U.K. Mail profit falls 8.2%

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U.K. Mail Group PLC(UKM.LN) Wednesday reported an 8.2% drop in pretax profit for the 2015 fiscal year, citing changes in the competitive landscape, to consumer spending and to retailer behavior.

The parcel and mail service posted a pretax profit of 20.1 million pounds ($31.0 million) for the year ended March 31, compared with GBP21.9 million for the year earlier, on a revenue GBP485.1 million versus GBP481.4 million.

The company said though it saw increased revenue from a rise in parcels, a result of the City Link collapse, it also saw increased operational costs due to capacity constraints.

However, the company's new Ryton Hub is now operational and expected to reach optimal efficiency by the second half of the year.

"The first half of the new financial year will be challenging as we reposition our parcels business and manage the full transition to the new hub. This, together with the implementation and roll-out of the new automation, will result in performance for the year being more weighted to the second half than usual," CEO Guy Buswell said.

The company said the final dividend rose 2.1% to 14.5 pence per share, bringing the full-year dividend up 2.3% to 21.8 pence per share.