Toll Group under pressure to improve performance

Melbourne’s Toll Group, which is now owned by Japan Post, could see a major reshuffle during the second half of the Financial Year.
According to the Australian Financial Review (AFR), senior Japan Post executives were in Melbourne earlier in the month to review the company’s performance since the $6.5 billion take-over last February.
“The expectation was that Toll would prove the springboard for Japan Post’s diversify away from its traditional and unprofitable post service by acquiring a broad and profitable channel into the Pacific freight and logistics business,” the AFR’s Matthew Stevens reported. “[However,] Toll’s new owner is deeply unhappy with the performance of the business since its acquisition.”
Earnings are said to have gone back during the current Financial Year, forcing a strategic revision, the AFR found.
Toll refused to comment on speculations regarding the consequences of such a revision, but told Stevens that, “we need to be positioned to deliver better solutions for our customers and to have an organisational structure that takes into account the challenging environment in the logistics industry.”
Brian Krueger, who led the negotiations with Japan Post as Chief Executive, retired in December and was replaced by ex-Linfox Chief Executive, Michael Byrne.
Since then, ex-Asciano Executive, Saul Cannon, has reportedly come on board as the company’s Director of Strategy.