Royal Mail PLC (LON:RMG) said it will pay a one-off final dividend of 10p per share and unveil a new dividend policy with its next annual results announcement on 20 May.
The postal group suspended its dividend shortly after the start of the first lockdown given the uncertainty over its immediate prospects.
Since then, the outlook has been turned on its head by the lockdown-inspired boom in eCommerce that has sent parcel volumes soaring and prompted a string of profit upgrades.
Royal Mail confirmed today operating profits for the year to end-March 2021 would be around £700mln or in line with its last update three weeks ago and double a year ago.
In addition, Royal Mail also released medium-term forecasts for its overseas parcels arm GLS ahead of a presentation later today.
Up to the 2024-25 financial year, GLS expects to grow revenue at around 12% annually from a base of €3.6bn in 2019-20, more than double operating profit to €500mln and generate €1bn of free cash flow with capital expenditure in the range of 3-4% of revenue.
For FY2020-21, GLS adjusted operating profit is expected to be around £350mln (€390mln) and adjusted operating profit margin 8.7%, said the statement.
Chief executive Simon Thompson will provide an update on Royal Mail alongside the 2020-21 results on 20 May, the statement added.
In the year to end-March 2019, Royal Mail paid a total dividend of 25p per share but suspended payments at the time of the annual results in June 2020 due to the lockdown impact.