Royal Mail Spanish unit facing competition probe

Royal Mail said the Spanish competition authority, Comisión Nacional de los Mercados y la Competencia (CNMC), had on Friday today opened formal proceedings against its GLS Spain unit, and other companies, for an alleged breach of the Spanish Competition Act.

In a statement, Royal Mail said it was “fully cooperating with the CNMC in order to clarify the facts under investigation”
“On the basis of the alleged conduct and GLS Spain's annual turnover, Royal Mail does not expect any fine to be material,” it added.

“Royal Mail Group takes compliance very seriously. We continue to keep our processes under review to ensure we maintain appropriate oversight. In particular, we have completed a compliance review of the GLS Group and we are not aware of any other matter which could be the subject of any other investigation by a relevant competition law authority.”

GLS, Spain’s second largest express parcels network, in June spent €71m on the acquisition of ASM Transporte Urgente to take advantage of the move toward online shopping, e-commerce and home delivery.