Share payout is ‘ridiculous’

Postal giant’s dividend slammed as staff suffer

ROYAL Mail is dishing out a record £68million to private shareholders – despite profits diving by nearly a third.

The postal giant yesterday upped its half-year dividend by an inflation-busting 4% to 7.7p.

That benefitted workers and retail investors who have shares after the firm’s controversial privatisation.

But the vast bulk of the payout will go to big investors, said the Communication Workers’ Union.

The CWU is locked in a dispute with Royal Mail over workers’ pay and pensions.

The hike in the interim dividend came despite half-year profits falling 30% to £77m. Revenues rose 2% to £4.8billion, fuelled by Royal Mail’s European parcels business GLS.

Its UK parcels arm also grew but the number of addressed letters it handled fell 5%. Boss Moya Greene said the business had seen a “strong start” to its financial year.

Dave Ward, CWU General Secretary, said: “The privatisation of Royal Mail has never looked more ridiculous. The halfyear results see a record £68m go to private shareholders at a time postal workers are under more pressure than ever.”

Yesterday’s accounts also showed Royal Mail booked another £44m from the sale of property, plant and equipment and was sitting on £2billion of similar assets.

Its share price rose 1.7% to 395p.