Royal Mail has issued a profit warning after it failed to meet cost-saving targets, sending shares plummeting as much as 20 per cent on Monday afternoon. In an unscheduled trading update for the half year to September 23rd, the group said that its "productivity performance is significantly below plan". A target for cost avoidance during the same period has also been slashed from £230 million(€258 million) to £100 million.
As a result, Royal Mail expects group adjusted operating profit before transformation costs to be in the range of £500 million to £550 million, compared with £694 million last year.
Royal Mail also flagged that addressed letter volumes are now expected to decline faster than the group's expectations, while pointing to the impact of GDPR regulation. "Trading conditions in the UK are challenging," said chief executive Rico Back. "Our letter volumes, especially marketing mail, are impacted by ongoing structural decline, business uncertainty and GDPR."
Shares tumbled more than 20per cent before settling at 14 per cent lower at 408.4p. The postal service also blamed the decline on unexpectedly high cost pressures from the labour market, and under-performance in productivity.
Productivity growth continued to be sluggish despite a lack of industrial action during the six months to September 23rd. The measure grew at a rate of 0.1 per cent,well below a target of between 2 per cent and 3 per cent.
Royal Mail now expects productivity to be much lower than predicted. Targets were missed last year after strikes, high levels of sickness absence and adverse weather condition slowed up deliveries. But the group struck a deal with union representatives in January, putting an end to long-simmering debate over pay and pensions.
- PA
