Latest news with #DanielKřetínský
The Guardian
9 hours ago
- Business
- The Guardian
Emma Gilthorpe resigns as chief executive of Royal Mail
The chief executive of Royal Mail has left after just over a year, weeks after the delivery company's owner was sold for £3.6bn to a Czech billionaire. Emma Gilthorpe, who joined from Heathrow in May 2024, left the company on Thursday and will be replaced on an interim basis by the chief operating officer, Alistair Cochrane, with immediate effect, the Guardian has learned. Daniel Křetínský completed a deal to buy International Distribution Services (IDS), the owner of the 509-year-old Royal Mail, in April. A group of existing IDS non-executive directors, including the chair, Keith Williams, resigned earlier this month. However, the company had made no mention of Gilthorpe's future after the deal. Gilthorpe had been the chief operating officer at Heathrow airport since 2020, and joined Royal Mail in a newly created role under Martin Seidenberg, who is chief executive of IDS. She had also held positions in the telecoms industry, with BT and Cable & Wireless. Seidenberg said: 'Emma has worked tirelessly to drive forward Royal Mail's transformation, and I would like to extend my personal thanks to her for the significant contribution she has made to the company.' Gilthorpe said: 'I will always be incredibly proud to have led Royal Mail … I look forward to seeing Royal Mail continue to transform in the years ahead, ensuring a stronger and more sustainable future for this great British company.' Cochrane joined Royal Mail in 2023 from Whistl, where he was chief executive. He has also held senior roles at TNT Express and Parcelforce Worldwide. Seidenberg added: 'Alistair Cochrane is an exceptional leader and brings significant experience to his new role from across the logistics industry, and from his time with us at both Royal Mail and Parcelforce.' Sign up to Business Today Get set for the working day – we'll point you to all the business news and analysis you need every morning after newsletter promotion Křetínský's EP Group clinched the IDS deal after long-running UK government efforts to assess the national security considerations of the deal. The Conservative former trade policy minister Greg Hands was this month appointed as a strategic adviser to EP Group.
Yahoo
11-06-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Competition watchdog to investigate Evri merger with DHL's UK parcel arm
The UK's competition watchdog has announced an investigation into the proposed merger of the delivery company Evri with DHL's UK e-commerce business, a deal set to create one of the biggest parcel couriers in Britain. The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) said on Wednesday it was investigating Evri's purchase of DHL eCommerce UK, as well as the parent company DHL Group's acquisition of a minority stake in Evri. The UK is the world's third-largest market for online commerce, behind only the US and China, according to US government figures. That enormous demand has prompted a scramble by delivery companies to meet it. The CMA said it would decide whether the Evri deal will result in a substantial lessening of competition. It said it would gather comments from interested parties for two weeks, until the 25 June, before starting the first phase of its investigation. The merger could bring together more than 30,000 couriers and van drivers, and 12,000 further workers. The combined company would deliver more than 1bn parcels and 1bn letters each year, the companies said. Germany's DHL is the world's third-biggest delivery company by market value, behind only the US's United Parcel Service and FedEx. DHL owns Deutsche Post, Germany's privatised postal service. Evri was bought last year for £2.7bn by Apollo Capital Management, a US private equity company, from Advent International, another US private equity firm. It was rebranded in 2022 from Hermes, after starting out as part of the German mail order group Otto. DHL Group will acquire a 'significant minority stake' in Evri as part of the merger. Other delivery companies are racing to win market share in parcels. The Czech billionaire Daniel Křetínský's EP Group won approval in December for the takeover of Royal Mail, with a plan to push further into parcels to make up for the decline in letters. The Polish parcel locker company InPost agreed a deal to take over the British delivery firm Yodel for £106m in April, although it is on hold pending legal action. Delivery companies have struggled to retain customer trust through the boom in online shopping, with polling regularly pointing to people experiencing delivery problems. Evri and Yodel have consistently been the worst-rated companies for delivery problems, customer service and trust by customers of the five big firms tracked by Citizens Advice in annual polling. Royal Mail and the US online retail company Amazon were the best rated overall by customers, with the French-owned DPD in the middle. DHL was not tracked in the polling.
