Royal Mail "must be free to buy foreign post firms"

[TrueBlueTerrier]

http://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/mark ... firms.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;?

A privatised Royal Mail should use its freedom from state control to take over foreign postal companies, the Minister in charge of the sell-off has told The Mail on Sunday.

Michael Fallon ruled out a Government ‘golden share’ to protect Royal Mail from a foreign takeover and said that private ownership should mean it could be a predator, not prey.

The planned £3 billion flotation, which is expected later this year, was confirmed last week by Business Secretary Vince Cable.

Critics of the plan have called for measures to ensure that the listing of Royal Mail does not lead to it falling into the hands of foreign investors. They point to the previously state-run energy and water industries, where most of the big providers are now foreign-owned.

Business Minister Fallon brushed off concerns that Royal Mail could end up in the hands of foreign firms, saying he did ‘not agree’ with any measures to prevent overseas buyers taking shares.

He added: ‘We believe there is a huge opportunity for Royal Mail in terms of buying other overseas postal companies, just look at Deutsche Post. But it has to be a two-way street and we don’t want to prevent overseas buyers taking an interest in Royal Mail. We absolutely will allow overseas buyers.’

Germany’s Deutsche Post was privatised in 2000, since when it has bought a number of delivery firms including DHL and Exel.

Fallon’s vision of Royal Mail as a predator looking to acquire other postal businesses was backed by a source close to the group, who said that while it will almost certainly pay dividends to investors, it should not be seen as a utility but as ‘a growth company’.

Calls for state protection for Royal Mail against foreign takeover could also prove difficult legally. Many governments, including Britain, kept ‘golden shares’ in privatised companies to give them a veto over a takeover. In practice such moves have proved vulnerable to legal challenge. One City source said they were unenforceable under EU law except in the case of defence companies.

Meanwhile a spokeswoman for the Communication Workers Union said plans to turn Royal Mail into an acquisitive business were no excuse for privatising the postal service.

‘Royal Mail has always been free to buy overseas companies – it owns General Logistics Systems already – so this a fatuous argument,’ she said. ‘The reality appears to be desperate measures by the Government to flog off Royal Mail at any cost.’

[fishtank]

‘We believe there is a huge opportunity for Royal Mail in terms of buying other overseas postal companies"

Didn't we try this about 10 years ago and wasn't it an almighty fail?

[cloherty1976]

Yes we did when we name changed to consignia but under the previous government how many business decisions actually made a profit. Now we have a government who might actually balance the books and turn the country around as they are not frightened of making decisions

[hans solo]

but wasnt the whole idea of opening up postal markets to let tnt uk mail etc operate
if any company were to buy up all the rest it would create unfair competition and create monopolies again which would be called into question .
i predict one almighty legistive f**k up round the corner

[johno47]

When RM was given commercial freedom in 1997 and stopped government taking 90% of the profits by Blair because he could not privatise us, the then management went nuts and bought hundreds of companies all over the world paying millions for them at vastly overpriced payments and then having to sell them 12 months later for huge losses because they were useless, the Consignia cock up came later, I thought at the time that RM would invest back into the company because of the Conservative government's lack of investment, but no, we have been run by complete morons for a long time now each one contributing to the failure of the last person in charge, new person new ideas same s**t.

[UnhappyGremlin]

Well, they have bought foreign firms before. They bought a German one for £1bn, which gave RM one of their first major 'losses'.

I only view it as giving them the chance to f**k up on a much larger scale. They can't even run us, which shouldn't be difficult, not even after DSA was introduced, but they make it so. They are just incompetent. They over pay for crap equipment, and management, along with everything else. They don't know how to maintain their current revenue streams with regards of keeping current customers, or how to win new ones.

[fishtank]

Now we have a government who might actually balance the books and turn the country around as they are not frightened of making decisions

How are they going to manage that.

Our Net debt as a % of GDP(the only measure that counts because that's how you service your debt) has climbed since this government has came to power from 53.4% to 75.2%.

Tax receipts are reducing faster than spending is being cut which means that at the present rate we are would be likely to start defaulting at 100% of GDP within 2 years if not for the fact that we can print our own money..

Debt, not deficit,is now at 230% of GDP. 20 years ago it was 90% of GDP.

The only sizable reduction seen has been the transfer of Royal Mail assets but we all know that comes with a long term liability much larger than the plus column.

By the end of this year it is forecast that Osborne may have borrowed more in his 3.5 year tenure than Labour did in 13 years.

Balance the books?
Not even close.

[UnhappyGremlin]

Now we have a government who might actually balance the books and turn the country around as they are not frightened of making decisions

How are they going to manage that.

Our Net debt as a % of GDP(the only measure that counts because that's how you service your debt) has climbed since this government has came to power from 53.4% to 75.2%.

Tax receipts are reducing faster than spending is being cut which means that at the present rate we are would be likely to start defaulting at 100% of GDP within 2 years if not for the fact that we can print our own money..

Debt, not deficit,is now at 230% of GDP. 20 years ago it was 90% of GDP.

The only sizable reduction seen has been the transfer of Royal Mail assets but we all know that comes with a long term liability much larger than the plus column.

By the end of this year it is forecast that Osborne may have borrowed more in his 3.5 year tenure than Labour did in 13 years.

Balance the books?
Not even close.

And selling RM for £3bn won't help either, though that seems to be the underlying reason for it.

[cloherty1976]

You make a good point but remember the tax receipts were so much better in labour first ten years.. I am not a voter and don't care about politics because the only party that knows the answer to how to run the country are the party who are not elected.in history labour always bankrupt us and then the Tories have to sort the finances out

[johno47]

Tories sort this country's finances out, you must be joking, I remember the late eighties early nineties when they squeezed the poor and the rich got richer, interest rates at 15.5%, the poll tax, VAT put up to 15%, selling off all our assets, Gas, Electric, Water, Telecom, British steel, whole industries decimated like British coal, they have some cheek to say Labour sold off the Gold they sold off this countries Crown Jewels, if you lived through them times you know how hard it was for the working man, especially if you were a low paid postal worker, the only people who think that time was good are either rich or were alright financially and had a bit of savings, the TORIES are no white knights in shining armour for the ordinary working people of this country, and now New Labour are the same.

[arnold cheshire]

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/money/news/a ... firms.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[cloherty1976]

["Tories sort this country's finances out, you must be joking, I remember the late eighties early nineties when they squeezed the poor and the rich got richer, interest rates at 15.5%, the poll tax, VAT put up to 15%, selling off all our assets, Gas, Electric, Water, Telecom, British steel, whole industries decimated like British coal, they have some cheek to say Labour sold off the Gold they sold off this countries Crown Jewels, if you lived through them times you know how hard it was for the working man, especially if you were a low paid postal worker, the only people who think that time was good are either rich or were alright financially and had a bit of savings, the TORIES are no white knights in shining armour for the ordinary working people of this country, and now New Labour are the same."] I did live through these times on the post and paid my poll tax too. But also think the other way and how much you got on your savings and the money you made on your shares too

[johno47]

Unfortunately I did not have any savings and I definitely could not afford any shares, I was too busy trying to survive and look after my wife and children one a new born, whilst getting court letters for unpaid poll tax, they got there poll tax money back by taking a percentage of my wages 25 hours overtime before xmas and they virtually took the lot leaving me no money for xmas presents for my kids, as I said you were alright if you were rich or alright financially and had a bit of savings, being a low paid postman at the time myself I think people and government's should have a moral compass and think about how policies affect ordinary people, it says a lot about that time that most of the business millionaire's were created at that time, there were more people struggling to survive than there were people thinking about savings and buying shares.