La Poste will maintain its international growth strategy in the express parcels sector,president Jean-Paul Bailly told a conference at the Post-Expo trade fair in Paris. The French post
office was now the third-largest European operator with a 10 per cent market share and a good levelof profitability, he told the World Postal Business Forum. “We have strong organic growth and apolicy of acquisitions. Now we want to offer a worldwide service through a strategy ofpartnerships,” he stated.In the mail sector, La Poste was making good progress on modernisation of its mail business,Bailly said. The French post launched a 3.4 billion euro programme in 2002 to modernise its mailbusiness by 2010, mostly through new automated sorting centres and better service quality. In theparcels sector, the post office is investing 250 million euros to upgrade its handling centres. LaPoste also aims to increase usage of its network of 17,000 postal outlets by developing salespartnerships with other public bodies or private companies, Bailly said.
In January 2006, La Poste will launch its new banking arm, the Banque Postale, following changesin French banking regulations. Bailly said the new postal bank would initially offer property loansbut he hoped to offer a wider range of financial services once this was legally possible.
