Tag: UK

TNT's money-spinning charity trek takes to the road

Posted by | Jun 25, 2007 | |

TNT employees will undertake a grueling cycle ride across England and the Continent to raise funds for the children’s charity, Wooden Spoon.

The half-dozen strong cycling squad will jump in the saddle at the TNT Express International Road Hub at Northampton, pedal to the east coast to Hull, make the North Sea crossing to Rotterdam in the Netherlands and ride through the country to another TNT Express International Road Hub at Arnhem.

It’s a pedal-pumping 226-mile challenge that begins at 05.30 hrs this Thursday (28th June) and is scheduled for completion in under a day-and-a-half by 15.00hrs on Friday (29th June).

Previous cycling expeditions from the UK to Liege in Belgium and Amsterdam in the Netherlands have raised more than GBP 2,000 each time but this year the intrepid cyclists want to top the GBP 3,000 mark.

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Postal firm DX confident that doubling its size is in the bag

Posted by | Jun 25, 2007 | |

DX, the postal business bought last year by private equity firm Candover Partners, is confident it can double in size over the next few years as deregulation of the postal industry gathers pace.

The firm – originally known as Document Exchange – was started nationally in the mid-1970s on the back of a major postal strike. The legal profession and law societies decided that they needed an alternative postal network. With a network of branches across the UK, DX is now one of the biggest competitors to Royal Mail.

DX, which has more than 27,000 private and public sector customers, stands to benefit if Royal Mail staff press ahead with the first national postal strike for 11 years.

Earlier this month, some 69,000 members of the Communication Workers Union – 77 per cent of those voting – backed a strike over pay and cost efficiency plans.

As well as legal practices, DX services surveyors, accountants, estate agents and other professional services firms. Its new Rutland Square facility can count all of the major Scottish law firms among its users.

Although DX is focused primarily on next-day business mail services, its clients have access to a special delivery product that covers both business and residential addresses.

Candover paid almost £350m last July to secure DX. The venture capital heavyweight also bought Secure Mail Services, which delivers cheque books and credit cards to consumers, for an undisclosed sum.

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Council takes on Post Office over closures

Posted by | Jun 22, 2007 | |

Westminster City Council is to lobby the Post Office at a hearing next month on the closure of post offices in its borough.

The council claims that as high streets are forced to fight for their future because of increased competition from out-of-town developments, Post Offices are vital in attracting shoppers and providing community services.

In July, senior bosses at the Post Office will give evidence to a Westminster City Council Overview & Scrutiny Committee hearing that is examining the impact of proposed franchises and closures in the area. The council will seek to protect Post Offices under Policy SS1 of its Unitary Development Plan, which states: “Though all shops are considered important, local convenience shops are considered particularly important.” The council includes Post Offices in its list of local convenience stores.

Councillor Danny Chalkley, Westminster City Council’s Cabinet Member for Economic Development and Transport, said: “At a time when there appears to be a consensus in encouraging small shops and local trade to benefit the environment and help establish a sense of community, we are faced with the heart of many high streets being ripped out through Post Office closures.

A six-week consultation is also due to begin next month on the planned relocation of a Post Office on Poland Street in Soho to the WHSmith store at The Plaza on Oxford Street. This is one of 15 Crown Post Offices across London that are subject to a new franchise agreement with WHSmith.

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EMG secures Spring Global Mail European PR account

Posted by | Jun 21, 2007 | |

Following a competition between three agencies, Spring Global Mail has appointed EMG to manage their press relations activities in Europe.

The multi-lingual programme will roll out during 2007 and aims to enhance Spring’s brand awareness and reputation across the European postal services marketplace.

“This is the first time Spring has appointed a central agency to lead our European PR efforts and it was an important decision for us”, said Richard Thomas, Global Marketing Manager of Spring. “We invited three agencies to pitch for the account and they all presented strong proposals and account teams. We selected EMG for their B2B expertise, their global reach and PR network, their innovative use of technology and their multi-cultural and multi-lingual team”, he concludes.

The account will be led by Nathalie Chaimbault, Account Manager, EMG and will initially focus on Europe with possible extension to Asia Pacific in due course.

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Royal Mail to deliver telecoms improvements

Posted by | Jun 21, 2007 | |

Royal Mail is planning to consolidate and transform its telecoms infrastructure to cut costs and improve flexibility.

The organization has started a procurement process for the provision and management of its existing telecommunications services, and will examine how to transform its network, including the production and distribution of digital audio-visual content via media such as IPTV.

Royal Mail says the network services, including voice, data, fixed and mobile, must be able to meet its future requirements.

The 10-year contract will be worth about £65m and will also include provision of its call centre infrastructure.

Datamonitor analyst Alex Kwiatkowski says Royal Mail is looking to adopt IP technology.

A 10-year contract is not common, but suggests the organization is investing significantly to ensure the project is done properly. This is particularly important as Royal Mail is a large business with more than 14,000 post offices, says Kwiatkowski.

The firm has overhauled resource planning and business intelligence systems and introduced RFID and mobile devices in recent years, contributing to the turning of daily losses of £1m into earnings of GBP 2m.

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