After letter and parcels group Royal Mail PLC (LON:RMG) successfully blocked strike action by its workers over Christmas, investors will slice open this post-festive trading missive on Thursday to see what the effects have been.
How Royal Mail performed over December is crucial, as the company ships piles of greetings cards and parcels across the UK and internationally.
In the first half of the year to the end of September, parcel deliveries were reported to have been offset by the ongoing decline in letters revenue, a trend the company is aiming to maintain through bolstering its online proposition and by trying to take a larger share of online shopping deliveries.
There will also be interest in any changes to previous guidance from chief executive Rico Back, who said in November that revenue and cost headwinds could potentially result in “a break-even or loss-making position for the UK business in 2020-21”.
Since reaching an all-time high above 630p in early 2018 not long after agreeing a payment and productivity deal with workers, RMG shares have lost two thirds of their value, with the strike action at the heart of the issue, as industrial relations have deteriorated with leadership changes and ambitious productivity and cost-saving targets not being met.
Thursday February 6:
Finals: Beazley PLC (LON:BEZ),
Interims: Ashmore Group PLC (LON:ASHM), Filtronic PLC (LON:FTC), Supermarket Income REIT (LON:SUPR)
Trading announcements: Compass Group PLC (LON:CPG), Tate & Lyle PLC (LON:TATE), Cranswick PLC (LON:CWK), Royal Mail PLC (LON:RMG), Superdry PLC (LON:SDRY), Victrex plc (LON:VCT)
FTSE 100 ex-dividends to knock 0.48 points off the index: Sage Group PLC (LON:SGE)
Economic data: US jobless claims