Tag: UK

Second anniversary of the liberalisation of the UK postal market

Posted by | Dec 28, 2007 | |

Postcomm has found competition in its second year is starting to benefit more and more mail users, but has urged all operators to rise to the challenges posed by the digital age.

Research commissioned by Postcomm in 2007 found the benefits that large mailers have been experiencing since the market was opened have now started to slowly spread to smaller businesses. However, much more progress is needed and the challenge posed by the growing number of alternatives to mail confirms the need for mail operators to continue to pursue greater innovation.

The market research, which formed part of Postcomm’s annual Business Customer Survey, revealed that although Royal Mail remains the dominant operator, one in five small and medium mailers and more than a third of large mailers are using more than one mail provider.

Postcomm’s annual Competitive Market Review (CMR), found that mail volumes were 2 per cent down on last year, but there are indications that direct mail is growing in sectors such as building societies, charity, and health.

End-to-end competition has declined by four million items and stands at less than one per cent of total mail volume, but mail volumes collected by ‘access’ operators and delivered by Royal Mail have more than doubled and now represent 19 per cent of revenue-derived mail volumes.

The research shows that a larger number of small businesses are beginning to benefit from competition, but much more needs to be done before small firms can experience the full benefits of competition that larger mailers have seen since the market was opened.

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PostEurop call Council of the European Union to resume negotiations on VAT legislation for postal services

Posted by | Dec 27, 2007 | |

The postal industry needs a reliable VAT legislation. The 6th VAT Directive no longer provides for legal certainty as demonstrated by the infringement procedures most recently launched by the European Commission. Moreover, taking into account the changes that the industry has undergone in the past 10 years, modernizing VAT regulations seems reasonable.
On May 5th 2003, the European Commission issued a “proposal for a directive amending directive 77/388/EEC as regards VAT on services provided in the postal sector” (COM/2003/234).
It provides for equal treatment of postal services in term of taxation. It also introduces an option to apply reduced VAT rates for certain postal services with the intention to limit any increase in postal prices due to the introduction of VAT.
On March 11th 2004, the European Parliament agreed to the introduction of VAT in public postal services. The European Parliament has proposed to make the application of a reduced rate mandatory.
The deliberations (2 July 2003 to 15 June 2004) within the Council failed in the absence of the required unanimity and negotiations have been suspended for about 3 years now.
On 23rd March 2006, the European Commission launched infringement proceedings by sending letters of formal notice to the UK, Sweden and Germany on the VAT application of postal services.
The rules governing the application of VAT should not be left to finally decisions by the ECJ based on an interpretation of the 6th VAT Directive (dating back to 1977). The decision how to apply VAT on postal services is essentially a political one and therefore needs to be agreed upon by the Council.

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Post Office research: Over a third of UK workforce at work over Christmas period

Posted by | Dec 27, 2007 | |

This Christmas 40 per cent of the UK workforce will be at work for some or all of the Christmas period (25 December – 1 January) despite the fact that over half of them (52 per cent) will lose holiday entitlement as a result.

According to new research released today by Post Office® Travel Services, 25 per cent of people surveyed are working because they have too much work to do to take time off. A further 58 per cent couldn’t take annual leave because of shift rotas or other colleagues getting in there first. And a handful admitted they liked their jobs so much they would rather be there than at home or on holiday with loved ones.

It appears we are a truly a nation of workaholics. As well as those missing out on their holiday entitlement by working through Christmas, the research also showed nearly four in ten UK workers (37 per cent) won’t have taken their full annual holiday entitlement by the end of 2007, meaning a staggering 1.3 billion* days holiday will be lost.

People working for the government or public sectors are most likely to work over the Christmas period (75 per cent) as well as lose some of their holiday entitlement (59 per cent). Those working in the service industry are least likely to lose their holiday days (13 per cent) and those working in advertising, marketing or PR are least likely to be working over the holiday period (11 per cent).

Men are worse than women at booking their full holiday quota with 39 per cent of men losing out compared to only 32 per cent of women.

Of those who claimed to be losing their holiday entitlement, nearly half (49 per cent) will lose between four and seven days and seven per cent will lose three weeks or more (15 days). Regional differences show that over a third (36 per cent) of workers from East Anglia have a staggering three weeks or more holiday remaining, whereas only 25 per cent of those working in Lancashire have any holiday entitlement left to take.

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Mory Group sets up in Asia

Posted by | Dec 27, 2007 | |

Mory Group keeps widening abroad, by directly opening wholly owned offices in Asia, through Mory Overseas Asia entity.

Mory Group strengthens its positioning as a major player in Overseas transportation, by being now settled in Hong Kong, Shanghai and Ningbo.

With common activities of Sea Freight and Air Freight, the Mory Overseas Asia offices also offer you logistics services as well as extra-services (purchase / sale of textile quotas, managed by the Hong Kong office, which is also an accountant centre Hkg / China), and guarantee you an optimal service level (Class A International license).

Mory Overseas Asia also provides you the physical presence of professionals and experts, who perfectly know the cultural and administrative habits of each country, in each of our offices.

You hence have the guarantee that each transportation order is managed by a known contact, who has the expertise of his sector, and who is available and reachable at any time.

Finally, Mory Overseas Asia gathers a whole network of Agents in China, in the main ports and airports.

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Mory Group strengthens its positions in North Africa

Posted by | Dec 27, 2007 | |

In order to strengthen its position in North Africa, Mory Group –which is already managing a logistics warehouse in Tunisia- just opened a new warehouse located in Casablanca, Morocco.

The Governor of the Moroccan King as well as numerous local officials was there, in order to inaugurate with the CEO Alain Beau, on the 14th of June, this new tool which is at the state of the art.

It is a real bet on future that is done today, which becomes reality trough the opening of additional 10,000 square meters. This customs-friendly warehouse allows Mory Group to offer its customers (from the textile industry, as well as pharmaceutical and automotive ones) services such as accustoming, transit and goods moving.

Mory Group thus offers its customers, through its Mory LDI subsidiary, a global offer, in the scope of an integrated network, which will guarantee to pursue the 30 to 40 pct growth from latest years.

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