Posties snub share sale as Royal Mail value hovers near IPO price

The vast majority of Royal Mail staff have snubbed the chance to sell shares they were handed during its 2013 privatisation after a savage profit warning wiped hundreds of millions of pounds from the company’s value.

Sky News has learnt that just 1,400 employees from a potential pool of 90,000 pre-registered to sell their stakes on a tax-free basis on Monday, the fifth anniversary of the controversial flotation.

The tiny proportion of Royal Mail workers who elected to sell reflects disappointment among employees about the recent decline in its share price.

On Monday, shares closed at 341.2p, barely above the 330p float price and a far cry from the 600p level reached within months of the sell-off.

Sources said that while some staff had opted to sell their shares in the last two years, incurring tax liabilities, most had not, hoping for a big windfall when the tax payments vanished.

However, Royal Mail’s profit warning at the start of October sent its shares crashing, the culmination of a torrid period which included a string of boardroom pay rows and the unceremonious departure of is chairman, Peter Long.

The 613 shares handed to all UK-based staff in 2013 were still worth more than £2000 at Monday’s closing price, and Royal Mail has dismissed suggestions from some employees that the profit alert was designed to deter them from selling.

Royal Mail declined to comment.