Tag: UK

Business Post rivals say they are growing

Posted by | Nov 17, 2005 | |

Business Post and chief executive Paul Carvell were in the eye of a parcels sector storm this week. At issue is the degree to which its high-profile problems are specific to the company and how much they reflect a downturn in the sector. The group has been under intense scrutiny as the only pure parcels firm to be publicly traded, and stock market sentiment is clear; the share price has plummeted from a steady 690p to just 320p as the group rushed out earlier-than-expected interim results and with them a second warning on profits in seven weeks. Carvell says year-on-year volumes are falling for the first time in the firm’s 34-year history. The decline reflects the market, he says, and rivals are said to have emailed him messages to that effect when he had to issue a profits warning on September 21.

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UK regulator set to reject Royal Mail plea over efficiency

Posted by | Nov 17, 2005 | |

The postal regulator is expected to reject Royal Mail’s plea for an easier regime on efficiency improvements when a final plan for price controls is produced this month. Nigel Stapleton, chairman of Postcomm, said that some of Royal Mail’s claims were “almost impossible to believe”. He criticised its initial business plan, submitted as part of the regulatory review of prices, as lacking coherence. In an interview with The Times, Mr Stapleton said that, although Postcomm might accept changes to its initial plans for stamp prices, it was unlikely to give ground on its demands for efficiency gains of 3 per cent. Royal Mail has said that it can manage only 1.5 per cent. Mr Stapleton said: “They achieved savings of 1 per cent in the 1990s with very little investment in the business and what was perceived as being poor management. Now they are intending greater investment and have what is regarded as a good management…It is almost impossible to believe their numbers.”

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Letter volumes fall but UK Royal Mail Group’s overall profit rises 20% with boost from European parcels business

Posted by | Nov 17, 2005 | |

Royal Mail Group today announced a 20.5% increase in operating profit to GBP159 million for the first half of 2005-06 but warned that profits in its letters business had fallen as growth in addressed mail volumes went into reverse.
Allan Leighton, Royal Mail Group’s Chairman, said the downturn in letters profits and volumes meant the biggest part of the Company was no longer contributing to the Group’s overall growth in profitability. The Group operating profit of GBP159 million in the six months to the end of September 2005 was a GBP27 million improvement on the same period a year earlier. But the increase was driven by better financial performance in General Logistics Systems (Royal Mail’s European parcels business), Post Office Limited and Parcelforce Worldwide. Operating profit in the letters business had fallen as addressed mail volumes declined for the first time in a quarter of a century.

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Palletways looks at moving to gas

Posted by | Nov 17, 2005 | |

Palletways this week confirmed it is trialling gas-fuelled forklift trucks. Operations director Kath McCann says: “We are looking into the environmental benefits of using gas-fuelled forklifts and have recently received delivery of a demonstration vehicle. We are hopeful that the results will be positive.” Gas power, which has been adopted by some other large hubs, would do away with a need for lift truck drivers to wear masks to protect themselves from fumes.

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Minister rules out aid to UK Royal Mail to clear Pounds 4bn pensions deficit

Posted by | Nov 16, 2005 | |

Any “bail-out” of Royal Mail’s Pounds 4bn pension fund deficit by taxpayers was yesterday ruled out by the government in the first clear statement of its plans for the state-owned postal operator in the run-up to full market competition next year. But the minister responsible for Royal Mail held out the prospect there could be extra government money to help pay for new equipment. MPs were told by Barry Gardiner, competitiveness minister, the government might breach European state aid laws if it agreed to the company’s request to put billions of pounds into the pension fund. “We should not be seen as the bailer-out, the funder of last resort,” he said. Asked if the government should be prepared to make at least some contribution to reducing the deficit, which has rendered Royal Mail technically insolvent, the minister said: “No. This should be done (dealing with the deficit) as it would be commercially.”

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