MRM.COM : Full year results 2019-20 : Headlines

[POSTMAN]

https://www.myroyalmail.com/news/2020/0 ... ts-2019-20" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

We faced significant challenges before COVID-19

We have announced our full year results for the year ended 29 March 2020 and provided an update on trading in the first two months of 2020-21.

Keith Williams, interim Executive Chair, Royal Mail Group said: “In recent years, our UK business has not adapted quickly enough to the changes in our marketplace of more parcels and fewer letters. COVID-19 has accelerated those trends, presenting additional challenges. We are implementing a three-step plan to ensure Royal Mail remains a key part of the UK economy, a good employer, and the nation’s delivery partner of choice.”

Here are the headlines of 2019-20:

• UK profit down 41.2%*, even including over £80m revenue benefit from two elections.
  Parcel volumes up 2%. UK parcel revenue up 4.6%.
  Addressed letter volumes, excluding elections, down 8%, in line with previous guidance. Total letter revenue down 0.9%. Mainly due to election benefit.
  Group profit down 13.6%* at £325m. Around two-thirds from GLS.

Materials for you:

Click here to read a letter from our interim Executive Chair, Keith Williams, about the challenges our business faces and our three-step plan for addressing them.

Click here to read your Colleague Update on today’s results.


Watch our RMtv Special to hear from our UK CEO, Stuart Simpson.

*Adjusted operating profit including transformation costs on a 52 week basis.

[POSTMAN]

COVID-19 has accelerated the challenges we were already facing, particularly in the UK.

In the first two months of 2020-21 in the UK, we delivered 550 million fewer addressed letters and just under 80 million more parcels, compared to the same period last year.

Addressed letter volumes were down 33%; advertising mail volumes were down 63%; address letter revenue was down 23%, all excluding elections.

UK parcel volumes were up 37%, including cumulative volume growth of 76% for Tracked products. Parcel revenue was up 28%.

Adjusted operating costs were up 6%, driven by high sick absence levels, social distancing measures, PPE and parcel related volume costs.

Outlook

The outlook is difficult and volatile due to the unprecedented nature of the coronavirus pandemic.

We expect our UK business to be materially loss-making in 2020-21.

To protect our business, as previously announced, we will not pay a final dividend to shareholders for 2019-20. We do not expect to pay a dividend for 2020-21.

Eligible employees received an interim dividend of 7.5 pence per share in January 2020. Total dividends since privatisation are £1,159 (before tax). For more information on dividends, click here.

[Pathfinder]

My packet bags have pretty much doubled.

2% my arse.

[norris9]

"We want to engage with the CWU to make change happen. As we have always said, this will mean more technology, fewer jobs and changes to the way we work. But we can give you the reassurance that we believe this is achievable over the next two to three years within the spirit of our existing agreements with the union.

We understand of course that we have a live dispute with the CWU and we obviously take the issues in that dispute seriously. We agree we need to improve our culture. We need to resolve all the issues in the dispute but we also need to talk about the issues we now face. We have already given commitments to frontline colleagues over the last few months we stick by those commitments today: such as no gig economy, no zero hours contracts for employees, and job opportunities for all of our frontline operational colleagues who can and want to work for Royal Mail. We can only deliver these commitments by delivering change, at pace. In short, we need to change to become much more efficient but believe we can do this the way we have approached change within the workplace in the past, working with our colleagues and with the CWU."

Does anyone understand what they mean by the bits I have highlighted above.

They want change, they want fewer jobs, but they will have job opportunities for all the frontline operational colleagues. Does this mean they don't plan on making any Posties redundant, but Posties job could possibly change or will change, and that the 'fewer jobs' they refer to mean the axing of non frontline workers....of whom I am not sure who this is? I think our office already axed some non-frontline workers, I think they were working on some sorting machines.

So us Posties are all safe in a job....it's just that our job may become a little different?

