Whistl provides some help for Royal Mail's case to regulator

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Lloyds’ private-equity arm can’t be blamed for pulling the plug on Whistl’s letters delivery effort.

Accounts filed at Companies House for 2014 show that, even though it had cherry-picked the most-lucrative urban routes, it was racking up losses quicker than its posties were dumping mail in suburban London hedges.

Whistl’s loss on these so-called “end-to-end final mile” deliveries was some £10.3 million in the year to December 31, spiralling from £2.1 million the year before as it launched its service outside London.

Costs and administrative expenses surged from £2 million to £10 million too.

Meanwhile, bulk business-mail volumes in the industry generally fell by 3.3% during the year.

Why does this matter?

Because Royal Mail is trying to convince the regulator that delivering letters under its Universal Service Obligation is hugely costly and deserves more consideration when ruling on its monopolistic market position.

Whistl’s spiralling losses can’t harm that case.