Royal Mail warns of challenging year | Business

Royal Mail expects to have a tough year after letters volumes fell short of expectations and the threat of strikes over Christmas hit parcel revenues as people switched to other carriers.

The former state-owned postal service said that its unresolved dispute with staff was delaying its turnaround plan and, along with continuing economic uncertainty, had increased the likelihood that its UK business would be loss making in 2020-21.

Addressed letter volumes fell by 9 per cent in nine months to December 29, it said in a trading update. Volumes in the third quarter, excluding the general election, did not show the expected level of recovery and as a result it forecast a 1 percentage point increase in the decline for the next financial year.

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