When the news hit the wires last week that e-commerce behemoth Amazon was trialling a delivery service to consumers that would also be offered to third-party retailers, I received a couple of calls from banking sources, one of whom asked: “Do you remember our chat this summer?”
“Of course,” I replied.
“FedEx could be readying to up the ante, to show Amazon who is in charge in delivery services worldwide,” he said.
This, in typical banking jargon, means that FedEx could be preparing a move to grow again via acquisitions rather than organically, in order to give another boost to its already sky-rocketing valuation, two and a half years after its €4.4bn takeover of TNT Express was announced.
“If so, the UK could be the next battleground,” I replied.
Opportunity
For Amazon, Royal Mail is a precious ally in the UK, while for FedEx, according to another London-based banker ready to feed the rumour mill, “it could be a matter of pride” as well as other priorities, such as scale and better services to European and US shippers.
About two-thirds of FedEx’s revenues were generated in the US last year, and it looks very well balanced already, a senior analyst countered. However, I think it could also be a matter of opportunity, as the chart below suggests…

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