1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
51
52
53
54
55
56
57
58
59
60
61
62
63
64
65
66
67
68
69
70
71
72
73
74
75
76
77
78
79
80
81
82
83
84
85
86
87
88
89
90
91
92
93
94
95
96
97
98
99
100
101
102
103
104
105
106
107
108
109
110
111
112
113
114
115
116
117
118
119
120
121
122
123
124
125
126
127
128
129
130
131
132
133
134
135
136
137
138
139
140
141
142
143
144
145
146
147
148
149
150
151
152
153
154
155
156
157
158
159
160
161
162
163
164
165
166
167
168
169
170
171
172
173
174
175
176
177
178
179
180
181
182
183
184
185
186
187
188
189
190
191
192
193
194
195
196
197
198 
Express suffers fast fa
Page 12
If you've noticed an error in this article please click here to report it so we can fix it.
Problems at its parcel division have hit revenues at Business Post, but
there's good news elsewhere in the group. Lucia Cockcroft reports.
A SHARP FALL in volume at Business Post's Express parcels division has led to a 25% drop in pre-tax profits for the six months to 30 September 2005.
It is blaming tough trading conditions in the parcels sector for the decline: pre-tax profits before exceptional items fell to £6.2m, from £8.6m during the same six months in 2004. This was despite a 21% increase in turnover, to £133m.
The Express parcels division offers overnight business-to-business delivery. It is part of the Parcel Services operation and generates a full 50% of Business Post's revenue. But by September volumes were 3.5% down on those last year, so revenue rose only 2.9% to £67.5m. Businesspo,
Worldwide Express
The chief executive of Business Post, Paul Carvell, is not optimistic that volumes will increase next year. He says:"Sadly this is a reflection of a lack of consumer confidence and a general downturn in business spending. We have to take a view that this trend will continue and throw a pessimistic view on the forecast for the rest of the year."
Business Post's Specialist Distribution Services,which includes the UK Pallets business, did better with revenue up almost 17% at £20.4m.
Revenue at UK Mail, which operates in the business-to-con sumer and business-to-business markets,rose 600% to £14.6m.
The restructured International division managed a 12% increase in revenue, to £15 .2m.