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Royal Mail is losing £1million a day, its chairman has revealed.
The business reported an adjusted operating loss of £92m between April and June – the first financial quarter.
Chairman Keith Williams blamed the decline on a drop in shipment volumes and a lack of progress in “delivering efficiencies”.
Mr Williams said: “The pandemic boom in parcel volumes, fueled by the supply of test kits and (COVID-19) parcels, is over.
“Royal Mail is currently losing £1m a day and the efficiency improvements that are needed for long-term success are at a standstill.”
Royal Mail’s revenue fell 11.5% to £1.88bn in the quarter compared to the same period last year.
Revenue at Royal Mail Group, which also includes international division GLS, fell 5.1% to £3bn.
It comes the day after more than 115,000 postal workers at Royal Mail voted to strike over pay in what is expected to be Britain’s biggest strike this summer.
The strike was supported by 97.6% of those who voted on a 77% turnout.
“I’m willing to talk about pay and change anytime”
Royal Mail chief executive Simon Thompson said the dispute had stopped Royal Mail making the changes it needed to deliver on its £350m cost efficiency programme, adding that “there is now £100m at risk pound”.
Mr Thompson said: “I am ready to talk about pay and change at any time. But it should have both.
“When we talked to the unions before, we said there should be an improvement in productivity, but it’s not going forward, it’s going backwards.
“Unchanged this will continue and obviously we have concerns about the impact of yesterday’s CWU announcement.”
The business said other cost savings – such as infrastructure changes – were “on the way”, but noted that COVID-19 absenteeism would continue to be an issue.
“We can be a long-term success story”
Chairman Mr Williams said: “However, we can be a long-term success story.
“We have advantages of scale and scope and a strong balance sheet and asset base that are the foundation for a successful future.
“We must act now to move towards this future for the benefit of all stakeholders by making the most of these advantages.”
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