(Reuters) -Royal Mail said on Wednesday it expects annual adjusted operating profit at its UK business to be “around break-even,” after it reported a quarterly loss due to higher costs and a “stalled” transformation due to labour disputes.
The post and parcel delivery firm also said its holding company Royal Mail Plc would be renamed International Distributions Services Plc, and will have two separate businesses — Royal Mail and GLS.
The company, knee-deep in a staff crisis over job cuts, pay, and working conditions, said that adjusted operating profit in its UK business will be around break-even for the full year, excluding the impact of industrial action.
This comes after trade union CWU said on Tuesday that more than 115,000 postal workers at Royal Mail voted to strike over pay, putting them on course for what could be the biggest industrial action to hit Britain this summer.
The company’s first-quarter revenue fell 11.5% in its UK business, hurt by a decline in its letters business and inflation-hit consumers cutting back on online shopping, it said. Overall, its revenue was down 5.1%.
Royal Mail UK reported an adjusted operating loss of 92 million pounds ($110.46 million) in the first quarter.
($1 = 0.8329 pounds)
(Reporting by Eva Mathews and Yadarisa Shabong in Bengaluru; editing by Uttaresh.V)
