Royal Mail, a postal service and courier company in the United Kingdom has issued a warning of a “challenging” year ahead. The company is facing several challenges recently and is struggling to cope with them. A significant decline in letter volumes, imminent labour strikes, the tighter privacy rules introduced by General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), and most importantly, the transition from letters to parcels is well behind schedule.
In a recent forecast, the company spoke of an unexpected decline in letter volumes resulting in record low share price as much as 17%, wiping off a staggering 320 million shareholders. Royal Mail shares were reported to be traded at 246.6 pence that is significantly below the phenomenal 330 pence a few years back. It was evident that people across the globe are shifting from letters to emails. But the Royal Mail failed to cope with this.
The company is also facing a threat of a strike from its largest union. Members of the Communication Workers Union (CWU) had voted to go on a strike. Although, the court has decreed that such a ballot would be unlawful. The company has to accelerate the transition to sustain itself as the shift is well behind schedule. Will the company be able to do this? A very apt question but how and when? Time will definitely tell.
