Tag: UK

British CEP market consolidates further

Posted by | Dec 1, 2006 | |

The fragmented British courier, express and parcels market looks set for a new wave of consolidation following this week’s GBP 210 million acquisition of independent parcels carrier Target Express by Rentokil Initial, parent holding of leading player City Link. The deal makes City Link into a top competitor to DHL, TNT and UPS in the domestic next-day parcels market.

Growth in Europe’s second-largest express and parcels market has slowed over the last year, especially in the domestic sector. The market is forecast to grow only moderately at about 3% over the next few years. At the same time, the traditionally fierce price-based competition in Britain and higher operating costs, especially fuel costs, have combined to put pressure on profit margins. These factors have hit smaller, domestically-focused companies in particular, and opened up new opportunities for mergers and acquisitions.

There have already been several important transactions in the UK in recent years. UPS improved its domestic market position with the acquisition of Lynx Express last year, while Amtrak Express Parcels broadened its portfolio through the takeover of Nightspeed. DHL had earlier jumped to become market leader with the acquisition of the Securicor Omega Express business, while GeoPost had acquired Parceline and Interlink Express.

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Royal Mail delivers on city targets

Posted by | Dec 1, 2006 | |

Royal Mail bosses have hailed the hard work of Edinburgh’s postmen and women after they finally ensured the city’s first-class mail was arriving on time.

For years, Edinburgh has had one of the poorest delivery records in Scotland.

Figures released by Postwatch Scotland show households within the EH postcode had seen delivery rates improve dramatically between July and September.

The quarterly results show in Edinburgh the Royal Mail is now delivering 93.6 per cent of all first-class mail by the next day – higher than the 91.5 per cent target set by postal regulator Postcomm.

However, the watchdog warned the results are for the quiet summer months and urged the city’s postmen to keep up the good work over the annual Christmas rush.

John Manson, Royal Mail area manager, added: “The challenge we now face is to maintain the consistent, high-quality service we are delivering to our customers in the run-up to the busy Christmas period. We are determined to meet that challenge.”

Tricia Dow, director of Postwatch Scotland, which monitors the performance of the Royal Mail and other postal providers, said: “It is good news that there has been an improvement in Edinburgh and, at last, the city has started to move up in the rankings.

“We now want to see an increased improvement by the time the next quarterly figures come out and hope that Edinburgh continues to go in the right direction.

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Neopost wins Award

Posted by | Nov 30, 2006 | |

Mailroom equipment supplier Neopost has won Triangle’s UK Mail Technology Award for its i-Weigh scale developed in response to Pricing in Proportion (PiP). The firm has also been named the Parcelforce Vendor of the Year 2006 by Royal Mail Group.

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Postwatch welcomes Royal Mail's strong half-year results

Posted by | Nov 30, 2006 | |

Postwatch today welcomed Royal Mail’s results for the first six months of the financial year, which show the company is on course to meet all 12 of its performance targets.

Across the UK, Royal Mail achieved 94.5 percent of 1st class post delivered the
next working day. Royal Mail met this minimum target of 93 percent of 1st class
post delivered the next working day in 111 of the 118 UK postcode areas.

Commenting on the results, Millie Banerjee, Chair of Postwatch, said:
“Royal Mail’s results represent excellent progress and show the company is on
course, for the first time, to meet all its targets over the course of a financial year.

“These figures are evidence not just of the hard work put in by Royal Mail staff,
but also of the positive motivating effect competition in the mail market is having
on Royal Mail to up its game.

“Congratulations in particular to Royal Mail staff in Swindon, who recorded the
best performance in the UK. Postwatch hopes that Royal Mail throughout the UK
can keep up the good work and continue to provide the standard of service
customers expect over the coming months, and beyond.”

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