Crackdown may stop Royal Mail sending 700m junk letters

aROUND 700m fewer letters will be sent this year following a shake-up of european privacy rules, warns Royal Mail.

The changes coming into effect next Friday would see the decline in letters accelerate, it says.

It is because the new rules, known as the General Data Protection Regulation, make it harder for businesses to send unsolicited junk mail.

letter volumes declined 4pc overall in the year to March 31, to 11.27bn, Royal Mail said yesterday. and because of the privacy rule changes, that is expected to worsen to 6pc or more this year, or about 676m fewer.

However the number of parcels handled surged by 5pc to 1.23bn and is expected to grow.

sales overall rose 4pc to £10.2bn last year but profits slipped 36.7pc, to £212m as Royal Mail grappled with transformation costs and a pensions overhaul.

Moya Greene, Royal Mail’s outgoing chief executive, clinched a deal on pensions and pay with unions earlier this year, before announcing her retirement.

The 63-year-old said: ‘It has been another successful year, despite the challenging environment. Group revenue is now over £10bn, a significant milestone, thanks to our geographical diversification and focus on growth.’

Canadian Greene steps down at the end of this month after steering the company through its 2013 privatisation, and has been hailed for her efforts since to modernise its operations – although the changes have provoked several run-ins with unions.

The latest row with the Communications Workers Union last year led to the announcement of strikes. However Royal Mail said this violated an earlier agreement requiring the union to go through mediators first, and successfully blocked the planned industrial action in the High Court.

after the two sides returned to the table, Greene personally negotiated a deal to replace the defined benefit pensions scheme in exchange for a pay rise for staff and shorter hours.

she will be succeeded by Rico Back, the boss of Royal Mail’s parcels arm, Gls, but will stay on at the company until september. He is set to receive a £640,000 salary – £100,000 more than Greene’s – and it also emerged he was given £6m by the group to buy out a previous contract he was on.

shares in Royal Mail yesterday sank 7.2pc, or 42.8p, to 555p.