Royal Mail profits sink during six months to September

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Royal Mail (LON:RMG) has reported that its profits before tax for the 26 weeks ended 23rd September dropped by 57% to £33 million. The company said that the drop in profitability reflected lower UK revenues as well as poor productivity and higher than expected cost pressures.

Group chief executive Rico Back said: “We have put in place a range of actions to improve our performance. We are reconfirming our commitment to our revised £100 million cost avoidance target and adjusted Group operating profit before transformation costs of £500 million – £550 million for the financial year.

“We will update the market next year on our strategy. There will be a greater emphasis on how we connect customers, companies and countries through our domestic and international businesses. There will be a clearer focus on financial performance and management accountability. In March, we will host our first Capital Markets day since IPO in 2013. We will share more detail then about our direction for the next five years“.

The price of Royal Mail shares fell by 4.71% to 331.60p (as of 11:00 GMT).

 

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