Royal Mail hails return to profit

ROYAL MAIL has hailed returning to an underlying profit for the first time in three years despite a “competitive and challenging” backdrop.

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In its first set of figures since the group's £3.6 billion takeover by the Czech billionaire Daniel Kretinsky’s EP Group, its owner, International Distribution Services (IDS), said Royal Mail delivered underlying earnings, excluding voluntary redundancy costs, of £12 million for the year to March 31.

The figure comes after losses of £336 million the previous year but, with redundancy costs included, Royal Mail still remained in the red, with underlying operating losses of £8 million, IDS said.