Letter volume woes continue for Royal Mail
In its half-year results to 24 September 2017, the group posted a slight sales increase of 2% to £4.83bn, while operating profit both before and after transformation costs were down sharply, from £206m to £89m and £148m to £26m respectively. Royal Mail put this down largely to an increase in its ongoing UK defined benefit pension service costs of £114m. Pre-tax profit fell 30%, from £110m to £77m, but post-tax profit almost doubled to £168m - largely due to a tax credit related to the closure of its pension scheme to future accruals. Net debt was down 15.5%, from £452m to £382m. The group expects its net cash investment to fall to £450m for the full-year, down from £590m per annum for the past three years. Chief executive Moya Greene described the first half as successful despite the “headwinds we are facing”. Click Read More below for additional information.