Royal Mail chief: ‘We’ll hit targets’

Those City analysts who claim Royal Mail shares have peaked may have to eat their words after the postal operator said it was “confident” about hitting its targets after posting a 2% rise in like-for-like revenues in the nine months to 29 December.
Parcel deliveries now account for 51% of revenues, and chief executive Moya Greene said the company handled 115 million parcels in December, adding that the financial performance to date was in line with expectations.
Shares in Royal Mail closed at 588p on Thursday, up 78% since the company was floated at 330p-a-share in October.
Greene said the number of parcels in December was “significantly more than any other carrier in the UK parcel market”, although it was not all good news; letter revenue fell by 3% on a like-for-like basis.
The prediction comes as the row over Greene’s pay rumbles on. Earlier this week Business Secretary Vince Cable hinted that he might block any large increases in executive remuneration, after Royal Mail bosses revealed they wanted to boost Greene’s pay to £1.5m this year.
Royal Mail has pledged not to give Greene a large pay rise until after the current financial year, but chairman Donald Brydon told the Daily Telegraph this week that Greene was the “lowest-paid chief executive in the FTSE 100” and that a rise in her pay was necessary to keep her.

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