International Distributions Services - IDS - Share Chat

Just out of interest, do any of you guys who invest in Royal Mail work for the company?

Personally I wouldn’t go anywhere near Royal Mail and I think next years revenue will be well down.

We will see how bad Q1 results are when they are released on 20th July. I don’t know what they are forecast to be in comparison with last years Q1 but I think it will be massively down on that in every aspect, especially revenue and parcel volume.

I work for them. but I am not currently a share holder.

Taking the Covid uplift out of the equation, they did quite well when compared to pre pandemic results.

May I ask, do you work on the front line? You will have had employee shares when it went plc if you worked for them then? I still think the results include the covid uplift, as the results go to the end of March and the parcels and for example covid test kits were still through the roof at that point. I think the covid uplift will drop off during the next figures.

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Covid kits accounted for 7%.

I’m a postie, but only joined the company in 2020, left in 2021 & then got asked back this year.

We are still delivering Covid kits (much lower volume), but volumes of letters & parcels are still fairly heavy… Well in my office anyway.

A fair few of my colleagues sold shares when they peaked at £6. I’ve held & sold twice at profit.

For me it would need to go back to the £2 region to consider buying back in.

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I left in January. I still hold all my free shares and I used the share purchase scheme to buy more. I think they are in for a rough time. They are looking to go big in parcels - they need the work- there is massive investment in new parcel hubs but they have a poor lower management cohort and a recalcitrant workforce. The union thinks RMG is a big company it’s not it is a tiny player against the big multinational parcel firms. I really worry for the whole operation. Would not be surprised if it is smashed to bits and a tiny letters business is renationalised.

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So talks about royal mail now getting punted out of the ftse 100

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RMG has dropped out of the ftse before.

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They have, but theyre in a difficult position.

They’re now being investigated for not meeting delivery requirements… (none of the other delivery companies have to meet this)

RM used to nobbled as they would be used as the ‘final mile’ by the likes of Amazon… so Amazon had bulk trunking sorted, but not delivery to location… - Amazon now has this - Should they open this to others for delivery, that would be a major competitor to RM - Huge potential risk…

RM’s apparent aim to escape is to offer sunday deliveries… when they already have unions against them… issues with rising costs… and theyre wanting to push them further? - this could break the company.

Amazon could easily offer a ‘free week letter delivery’ service and it would remove RM pretty much entirely. - the difference is, RM has that legal requirement… Amazon doesnt want to be forced to take that on should they push RM aside…

Its make or break time… (well, will be) Hard to see the share price increasing, but they could remain a lowercost dividend producer

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I concur RMG is at serious risk. The USO is both a millstone and a buoyancy aid. Amazon could easily offer a letter service to large areas of the country, but in deeply rural areas they use RM to deliver their work. I don’t have figures but I’m pretty sure RM is the second largest UK delivery stream for Amazon.
In the medium returning RMG to public ownership is not out of the question. In the long term the USO could well be scrapped, in 20 years letters will be obsolete.
Sundays are a nightmare for RM staff are on contracts that require overtime payments and the unions (both CWU and CMA) won’t let the company introduce 7 day working.
As for dividends going forwards they will only pay if they make money, high inflation will make for big pay demands. The future looks bleak I’m still holding all my free shares plus others I bought through share save but I am trying to work out at what price I should sell.

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For long?

Doctor Postman Pat MD at your service

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Ballot papers to vote for strike action are due to be sent out tomorrow.

However during pay deal talks a few years ago, Terry Pullinger from the CWU was imploring the company to take the opportunity to seek to include services like well-being calls etc. rather than the constant race to the bottom direction the company seems to be going in.

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I’m doubtful the well-being calls will ever be implemented. Particularly under the current time restraints employees are dealing with.

I feel it’s a bit of ‘blowing smoke’ up somewhere …before the news of potential strike action.

Indeed.

Perhaps what people who are not Royal Mail frontline delivery staff don’t realise is the difficult nature of the job in terms of what management expect you to do and the little time you are given to do it in.

Delivery routes get bigger and bigger, it really does seem to be blood out of a stone culture, many staff working hours and hours unpaid extra time every week.

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RM managers have voted for strike action…that was a bit of a shock to me.

We, the frontline staff, recieved our ballot papers this week. A majority vote means potential strike action in August.

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Will I ever get my mail on time!

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Doubtful :rofl:

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