Tag: UK

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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One letter in four comes via Royal Mail rival (UK)

Posted by | Jul 8, 2008 | |

Rivals to Royal Mail now handle one in every four letters and are poised to increase volumes further, The Times has learnt.
It is understood that Royal Mail now carries out the full process of collection, sorting and deliver of three out of every four letters posted, as against four out of five last year. This follows an exodus of blue-chip bulk mailing customers to rival operators such as TNT and Business Post.
More customers may have been pushed to quit Royal Mail after last year’s industrial action despite competitors still having to use Royal Mail’s infrastructure and postal staff for the “final mile” delivery.
Royal Mail’s business could shrink further if rivals continue to grow. TNT, one of its two main competitors, expects to handle 2.4billion items of mail this year. Business Post, which does not make specific forecasts, said it expected to exceed that amount. Last year TNT handled 1.8billion items out of a total annual postbag of 20billion and Business Post
TNT’s prediction of a 33 per cent increase in mail volumes comes as the company is building up local business as well as targeting large national customers such as utilities and banks. Nick Wells, Managing Director of TNT’s UK mail business, said the business was putting resources into five regional centres.
Royal Mail is paid by rivals for the “last mile” delivery. It claims it is paid too little although its competitors say that its prices are too high.
The loss of business to rivals comes as a review commissioned by the Government looks into the future of the state-owned group. There are growing worries from Royal Mail, Postcomm, the industry regulator, and the main postal union, that Royal Mail is facing dire financial problems.
The Hooper review into Royal Mail is scheduled to set out recommendations to the Government. The regulator has said that Royal Mail needs an injection of private equity. But even if stakeholders backed such a move, it is not clear what interest there would be from private equity because of Royal Mail’s huge pension deficit. It currently stands at GBP 3.4billion but could double after an actuarial review.

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Swiss Post acquires Global Business Services Plus

Posted by | Jul 8, 2008 | |

Swiss Post has acquired Global Business Services Plus, which specializes in digital document management and has offices in France, Germany and Slovakia. Swiss Post is thus enhancing its offering in the field of in-house mail. In addition to internal physical mail services, customers are increasingly coming to expect that documents can be entered electronically, processed and digitally archived.

By acquiring Global Business Services Plus (GBS+), based in Paris, Swiss Post is reinforcing and completing its offering in the field of document solutions in Germany and France. It is thus an attractive partner for international companies which also look for an offering of this type from a single source. Corporate clients are increasingly seeking to not only outsource their in-house postal services. They also want to have a partner handle the digitization of documents, the integration of these digitized documents into their in-house electronic processes and the electronic archiving of these documents. One important customer segment for the newly acquired company GBS+ in France is banks, for which the company will handle cheque processing. Up to now, Swiss Post has been represented in this market with large units in the UK, the USA and Switzerland. The newly acquired company generated just under CHF 60 million (USD 58 million) in sales last year with a workforce of 1,000 and operates in the rapidly growing business process outsourcing market. In addition to France and Germany, GBS+ relies on its production facility in Bratislava (Slovakia).

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DHL keeps large pallets in order (UK)

Posted by | Jul 8, 2008 | |

DHL has installed a pallet measuring system from Mettler Toledo Cargoscan at its International Gateway in London Colney to improve efficiency.

The system is designed specifically for large pallets, helping to ensure they are accurately weighed, measured and scanned.

Angus MacDougall, manager at DHL’s International Gateway, said: “While measuring smaller parcels is standard practice in the transport and logistics industries, measuring large pallets is often very difficult using conventional technology, so their dimensions often have to be manually measured and recorded. This is obviously a time-consuming process and is not cost-effective.”

The CSN840 Pallet unit is able to handle around 200 pallets an hour and claims to work with almost any kind of pallet, including those with dark or glossy surfaces, processing each one in less than five seconds.

The operator has full control of the system and is able to see a graphical interface showing the measuring process in real time, as well as all historical data on-screen. The system also allows invoicing to be carried out more quickly.

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Ex Royal Mail marketer Batchelor set for TomTom position (UK)

Posted by | Jul 8, 2008 | |

Former Royal Mail Marketing Director Alex Batchelor is to resurface at sat-nav brand TomTom later this year as Chief Marketing Officer.

Batchelor’s departure from Royal Mail in June followed a board-level restructure that led to Group Strategy Director Alex Smith taking on overall marketing responsibility as Strategy and Commercial Director. Batchelor is to take up the role at TomTom in September.

Prior to leaving Royal Mail, Batchelor is understood to have been a keen advocate of a partnership deal with London 2012, a tie that could yet materialise. One of his final decisions was to retain Abbott Mead Vickers BBDO and Proximity London on its ad and direct accounts respectively.

In the UK, TomTom uses the strapline ‘Find your way the easy way’.

The Dutch brand has sold 20m products over the past four years, although shares dipped last month following rumours of declining UK sales.

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