Royal Mail parent posts half-year loss as UK business drags

Nov 17 (Reuters) – Royal Mail parent International Distribution Services (IDSI.L) reported a first-half loss of 57 million pounds ($67.88 million) on Thursday, citing rising costs and disruptions caused by a strike by postal workers Putting pressure on the company’s financial health.

The former UK postal monopoly, which recently changed the name of its holding company from Royal Mail Plc, still expects Royal Mail (its UK business) to post a full-year adjusted operating loss of around £350m-£450m.

Royal Mail aims to return to adjusted operating profit for the full year 2024-25. The company maintained its forecast for its international unit GLS.

Royal Mail has been locked in a bitter row with its largest union, the Communications Workers Union (CWU), over pay and operational changes at the more than 500-year-old postal company, leading to days of strikes over the past few months.

The union plans more strikes over the busy Christmas period after it rejected new conditional pay proposals that depended on the CWU agreeing to changes such as Sunday working and flexible working.

Royal Mail has said it could cut up to 10,000 jobs and warned of more cuts and even worse financial damage if a deal with the CWU cannot be reached.

The group’s revenue for the six-month period ended Sept. 9. 25 fell nearly 4% to 5.84 billion pounds, weighed down by Royal Mail’s poor results, which also posted an adjusted operating loss for the reporting period, compared with a profit of 404 million pounds last year.

($1 = £0.8397)

Reporting by Yadarisa Shabong in Bengaluru; Editing by Shirley Jacobs-Phillips

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

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