Business Post has appointed a new managing director to lead its charge into the new deregulated mail delivery market. The Birmingham company, which has its national HQ near Bromford Lane, has appointed Steve Patrick as head of its UK Mail arm. The 49-year-old had been sales and marketing director for the division since its introduction as the first alternative to Royal Mail in 2004.
He replaces Guy Buswell, who has become chief executive.
Royal Mail expects to lose “billions” of mail items to its rivals over the next 12 months, following the opening up of the market to full competition on January 1. And in the change that will follow the New Year’s day revolution in the postal services market, it is business customers that are expected to be in the lead. Royal Mail lost its monopoly on mailings of 4,000 and more items in April 2003. Next week, the rest of the Pounds 6.5bn market, including lower volumes of mail sent by small businesses, is being opened up. Companies account for more than 80 per cent of the licensed market: mail costing less than Pounds 1 and weighing less than 350g. Royal Mail’s main competitors include TNT Mail, the UK arm of TPG, the Dutch postal group; DHL Global Mail, the UK arm of Deutsche Post, the German postal operator; and UK Mail, owned by Business Post, a quoted express delivery company. Those competitors say they intend to use the January 1 liberalisation as a catalyst to step up the pressure on the state-owned operator, using a combination of pricing and product innovation to try to woo more of its business customers.
Read MoreThe annualized figure of 250m items (quoted in a press release Nov 05) was the rate reported in our 04/05 Accounts. UK Mail has continued to grow considerably since then and the daily figure of 4m items is the current peak volume.
Read MoreBusiness Post announces results for the half year ended 30 September 2005 in line with the trading statement of 21 September 2005, which highlighted a below-expectations performance by Express and the franchise network, together with successful trading in the rest of the Group. Financial highlights include: turnover increased by 21% to GBP133.0m, profit before tax and exceptional item totalled GBP6.2m (2004: GBP8.6m), impacted by the difficult economic conditions and reported pre-tax profit was GBP3.0m (2004: GBP8.6m). Parcel Services (Express, International and HomeServe) increased revenue by 8.6% to GBP97.7m, representing 73% of the Group total, but experienced mixed fortunes in a market that was among the most challenging in the Group’s recent history. Specialist Distribution Services (UK Pallets and Courier) made strong progress, increasing revenue by nearly 17% to GBP20.4m and UK Mail made excellent progress, increasing revenue almost six-fold, to GBP14.6m, representing 11% (2004: 2%) of the Group total.
Read MoreFears that trading at Business Post Group may have deteriorated since last month’s shock profits warning pulled the FTSE 250 mail operator down a further 5 per cent. At the time of last month’s alert, the company said the rate of decline in volumes in its UK parcel delivery service had slowed from August’s trough. However, Altium Securities remains cautious, suggesting that continued gloom from the retail and technology sectors indicates that the key Christmas period may be poor. Further, Andrew Nussey, analyst, believes there is a risk that selective price rises in delivery charges will not stick as business customers become more cost conscious.
Read More
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.
