Pension deficit drove Royal Mail to the brink

[TrueBlueTerrier]

http://www.thesundaytimes.co.uk/sto/bus ... 2013_12_28" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

ROYAL MAIL flirted with financial disaster three years ago, with directors repeatedly forced to convince auditors it was a going concern.

The crisis is revealed by Moya Greene, Royal Mail’s chief executive, in an interview with The Sunday Times. Greene is our Business Person of the Year, the first female recipient of the award.

She led Royal Mail through a rocky privatisation process that culminated in a float on the London market in October. Last week it joined the elite FTSE 100 club of Britain’s largest listed companies.

Greene describes critics of the float price as “armchair quarterbacks”. She also reveals that she chose to hand back a controversial housing allowance at the height of the pre-float furore, and that she thinks there is no shortage of female executive talent in Britain.

"After this there is a pay wall."

[Lounge Lizard]

"Greene is our Business Person of the Year"

[silly suffolk]

armchair quarterbacks? she's really taken to british culture.

[fishtank]

"After this there is a pay wall."

I'm no fan of paywalls but in the case of this sycophantic nonsense i'm quite happy the rest is blocked.
Drove Royal Mail to the brink of what exactly?, Insolvency?...I don't think so.
If the pension deficit had risked dragging the company under the government would have had to bail the pension out which was exactly what happened.That was never in doubt because the only hurdle was the EU State Aid issue and there was no way the European Commision was ever going to block state aid if there was a real threat to 150,000 jobs and an institution like Royal Mail in one of its member states.The fall-out would have probably been enough to drag the UK out of the EU.

She's trying to paint herself as the saviour of Royal Mail just like Leighton and Crozier before her.It's all spin and lies,nothing to see of note.

[Lounge Lizard]

"After this there is a pay wall."

I'm no fan of paywalls but in the case of this sycophantic nonsense i'm quite happy the rest is blocked.
Drove Royal Mail to the brink of what exactly?, Insolvency?...I don't think so.
If the pension deficit had risked dragging the company under the government would have had to bail the pension out which was exactly what happened.That was never in doubt because the only hurdle was the EU State Aid issue and there was no way the European Commision was ever going to block state aid if there was a real threat to 150,000 jobs and an institution like Royal Mail in one of its member states.The fall-out would have probably been enough to drag the UK out of the EU.

She's trying to paint herself as the saviour of Royal Mail just like Leighton and Crozier before her.It's all spin and lies,nothing to see of note.

So what happened was going to happen - if it wasn't Moya it would have been someone else and someone else with half a million pay, half a million bonuses and half a million shares

[cyclemech1]

"After this there is a pay wall."

I'm no fan of paywalls but in the case of this sycophantic nonsense i'm quite happy the rest is blocked.
Drove Royal Mail to the brink of what exactly?, Insolvency?...I don't think so.
If the pension deficit had risked dragging the company under the government would have had to bail the pension out which was exactly what happened.That was never in doubt because the only hurdle was the EU State Aid issue and there was no way the European Commision was ever going to block state aid if there was a real threat to 150,000 jobs and an institution like Royal Mail in one of its member states.The fall-out would have probably been enough to drag the UK out of the EU.

She's trying to paint herself as the saviour of Royal Mail just like Leighton and Crozier before her.It's all spin and lies,nothing to see of note.

So what happened was going to happen - if it wasn't Moya it would have been someone else and someone else with half a million pay, half a million bonuses and half a million shares

Let's face it, they could have put the Chuckle Brothers in charge and they could have done the same job.

It's not what you know, it's who you know. :vcfo

[JaneM]

Business person of the year!....sums up the world of Murdoch newspapers.