Impact of COVID-19

COVID-19 has accelerated the challenges we were already facing, particularly in the UK.

In the first two months of 2020-21 in the UK, we delivered 550 million fewer addressed letters and just under 80 million more parcels, compared to the same period last year.

Addressed letter volumes were down 33%; advertising mail volumes were down 63%; address letter revenue was down 23%, all excluding elections.

UK parcel volumes were up 37%, including cumulative volume growth of 76% for Tracked products. Parcel revenue was up 28%.

Adjusted operating costs were up 6%, driven by high sick absence levels, social distancing measures, PPE and parcel related volume costs.

Outlook

The outlook is difficult and volatile due to the unprecedented nature of the coronavirus pandemic.

We expect our UK business to be materially loss-making in 2020-21.

To protect our business, as previously announced, we will not pay a final dividend to shareholders for 2019-20. We do not expect to pay a dividend for 2020-21.

Eligible employees received an interim dividend of 7.5 pence per share in January 2020. Total dividends since privatisation are £1,159 (before tax). For more information on dividends, click here.

For more on our full year financial results, click here.