Tag: UK

Statement – Royal Mail – Strike Update

Posted by | Jun 29, 2007 | |

Royal Mail said today that despite a national postal strike called by the CWU just 26 Post Office branches were closed with the rest of the 14,200-strong network open and serving customers.

In Royal Mail’s letters operation support for the strike was patchy with between 1% and 22% of our people at work in some units in London while nationally the range was up to 60% of people working.

• The pay offer on the table comprises: a 2.5% increase in basic pensionable pay, PLUS an £800 cash dividend if performance targets are hit this year PLUS a 50-50 share in any savings at local operating unit over and above budget.
• Although basic pay for postmen and women is £323 a week, the average fulltime postman and woman earns £440 – above the national average – when pay supplements and overtime are taken into account.
• The union’s pay demand lodged on March 6 was for a 27% rise in basic pay and a cut in the working week, which in total would cost the company £1 billion – money which we simply don’t have.
• One of the Post Office branches closed today was the office in Rotherham, where flood damage – not strike action – had prevented the branch from opening. Strike action ended at 12noon today in Crown Post Office branches.

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Strike worth GBP 10m to Royal Mail rival

Posted by | Jun 29, 2007 | |

One of the private delivery firms competing with the Royal Mail predicted tonight that it already stood to make at least GBP 10m out of the postal service’s 24-hour strike which gets under way in the morning.

James Greenbury, the chief executive of DX, which is backed by private equity group Candover Partners, said the delivery group had attracted an “extraordinary” level of demand from new customers – more in the past week than for the whole of last year.

The comments highlighted the threat to the state-owned postal service from the low-cost and aggressive private delivery firms. Groups such as DX, Global Mail and Dutch-based TNT are coming into the market at a time when overall mail volumes are falling because of email and other electronic media.

Since private operators were given access to the UK postal market, Royal Mail says it has lost 40% of its business customers, including the Department for Work and Pensions, BT and last week online retailer Amazon.

One of the biggest gainers has been Dutch-based TNT, which claims to be distributing more than 1bn items of mail a year in Britain and made profits worldwide of GBP 240m last year. The company has been conducting trials of door-to-door deliveries in Glasgow and Manchester before it starts a full service in all major British cities. TNT, Global Mail, which is backed by Deutsche Post, and others have licenses to collect and sort mail but must hand it over to Royal Mail for the “final mile” delivery to the door.

DX offers next day home delivery for GBP 3.50 and is a direct competitor to Royal Mail’s own special delivery, which costs GBP 4.30. DX has built up an annual turnover of GBP 160m and had set a target to make an extra GBP 10m this year. It says it will easily achieve this because of the strike.

Only around 20,000 of the 150,000 Royal Mail staff are not members of the union. Postcomm, the industry regulator, declined to comment on the conflict.

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Amtrak Express Parcels looks to a bright future under new ownership

Posted by | Jun 29, 2007 | |

The Amtrak Express Parcels business has moved into new ownership following events over last week when the company, Amtrak Express Parcels Limited was placed into administration. Amtrak was sold earlier last year by 3i to a US-based investment company and Amtrak had been looking for a buyer or refinancing in recent months.

Ownership of Amtrak changed hands at the end of last summer, but the company suffered financial difficulties during the autumn and early winter trading, and had been seeking a refinancing in recent weeks.

The deal represents a landmark for the company, bringing ownership back into the transport and logistics market for the first time since 1998. The new owners Netfold Ltd represents one of the industries most experienced management teams with a solid background in the express parcels, freight and logistics business sectors. The sale was concluded by KMPG and the business will continue to trade under the Amtrak name.

Following the acquisition the new owners have confirmed that it is business as usual and that all existing employee contracts have been transferred to the new company. Amtrak has a turnover of GBP80m with nearly 1000 employees and a 2000-strong fleet of commercial vehicles. As well as a national operational centre in the West Midlands, the company has a regional hub in Warrington and an administration office in Bristol. There are 80 owned and franchised depots across the country.

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