Trading update

[theotherone]

Trading update

We have released our trading update for the nine months to the end of December, which includes the important peak Christmas period.
Our performance continues to be very worrying. We have announced an operating loss of £295 million for financial year to the end of December; the cost of the CWU’s 18 days of strike action has increased to c.£200 million.
This means we are continuing to lose £1 million a day.

Compared to the same period last year:
Total revenue was down 12.8%
Total domestic parcel volumes were down 21% (up 5% compared to pre-pandemic levels)
Addressed letter volumes (excluding elections) were down 8% (down 25% compared to pre-pandemic levels).

We all know that the Christmas period was really challenging for the business. However, despite seven days of industrial action, our robust contingency plans plus the efforts of our teams across the country, meant that we delivered over 110 million parcels and over 600 million addressed letters in December. We would also like to thank the 12,500 CWU-grade colleagues who returned to work on strike days.

Good progress has also been made on our plan to stabilise the business. We are on track with our programme to reduce the number of full-time equivalents (FTE) by 10,000 by August 2023. By focusing on reducing the number of temporary workers, combined with natural attrition, we now expect the number of voluntary redundancies needed will be significantly lower than the 5,000-6,000 communicated in October. As you know, we have committed to no compulsory redundancies.

The update we have given today with the decline in parcels and letters volumes, once again underlines the need for us to change.

Talks update

We are committed to resolving the dispute with the CWU, agree the changes our customers need and give you a pay rise.
We have met with the CWU again this week but once again we’re unable to pass conduct issues and revisions. The CWU is threatening to take further damaging strike action within the next three weeks. We wait to hear how the CWU decide to move forward.

You can read the full trading statement here...
https://www.myroyalmail.com/sites/defau ... 6-1-23.pdf

[claystones]

Voluntary redundancies will be lower than 5000-60000 they announced what a load of crap they have realised they havent got enough workers to push through there crap revisions

[Gary55]

As long as there is money to pay shareholders so they can get bonuses. even if we can't afford it.

[cobrakai]

I always thought these were legally binding statements. There’s at least 5 untruths in there.

[LouBarlow]

If you don’t see that mail and parcel volumes have dropped considerably I don’t believe you work for RM. It is the quietest January I’ve known in 20 years of being with the company. Worrying is right.

[SpacePhoenix]

If you don’t see that mail and parcel volumes have dropped considerably I don’t believe you work for RM. It is the quietest January I’ve known in 20 years of being with the company. Worrying is right.

It's so quiet that I'm surprised that RM haven't been offering the odd day unpaid leave

[pieoftheday]

If you don’t see that mail and parcel volumes have dropped considerably I don’t believe you work for RM. It is the quietest January I’ve known in 20 years of being with the company. Worrying is right.

I'm not arguing it is isnt quiet at some offices but recently when I've heard the same it was stupidly busy at ours,

[Schiff]

So they have lost 295 million pounds in 275 days, with 200 million being down to the strikes. They then go on to repeat the claim that they continue to lose a million a day.

Surely if they were losing a million a day then it should have been 475 million - a million a day for 275 days plus the 200 million due to strike action.

[chrisj]

One or two busy days can t make up for the quietest January I have ever seen; scratching for work even with lapsing and absorption despite our earlier revision...

What other untruths are there in the statement? When they announced super normal profits, it all seemed to be accepted; and the many thousands of RM shareholders were happy to take a slice... Now, the accounts are being diddled - give it a rest; it will be a criminal offence - they have external accountants and auditors...

Cost of strike is one that is hard to ascertain because they also did save money on wages despite the costs and loss of business...

I am actually surprised that the loss is not what was predicted but there is still 3 months of the financial year left to hit the over £450 million loss forecasted by analysts

[moon71]

Sending casuals out with 20 LATS regularly, for 6 hours pay and using lorries to transport 13 Yorks from an outhouse to my office. We the workers do see it. The strike breaker budget must of been through the roof. Round 2 very soon.

Ever notice the demoralising tone to these management notices?

[timbo1234]

So they have lost 295 million pounds in 275 days, with 200 million being down to the strikes. They then go on to repeat the claim that they continue to lose a million a day.

Surely if they were losing a million a day then it should have been 475 million - a million a day for 275 days plus the 200 million due to strike action.

Absolutely correct. The figures quoted don't add up. More lies?

[cobrakai]

One or two busy days can t make up for the quietest January I have ever seen; scratching for work even with lapsing and absorption despite our earlier revision...

What other untruths are there in the statement? When they announced super normal profits, it all seemed to be accepted; and the many thousands of RM shareholders were happy to take a slice... Now, the accounts are being diddled - give it a rest; it will be a criminal offence - they have external accountants and auditors...

Cost of strike is one that is hard to ascertain because they also did save money on wages despite the costs and loss of business...

I am actually surprised that the loss is not what was predicted but there is still 3 months of the financial year left to hit the over £450 million loss forecasted by analysts

The £1m a day line is the thing I don’t understand. Simon claimed it was a lot higher not 3 weeks ago. The vr number seems to change every other day. The percentage of work falling is obviously wrong (too low). as I hear every other day of empty offices up and down the country (this was mentioned by the cwu too). The mention of covid tests is alarming because they literally dropped by 75 percent last march (not the last 6 months).

I’ve no idea what’s going on like the majority of people all you can go on is the words of a man that’s become the new Gerald Ratner.

The number of staff returning during strike action is a figure of dispute too. They have never announced normal profits in the history of the Simon Thompsons tenure.

[claystones]

Still 6 agency workers in our office they can afford them must be some money about

[Slim2none]

My mate just showed me a bbc article stating that the company are indeed losing £1M a day.....The article is from 2002!!

About time they came up with a different number!

[Barnacle]

Parcel volumes down 21%. Don’t think Simon’s going to hit his 40% increase in parcels any time soon. Pity he has thrown all the money at parcels.