The Guardian
02-06-2025
- Business
- The Guardian
Ex-UK trade minister Greg Hands to advise Czech billionaire Daniel Křetínský
The former Conservative trade minister Greg Hands has been appointed as a strategic adviser to a Czech conglomerate best known in the UK for acquiring Royal Mail. EP Group – which also has investments in the energy, media and property sectors – is run by the multibillionaire Czech tycoon Daniel Křetínský, who Hands said he has known for 'a long time'. The group received approval for its takeover of Royal Mail in December 2024, after long-running UK government efforts to assess the national security considerations of the deal. Hands will advise EP Group in the UK and in Germany, countries where Křetínský said the former minister's 'deep understanding of … business and energy landscapes, coupled with his extensive experience in government and international trade, will be invaluable'. The one-time politician is fluent in German and also speaks 'good Czech', the statement added. The Advisory Committee on Business Appointments – an independent body advising former ministers and senior civil servants on any appointments they wish to take up within two years of leaving government – said it will publish its advice on the appointment. Hands and Křetínský reportedly met in an official capacity when the tycoon, who is said to be so enigmatic he has been dubbed the 'Czech Sphinx', was considering investing in a UK battery plant in 2023. EP Group and Křetínský have also attracted their fair share of controversy since announcing the bid for the UK's postal service, including questions being raised over connections to Patrik Tkáč, a significant co-investor in many of his ventures. Other criticisms of the business have focused on the conglomerate's apparent attraction to unfashionable investments in the energy sector, where Křetínský has chased profits – rather than green credentials – by acquiring discounted fossil fuel businesses. In a rare public speech in 2015, Křetínský said: 'We want to make money in industries that are dying because we think they'll die much more slowly than the general consensus says.' His approach has prompted environmentalists to call him a 'fossil hyena'. Sign up to Business Today Get set for the working day – we'll point you to all the business news and analysis you need every morning after newsletter promotion Separately, International Distribution Services, the company from which EP Group has acquired Royal Mail, announced the resignation of eight non-executive directors as its shares were formally delisted from the London Stock Exchange after the takeover. Dave Ward, the general secretary of the Communication Workers Union, welcomed the departures. 'The previous senior leadership team have overseen the gross mismanagement of one of the UK's most important companies,' he said.
Yahoo
23-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Royal Mail faces Ofcom questions over missed delivery targets
The postal regulator has launched an investigation into Royal Mail for missing its annual delivery targets, with almost a quarter of first-class mail arriving late. The company, which has been fined more than £16m in the last two years for failing to meet the delivery targets set by Ofcom, said 23.5% of first-class mail failed to arrive on time in the year to the end of March. This is a slight improvement on the previous year, when more than a quarter of first-class mail failed to arrive within the one-working-day target set by the regulator. Under the watchdog's rules, 93% of first-class mail must be delivered within one working day of collection, excluding Christmas. The latest delivery figures published by Royal Mail on Friday showed that it managed to deliver 92.2% of second-class mail within the three-working-day limit set by Ofcom. 'We will investigate whether there are reasonable grounds for believing that Royal Mail has failed to comply with its obligations in 2024-25,' said a spokesperson for Ofcom. 'If we determine that Royal Mail has failed to comply with its obligations, we will consider whether to impose a financial penalty.' In December 2024, Ofcom fined the company £10.5m for failing to meet its delivery targets. The previous year, the postal regulator fined Royal Mail £5.6m for the same failure of its regulatory obligations. Alistair Cochrane, Royal Mail's chief operating officer, admitted that the company's quality of service was 'not where we want it to be'. 'We will continue to work hard to deliver the standards our customers expect,' he said. 'We are actively modernising Royal Mail, and while these efforts are beginning to deliver results, we know there is still more to do.' Last month, the Czech billionaire Daniel Křetínský's EP Group completed a £3.6bn takeover of International Distributions Services, the owner of Royal Mail. Cochrane said Royal Mail would cooperate with Ofcom's investigation but said the business was facing structural challenges and needed urgent reform of the universal service obligation to deliver at one-price nationwide six days a week. Earlier this year, Ofcom launched a consultation proposing that Royal Mail should be allowed to deliver second-class letters on alternate weekdays and to stop Saturday deliveries under changes to postal service rules. Ofcom said cutting the deliveries to every other weekday with a price cap on second-class stamps, while maintaining first-class letters six days a week, would still meet the public's needs. Its provisional recommendations also included cutting delivery targets for first-class mail from 93% to 90% arriving the next day, and for second-class mail from 98.5% to 95% within three days. Ofcom said it estimated the changes would enable Royal Mail to save between £250m and £425m each year. Tom MacInnes, the director of policy at Citizens Advice, said: ' Our research has shown the damaging consequences of late post, like missed health appointments, fines, bills and vital government communications. But with no alternative provider to choose from, people are forced to grapple with poor service, yearon year. 'With Ofcom considering relaxing the current delivery targets set for Royal Mail as part of the universal service obligation review, reliability remains a huge concern. The regulator must get off the sidelines and make the company do what it should have been doing all along – giving paying customers the service they deserve.'
CNBC
05-05-2025
- Business
- CNBC
17. West Ham United
Revenue and EBITDA figures are for the 2023-24 season, except for Major League Soccer teams, whose figures are for the 2024 Revenue and EBITDA figures have been converted to U.S. dollars based on the average exchange rate during the season (1 euro = $1.0816; 1 pound = $1.2608), and team values and debt figures have been converted using the exchange rate as of March 27, 2025 (1 euro = 1.0788; 1 pound = $1.2938). Total revenue: $349 millionEBITDA: $70 millionDebt as a percentage of value: 0% Match day: $56 millionCommercial: $82 millionBroadcasting: $211 million Country: EnglandLeague: Premier LeagueLeague championships: 0Owner(s): David Sullivan, Daniel Křetínský, Gold family trustStadium: London Stadium – 62,500 seating capacity