[blacov]

"We want to engage with the CWU to make change happen. As we have always said, this will mean more technology, fewer jobs and changes to the way we work. But we can give you the reassurance that we believe this is achievable over the next two to three years within the spirit of our existing agreements with the union.

We understand of course that we have a live dispute with the CWU and we obviously take the issues in that dispute seriously. We agree we need to improve our culture. We need to resolve all the issues in the dispute but we also need to talk about the issues we now face. We have already given commitments to frontline colleagues over the last few months we stick by those commitments today: such as no gig economy, no zero hours contracts for employees, and job opportunities for all of our frontline operational colleagues who can and want to work for Royal Mail. We can only deliver these commitments by delivering change, at pace. In short, we need to change to become much more efficient but believe we can do this the way we have approached change within the workplace in the past, working with our colleagues and with the CWU."

Does anyone understand what they mean by the bits I have highlighted above.

They want change, they want fewer jobs, but they will have job opportunities for all the frontline operational colleagues. Does this mean they don't plan on making any Posties redundant, but Posties job could possibly change or will change, and that the 'fewer jobs' they refer to mean the axing of non frontline workers....of whom I am not sure who this is? I think our office already axed some non-frontline workers, I think they were working on some sorting machines.

So us Posties are all safe in a job....it's just that our job may become a little different?

I understand that they will not make anybody redundant provided he is willing and able to work under new operational system. This means they most likely looking to get parcel sorting automated to some degree and it may will look similar to what parcelforce is today with the added stream of letters. So if any of us is capable of doing essentially a courier work with some letter on top there will be a job. What conditions and what sort of pay we can expect for it I don't know. Personally I've done courier work before and I am happy to deal with letters so as long as I am rewarded for it accordingly. If there is reasonable duty given or a larger one mainly parcel drops and SA is chipped in (as in cases in parcelforce) I am still happy to grab SA and work an hour or two longer daily.

[norris9]

I understand that they will not make anybody redundant provided he is willing and able to work under new operational system. This means they most likely looking to get parcel sorting automated to some degree and it may will look similar to what parcelforce is today with the added stream of letters. So if any of us is capable of doing essentially a courier work with some letter on top there will be a job. What conditions and what sort of pay we can expect for it I don't know. Personally I've done courier work before and I am happy to deal with letters so as long as I am rewarded for it accordingly. If there is reasonable duty given or a larger one mainly parcel drops and SA is chipped in (as in cases in parcelforce) I am still happy to grab SA and work an hour or two longer daily.

I don't understand how and why they would need all of us Posties if we are about to focus on parcel deliveries. As we saw during the saturday parcel only delivery - you only need half the amount of Posties.

Surely they are aiming for a 1 or 2 day a week letter delivery. Only Specials will be delivered next day. All the non essential junk mail, bank statements, bills will likely be delivered once a week if we are focusing on parcels.

I wonder what would happen with those that don't drive, will they be told they are not required, or will they be asked to get a driving license within a certain amount of time....or will some other role be found. I don't see how someone who can't drive is going to be any use out on delivery if they shake up the system. Unless they will keep some letter only duties.

[Grumpyoldmailman]

I wonder what would happen with those that don't drive, will they be told they are not required, or will they be asked to get a driving license within a certain amount of time....or will some other role be found. I don't see how someone who can't drive is going to be any use out on delivery if they shake up the system. Unless they will keep some letter only duties.

I would be worried if I was a non driver. Maybe that’s one of the things they mean when they say can work for RM. I would guess park and loop must be going out the window as well.

[norris9]

I wonder what would happen with those that don't drive, will they be told they are not required, or will they be asked to get a driving license within a certain amount of time....or will some other role be found. I don't see how someone who can't drive is going to be any use out on delivery if they shake up the system. Unless they will keep some letter only duties.

I would be worried if I was a non driver. Maybe that’s one of the things they mean when they say can work for RM. I would guess park and loop must be going out the window as well.

Thing is, as they will have been with Royal Mail a long time they'd get a nice redundancy pay off?

Would be cheaper for Royal Mail to pay for their driving lessons and keep them on.

