NZ Post Purchases Australian Courier Company

NEW ZEALAND POST PURCHASES AUSTRALIAN COURIER COMPANY ‘COURIERS PLEASE’

New Zealand Post Limited has purchased Australian courier company Couriers Please Pty Ltd, the market leader in cross-town same-day delivery with depots in five major Australian cities. The change of ownership is effective from today.

New Zealand Post Group Manager Distribution, Chris Callen, said the acquisition of Couriers Please was consistent with New Zealand Post’s strategy of business diversification to protect and grow the company’s revenues, as outlined in the annual result announcement last week.

“Our major customers are increasingly regarding Australia and New Zealand as one market and we expect the flow of goods between the countries to continue to grow rapidly,” Mr Callen said.

“The purchase of Couriers Please will allow New Zealand Post to grow its share of the trans-Tasman market and improve its service offer, delivering Australian-destined courier and express items directly to the key Australian metropolitan centres. Until now, New Zealand Post has used third party agents for these deliveries.

“Similarly, Couriers Please will be able to use New Zealand Post’s network to deliver goods from Australia to New Zealand.

“Couriers Please is a profitable and growing business to which we will bring our expertise in e-commerce technology, business development and management skills to expand the business further, particularly in the trans-Tasman market.”

Mr Callen said the Couriers Please brand name and services would be retained and the company would operate as a subsidiary of New Zealand Post.

“New Zealand Post will have representatives on the board of directors but in all other respects it will be very much business as usual for Couriers Please staff, contractors and customers.”

Mr Callen said Shareholding Ministers were consulted and have agreed to the acquisition.

About Couriers Please:

Couriers Please was established in Melbourne in 1983 and has 90 staff and 440 owner-drivers in five branches in Brisbane, Gold Coast, Sydney, Melbourne and Adelaide.

The company targets the small-to-medium sized business market using pre-paid coupons to deliver parcels anywhere across town for the same price.

Couriers Please handles over 12,000 telephone bookings nationally each day and up to 800 per hour at peak times in major branches. Over 150,000 consignments are delivered each week. The company has revenues of approximately A$40 million a year.
In 1993 Couriers Please pioneered the introduction of computerised dispatch and automatic booking services in the Australian courier industry. In 1997 the company was listed in the BRW as one of the 100 fastest growing companies in Australia.

Information on Couriers Please can be found at www.couriersplease.com.au

About New Zealand Post:

New Zealand Post is recognised internationally as a leader in postal services, competing in a fully-competitive domestic market and providing international consultancy services through its subsidiary NZPIL.

The company is a State Owned Enterprise of the New Zealand Government and employs over 9,000 people. New Zealand Post recently reported a tax-paid profit of NZ$30.2 million for the year ended 31 March 2000 on operating revenue of NZ$921.5 million. New Zealand Post’s courier division, CourierPost, leads its market in New Zealand.

Information on New Zealand Post and CourierPost can be found at: www.nzpost.co.nz and www.courierpost.co.nz

For further information contact:
Simon Taylor, New Zealand Post Media Relations Manager
+64-4-496-4015 or 025-248-6715
e-mail: simon.taylor@nzpost.co.nz

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