Royal Mail suffered a loss of over £200m in its first half. This was due to ongoing strikes, a drop in parcel deliveries, and the inability to restructure while at odds with unions.
The postal service reported an operating loss of £219m for the six months that ended September 25th. This was despite the fact that it is currently in negotiations with the Communications Workers Union to avoid strikes during the Christmas period.
The company in trouble, which warned last month that it may have to reduce up to 10,000 jobs reported a profit margin of £235m for the same period last fiscal year.
Royal Mail reported a 10.5% drop in revenue year-on-year to £3.6bn. However, this was flat when compared with pre-Covid levels.
@RoyalMail CEO, Simon Thompson, pays himself £753,000. This includes a £142,000 bonus, despite missing delivery targets and losing £450M pa 📸Royal mail letter handed out to postal workers today (17/11/22)https://t.co/UCHzjlvhNf pic.twitter.com/oUQfkMfikn
— Share_Talk ™ (@Share_Talk) November 17, 2022
International Distributions Services, its parent company, stated that the strike’s impact was contained due to management actions. “Talks continue with CWU, although we are already making the necessary changes. If industrial action continues, talks will end.
Royal Mail anticipates a loss of between £350m and £450m during its current financial year. This includes the impact of strikes up to 12 days long that were taken or that it has been notified by CWU.
Simon Thompson, chief executive at Royal Mail, stated that although we would prefer to have an agreement with the CWU, in any event, Royal Mail is moving forward with changes to transform its business. “We’ve always known that we need to make changes in order to survive. We are working to turn the business around.
The CWU, which represents over 115,000 postal workers at Royal Mail has announced that workers will strike next on the 24th and 25th of November, Black Friday’s bargain shopping day, along with on the 30th and 1st of December.
Talks that were due to conclude earlier in the week were extended in hopes of reaching a deal.
