Itella

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Itella Corporation
Type Public limited company
Industry postal service, logistics, financial process automation
Founded 1638
Headquarters Helsinki, Finland
Net income EUR 1,946.7 million (2012)
Owner(s) Government of Finland
Employees 27 460 (2012 on average)[1]
Website itella.fi

Itella Corporation[2] (Finnish: Itella Oyj, Swedish: Itella Abp) is a company that offers postal, financial administration process and logistics services. Itella is owned by the Finnish state, headquartered in Pohjois-Pasila, Helsinki.[2][3][4] Itella operates in eleven European countries, including Germany, Sweden and Russia.

Itella is subject to a universal service obligation covering, among other areas, the delivery of letters and parcels on weekdays in every Finnish municipality.

The group's CEO is Heikki Malinen, and the chairman of the Board of Directors is Arto Hiltunen.

Operations

An Itella Logistics van.

Itella Mail Communications handles the delivery of letters, direct mail, and newspapers and magazines in Finland through its subsidiary Itella Posti Oy.

Itella Logistics is a service logistics provider with offerings ranging from transport, forwarding, and contract logistics to intelligent IT-based logistics solutions. Itella Logistics has over 30 offices in eight countries (Finland, Sweden, Denmark, Norway, Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia and Russia). The company provides global services through its partners.

OpusCapita provides financial process automation. Itella Information has operations in 9 European countries (Estonia, Finland, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, Norway, Poland, Slovakia and Sweden) and a network of international partners covering the globe.

Historical background

  • On 6 September 1638, Governor-General Per Brahe established postal services in Finland, part of the Kingdom of Sweden at the time.
  • In 1811, a central postal administration was established within the postal services of autonomous Finland.
  • In 1845, postal service for parcels began.
  • In 1856, stamps were introduced. Finland's began issuing its own national stamps in autumn 1917.
  • In 1858, home delivery of letters and newspapers began.
  • Posti was one of the first institutions to hire women as employees, doing so since the 1860s.
  • In 1927, the Telegraph was merged with the Finnish Post (Posti).
  • In 1981, Post and Telegraph was renamed Post and Telecommunications.
  • In 1990, Posti-Tele became a state-owned enterprise no longer dependent on the state budget.
  • In 1994, Post and Telecommunications became Suomen PT Oy, with the subsidiaries Finland Post Corporation, providing postal services, and Telecom Finland Oy (later Sonera Oy), engaged in telecommunications.
  • In 1998, Suomen PT Group was demerged. Finland Post Corporation and Sonera Oy became state-owned enterprises.
  • In 2001, Finland Post became a public company (as Finland Post Corporation).
  • Since 1 June 2007, the company name has been Itella Corporation. The group's more diversified and internationalised business operations were the reason for the change of name.
  • In 2008 Itella acquired in Russia the logistics company NLC (National Logistic Company) and Connexions company, specialising in direct marketing services. In Poland Itella acquired BusinessPoint S.A., specialising in printing and document management.
  • In 2011, Finnish postal services have been transferred to a new company, Itella Posti Oy.
  • In 2011, Itella Information acquired OpusCapita,[5] expanding services to cash flow automation.
  • Itella Bank [6] started as a deposit bank in the beginning of 2012.
  • In 2013, Itella divested the entire share capital of Itella Bank Ltd to Savings Banks. In connection with the divestment, the name of the bank will change to Bank of Savings Banks Ltd.[7]
  • In 2013, Itella Information was renamed OpusCapita. It operates as a subgroup of Itella Group.

Itella Posti

Posti brand
A Posti branded van.
A Posti branded post box.

On January 1, 2011, Itella transferred its domestic postal services to its subsidiary, Itella Posti Oy, or Itella Posten Ab in Swedish.[8] It operates under the brands Posti in Finnish and Posten in Swedish, which have been previously used by the parent company. Service point network consists of nearly 1,000 post offices, of which most are in conjunction with companies run by local entrepreneurs, 50 SmartPOST automatic parcel terminals, and 11 pick-up outlets. There are SmartPOST automatic parcel terminals also in Estonia.

As of February 2011, Finland will be the first country in the world to receive all letters, publications, packages and direct advertisements through carbon-neutral delivery by Posti. This does not involve any extra fees to the customers.

Itella Posti Oy is solely responsible for providing postal services. In its current form, the Post Act entered into force in 2011. By virtue of this act, postal services must be provided on a permanent basis and for reasonable prices to all users, throughout the country. In each municipality there must be at least one outlet providing postal services.

The responsibility for the general steering and development of postal services belongs to the Ministry of Transport and Communications. Also the Finnish Communications Regulatory Authority, acting under this ministry, participates in the development of postal services. Among its tasks are monitoring to ensure that the Act on Postal Services and its regulations and provisions are complied with, as well as handling customer feedback.

As yet, the company has no direct competitors in basic mail delivery. There are some companies that deliver magazines in populated areas, but no other universal postal services as defined by the Mail Service Act 313/2001. Potential rivals with some competition in package delivery are Rautakirja, which has a network of kiosks around the country, and Matkahuolto, with a bus network.

International operations

See also

References

  1. ↑
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 "Itella in brief." Itella. Retrieved on 19 January 2011. "Itella Corporation Postintaival 7 A 00230 Helsinki Finland."
  3. ↑ "Contact Information Head Office." Itella. Retrieved on 19 January 2011. "Street address Postintaival 7 A 00230 HELSINKI FINLAND"
  4. ↑ "How to find your way to our HQ." Itella. Retrieved on 19 January 2011. "Postintaival 7 A, 00230 Helsinki (headquarters in Pohjois-Pasila)."
  5. ↑ Itella Information acquired OpusCapita
  6. ↑ Itella Bank homepage
  7. ↑
  8. ↑ Domestic postal services were centralized in Itella Posti Oy

External links

Postal administrations of Europe
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