Royal Mail on track to return to annual profit after strong Christmas
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Owner highlights parcel deliveries performance as £3.6bn takeover by Czech billionaire nears completion. The owner of Royal Mail has said it received a fillip from parcel deliveries over Christmas, putting it on track to return to annual profit, as its £3.6bn takeover by the Czech billionaire Daniel Křetínský nears completion.
International Distribution Services (IDS) said Royal Mail delivered more than 99% of items sent on or before the recommended last posting dates in time for Christmas. The 509-year-old postal company, which had struggled to make deliveries on time in the run-up to the crucial period, said improvements to its operations allowed it to make deliveries until 9pm for the first time over the festive season. This allowed Royal Mail to meet demands from its customers for next day deliveries over the peak shopping period.
Royal Mail said there had been strong growth in the number of parcels sent using its tracked services over Christmas, a 19% increase on a year earlier, to 188m parcels. Meanwhile, the company reported a 2.4% rise in revenue in the three months to the end of December, amid what it called improving operational and financial performance.
Royal Mail expects to return to adjusted operating profit this financial year, excluding voluntary redundancy costs, despite a “challenging macroeconomic backdrop”. It follows two years of losses. The company said this provided a “solid foundation for the business to build on in future” before the takeover of IDS by Křetínský’s EP Group.
