Private equity firm Apollo has bought delivery business Evri for £2.7 billion. Did they get a good price? I can only assume the execs who hammered out the deal are not fans of online shopping.
A brief history: A few years ago Evri was called Hermes. The company found itself bottom in rankings for delivery firms more than once. Citizens’ Advice gave Hermes a 2-star rating for ‘trust’ and a 1-star rating for handling customer problems. On top of that, workers at the courier service carelessly threw parcels around delivery depots and over people’s fences, an investigation by the Times found. So Hermes rebranded to Evri, and said it would improve. But old habits die hard.
I am still reeling from my last encounter with Evri a few months back. I ordered a Moss Bros suit online (foolish, I know, but it was Black Friday) and shuddered to find that Evri was responsible for delivery. A few days later an Evri email tells me my package has been delivered (no call, no doorbell ring, nothing to sign for). I rush to the door to find…nothing. No parcel, and no sign of any van outside. It never arrived and there was no refund. Customer service was useless.
That was just one in a long list of problems I have had with deliveries from that company – but this one hurt the most. Since then I have made a conscious effort to avoid shopping online with any retailer who partners with them – a strategy which so far is paying dividends.
Whenever I mention this encounter at the pub, someone always pipes up with their own Evri war story. Granted, other delivery companies have their own problems too (see: the Horizon scandal).
Private equity firms will pore over company financials and wider market statistics before making an acquisition as big as this – and they can look at the numbers a bit more dispassionately than me. But if I were an adviser to Apollo, I’d tell them they’ve paid way too much.
