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last yr.

Royal Mail Reports £319m Half-Year Loss Amid Strikes and Decline in Letter Sending

Parent company IDS expects to break even this fiscal year, while CEO calls for urgent reform of Universal Service obligations.

Overview

  • Royal Mail reports a £319m loss for the first half of the year, a deepening of £100m compared to the same period in 2022.
  • Strikes over pay and working conditions, along with a decline in letter sending, are cited as the main causes for the losses.
  • Parcel deliveries declined by 6% to £1.85bn in the first half due to lower volumes and customers trading down to cheaper services.
  • Royal Mail's parent company, International Distributions Services (IDS), expects to break even this fiscal year and pay a small dividend.
  • IDS CEO Martin Seidenberg calls for reform of Royal Mail's Universal Service obligations, citing the unsustainability of maintaining a network built for 20 billion letters when only 7 billion are now being delivered.