IDS Q1 revenues rise 8.4% on strong parcel demand, UK postal votes

Royal Mail owner International Distribution Services said first-quarter revenues rose 8.2% driven by strong parcel demand and more postal votes during the recent UK general election.

The company, which has agreed to a £3.57bn takeover by Czech billionaire Daniel Kretinsky, held guidance for the full year for a return to operating profit.

Group revenue rose to £3.26b, while sales at international parcels network GLS rose 4.8% and were up 10.6% for Royal Mail.

"Whilst we are making good progress on our transformation in Royal Mail, we can't do it all on our own and we urgently need to see regulatory reform of the universal service," said chief executive Martin Seidenberg.

"Letter volumes have declined from 20 billion at their peak to just 6.7 billion now, making the one-price-goes-anywhere Universal Service unsustainable in its current form."

Kretinsky has committed to the universal service obligation, which is a commitment from the postal service to deliver to anyone in the country for the same price, and pledged to keep a six-day-a-week delivery.

Reporting by Frank Prenesti for Sharecast.com