Royal Mail trading figures for the last three months have shown a 1% increase in revenue for the group, which has been predominantly attributed to GLS and a 3% rise in parcel revenue. Royal Mail’s other core division, UKPIL, suffered a 1% decrease in overall revenue and a 4% decline in letter revenue.
Parcel volumes were up 5% overall, with a good performance in Royal Mail’s tracked services which saw strong volume growth of 39%.
Addressed letter volumes decreased by 6% but benefitted from certain mailings associated with the 2017 General Election, which had a 1% positive impact on the overall figure. Royal Mail’s cost avoidance program is on track to deliver around £190m (US$250m) of UKPIL operating costs avoided in 2017-18; a total net cash investment of around £450m (US$590m) is expected in 2017-2018.
Moya Greene, CEO of Royal Mail, said, “Overall, we have had a good start to our financial year. Group revenue was up 1%, driven by another strong performance in GLS. This more than offset a 1% decline in UKPIL revenue.
“GLS continues to be a driving force for the group. Its ongoing, focused international expansion is increasing our geographic diversification, scale and reach. In UK parcels, our quality of service and improved product offerings are driving high levels of customer satisfaction and attracting new customers and higher volumes.
“Our performance in letters was better than we expected, despite continued business uncertainty in the UK. We remain on track to deliver our cost avoidance and net cash investment targets for the full year.”
July 20, 2017