[Cucumber]

I understand that they will not make anybody redundant provided he is willing and able to work under new operational system. This means they most likely looking to get parcel sorting automated to some degree and it may will look similar to what parcelforce is today with the added stream of letters. So if any of us is capable of doing essentially a courier work with some letter on top there will be a job. What conditions and what sort of pay we can expect for it I don't know. Personally I've done courier work before and I am happy to deal with letters so as long as I am rewarded for it accordingly. If there is reasonable duty given or a larger one mainly parcel drops and SA is chipped in (as in cases in parcelforce) I am still happy to grab SA and work an hour or two longer daily.

I don't understand how and why they would need all of us Posties if we are about to focus on parcel deliveries. As we saw during the saturday parcel only delivery - you only need half the amount of Posties.

Surely they are aiming for a 1 or 2 day a week letter delivery. Only Specials will be delivered next day. All the non essential junk mail, bank statements, bills will likely be delivered once a week if we are focusing on parcels.

I wonder what would happen with those that don't drive, will they be told they are not required, or will they be asked to get a driving license within a certain amount of time....or will some other role be found. I don't see how someone who can't drive is going to be any use out on delivery if they shake up the system. Unless they will keep some letter only duties.

With letters falling and a threat to the USO, you'd need some size of delivery span to make up your hours doing letters only from an HCT for instance, given that the majority of people who don't drive will be full time.
If it goes the way it's looking, then a very fair and generous offer would be a grant to learn how to drive, repayable off wages for a year or 2. Many other companies send people on training courses where they learn skills that they can use in and outside of work - wouldn't be any different really.

[A2B]

I wonder what would happen with those that don't drive, will they be told they are not required, or will they be asked to get a driving license within a certain amount of time....or will some other role be found. I don't see how someone who can't drive is going to be any use out on delivery if they shake up the system. Unless they will keep some letter only duties.

I would be worried if I was a non driver. Maybe that’s one of the things they mean when they say can work for RM. I would guess park and loop must be going out the window as well.

What changes do you see in your crystal balls that wipes out HCT use?

[HTPostman]

I wonder what would happen with those that don't drive, will they be told they are not required, or will they be asked to get a driving license within a certain amount of time....or will some other role be found. I don't see how someone who can't drive is going to be any use out on delivery if they shake up the system. Unless they will keep some letter only duties.

I would be worried if I was a non driver. Maybe that’s one of the things they mean when they say can work for RM. I would guess park and loop must be going out the window as well.

Not sure if it’s related but some of the more senior non drivers, a few who have said they’d never drive for RM, have suddenly started pushing management asking when they are allowed to drive and when the forms will be ready. I wonder what they’ve heard on the grapevine....

[Grumpyoldmailman]

What changes do you see in your crystal balls that wipes out HCT use?

That it doesn’t make sense to use them anymore when it’s a parcel led business as you are covering the same ground twice with 2 members of staff. I hope I am wrong but that would be the logical business case imo.

[Cucumber]

What changes do you see in your crystal balls that wipes out HCT use?

That it doesn’t make sense to use them anymore when it’s a parcel led business as you are covering the same ground twice with 2 members of staff. I hope I am wrong but that would be the logical business case imo.

We regularly have 3 people covering the same ground on the same day. 2 on the duty, 1 doing the excess oversize that can't be managed.

[A2B]

What changes do you see in your crystal balls that wipes out HCT use?

That it doesn’t make sense to use them anymore when it’s a parcel led business as you are covering the same ground twice with 2 members of staff. I hope I am wrong but that would be the logical business case imo.

We regularly have 3 people covering the same ground on the same day. 2 on the duty, 1 doing the excess oversize that can't be managed.

Bit confused as to how this adds up, is this two people using HTC's but would normally van share?

[SpacePhoenix]

Once the % of parcels with 2D barcodes gets high enough I wouldn't be surprised to see RM looking at introducing something on the lines of the REX system that PF uses