U.K.’s Royal Mail acquires California delivery company

The 500-year-old postal service acquired California’s Golden State Overnight Delivery Service for $90 million.    The U.K.’s venerable Royal Mail Plc has expanded into the U.S.
   The 500-year old postal company, which was privatized and listed on the London Stock Exchange in 2013, said that its General Logistics Systems (GLS) unit has acquired Golden State Overnight Delivery Service (GSO), based in Pleasanton, Calif., for $90 million.
   GSO operates principally in California, but also Nevada, Arizona and New Mexico, providing priority, ground and freight shipping services, mainly to business-to-business customers across a variety of industries. GSO operates a hub and spoke network of 36 facilities, with approximately 1,900 employees.
   GLS said it is one of the largest ground-based parcel delivery service providers in Europe, operating in 41 states and had revenue of 2.2 billion euros (U.S. $2.4 billion) in the fiscal year that ended March 27, 2016. GSO had revenues of about $114 million during about the same period.
   Royal Mail noted the area that Golden State operates in “has a gross domestic product (GDP) roughly equivalent to the UK. It is experiencing faster GDP growth than both the UK and continental Europe. With around 13.5 million deliveries per year, GSO has approximately one percent share of its addressable market. It is well-positioned to benefit from growth in intra-state deliveries within its existing geographic footprint.”
   Dana Hyatt, chief executive officer of Golden State, established the company in 1995 and will continue to lead the company, together with GSO’s existing management team.