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Royal Mail set to post a first-half loss of £65m with the pandemic worsening a drop in letter volumes
- It comes despite a predicted 8% rise in revenues to £5.6bn
- Covid-19 has prompted a rise in parcel sending with more internet shopping
- The company taking on 33,000 temporary staff to help with Christmas demand
Royal Mail is expected to crash to a first-half loss of £65 million this week after the pandemic exacerbated a drop in letter volumes.
Analysts are forecasting the postal service will plunge into the red for the six months to September, compared with a £110 million profit over the same period last year.
It comes despite a predicted 8 per cent rise in revenues to £5.6 billion, boosted by record numbers of parcels being sent as the coronavirus crisis prompts more internet shopping.
Royal Mail is expected to crash to a first-half loss of £65m this week after the pandemic exacerbated a drop in letter volumes
The company is preparing for its biggest Christmas ever and is taking on 33,000 temporary workers to help cope with demand.
But growing parcel volumes have so far not kept up with the drop in letters, with Royal Mail warning that the average number of items delivered per address has halved from two to one.
The firm has called for a rethink of its ‘universal service obligation’ to deliver letters anywhere, six days per week for fixed prices.
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