post shares have fallen from a high of 514p in June, closing on Wednesday at 250½p, up 12p.
The group will report results for the year to March 31 on May 21.

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Postcomm publishes decision document on its interim review of 2006-10 Price Control (UK)

Posted by | Jan 10, 2008 | |

Postcomm has published a decision document confirming its proposals made in August 2007 that Royal Mail should be given extra flexibility to increase some retail prices and that access margins should be left unchanged.

These decisions are in response to the requests by Royal Mail, TNT Post and UK Mail for a review of some aspects of the 2006-10 Price Control.

As set out in Postcomm’s proposals document published in August, this decision would allow Royal Mail to raise the price of a second class stamp to 29p by 2010, subject to inflation (the original price cap was 26p). The price cap on a first class stamp will not be affected by this decision2.

In addition, Postcomm has decided to reject the requests from Royal Mail, TNT Post and UK Mail to change the margin between Royal Mail’s prices for bulk mail products and the amount Royal Mail charges other mail operators for access to its network and delivery of bulk mail over the ‘final mile’. Royal Mail had wanted to reduce the margin and the two Access operators argued that it should be increased.

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