Royal Mail Group has revealed that revenues grew by 3.7% year-over-year in the nine months ended December 29, 2019. Growth rates are not adjusted for the 2.5 fewer working days in UKPIL compared to the prior year. This reduced UKPIL volume and revenue growth metrics by around 1 percentage point, on average. For the full year 2019-20, the working day impact will not be material.
UKPIL revenues grew by 1.0%, with parcels revenue up 3.7% and letters revenues down 1.5%.
For Parcels, volumes increased by 3.0%. Around Black Friday and Cyber Monday volumes were higher than expected. For the rest of the Christmas period they were, on average, lower than anticipated. Due to the risk of industrial action, some customers switched volumes to other carriers. This reduced parcel revenue growth by approximately 0.5 percentage points. On the other hand, addressed letter volumes (excluding political parties’ election mailings) declined by 9.0%.
At GLS, volumes were 5.0% higher and revenues were up 11.1%. In Europe, revenue growth was driven by strong performances in Germany, Belgium and Eastern European markets.
Rico Back, Group Chief Executive Officer, Royal Mail plc, said, “We are disappointed that the CWU has issued a timeline for a ballot of its members for industrial action. We stand ready to invest £1.8bn to modernise and grow in the UK. We want to reach agreement with CWU; but we cannot afford to delay this essential transformation any longer. So, we are proceeding with key national trials and local initiatives, to improve our customer offering and grow the business, whilst maintaining good quality jobs and delivering a sustainable Universal Service.”
Source: Royal Mail
