I am interested to hear any opinions about the proposed Royal Mail floatation. Will it remain a croc and sink or will it open at a premium and fly?

LATEST BROKER VIEWS

Date Broker New target Recomm.
11 Feb JP Morgan... 605.00 Overweight
22 Jan Beaufort... N/A Buy
22 Jan Deutsche Bank 435.00 Hold
22 Jan Barclays... 575.00 Overweight
21 Jan Cantor... 530.00 Buy
21 Jan Panmure Gordon 450.00 Hold
21 Jan Investec 580.00 Buy
21 Jan Liberum Capital 360.00 Sell
21 Jan Credit Suisse 400.00 Underperform
20 Jan Deutsche Bank 435.00 Hold
Broker Recommendations for Royal Mail

In profit but needs more volume,

Stop to 440p

Credit Suisse today upgrades its investment rating on Royal Mail Plc (LON:RMG) to neutral (from underperform) and raised its price target to 490p (from 400p)

StockMarketWire.com
Royal Mail has reported slips in both its FY revenue and pretax profit but at the same time nudged its proposed total dividend higher in what it described as a resilient performance in challenging markets.

FY revenue came in at GBP9.25bn, from GBP9.33bn. Pretax profit was GBP267m, from GBP400m, and proposed FY dividend was 22.1p, from 21p.

"We have delivered a resilient performance in challenging markets," said CEO Moya Greene.

"Group revenue was up one per cent and our strategic focus on costs resulted in a one per cent decline in our UK underlying costs. We continue to invest in our transformation and initiatives to support growth.

"Our UK parcel revenue and volumes grew by one per cent and three per cent, respectively. Our addressed letter volumes declined by three per cent; total letter revenue by two per cent.

"GLS, our European parcel business, continued to perform strongly, supporting the overall Group revenue performance.

"We are introducing new and improved products and services and responding quickly to changing customer needs. These measures, alongside our emphasis on customer focus and delivering a value for money service, have helped us to maintain our pre-eminent position in UK letters and parcels and driven growth in GLS."

OUTLOOK:
" Outlook for UK letter and parcel market trends remains unchanged.

" UKPIL cost avoidance programme on track and we expect to avoid a similar level of costs in 2016-17 as the prior year.

" We continue to seek opportunities to drive efficiency, with transformation costs currently expected to be around £160 million in 2016-17.

" Rate of revenue growth in GLS expected to slow in 2016-17.

" We expect total net investment spend to be within £550-600 million per annum in the medium-term.

" We remain focused on in-year trading cash flow, which underpins our commitment to a progressive dividend policy.

OTHER HIGHLIGHTS:
" Revenue was up one per cent, with growth in GLS offsetting the decline in UKPIL revenue.

" Adjusted operating profit before transformation costs was £742 million, up five per cent.

" Adjusted operating profit margin after transformation costs declined by 10 basis points as a result of increased transformation costs due to our cost avoidance and efficiency programme.

" In-year trading cash flow of £254 million reflects increased investment in growth capital expenditure.

" Our strategic focus on costs resulted in a one per cent reduction in underlying UKPIL operating costs before transformation costs.

" Net debt reduced to £224 million due to free cash flow, offset by dividend payments.

" The Board is recommending a final dividend of 15.1 pence per ordinary share giving a total dividend of 22.1 pence per share for 2015-16, up five per cent.

" UKPIL revenue was down one per cent. A one per cent increase in parcel revenue was offset by a two per cent decline in total letter revenue.

" UKPIL parcel volumes were up three per cent, driven by continued growth in import parcels, new contract wins in account parcels and a strong performance in Parcelforce Worldwide. However, revenue reflected a weaker mix due to declines in high average unit revenue (AUR) parcels.

" Addressed letter volumes4 declined by three per cent, better than our forecast range, largely due to the return of direct delivery volumes.

" UKPIL collections, processing and delivery productivity improved by 2.4 per cent, within our target range of a 2.0-3.0 per cent improvement per annum.

" We have seen a net reduction in the number of UKPIL employees of around 3,500 this year.

" We narrowly missed the 93.0 per cent regulatory First Class mail target, with 92.5 per cent of this mail delivered the next working day. We exceeded our regulatory Quality of Service target of 98.5 per cent for Second Class mail.

" GLS continued to perform strongly. Volumes were up 10 per cent. Revenue was up nine per cent, with growth in almost all markets.

Reporting next Thursday 19th, may be worth a punt.

StockMarketWire.com
Ofcom has determined regulatory intervention is not needed for postal company Royal Mail, meaning it would not impose price controls on its services.

The watchdog would maintain its current regulatory approach for the forthcoming five years.

Royal Mail said in a statement that it was reviewing the Ofcom document and would issue a statement in due course.

Ofcom's review came after Whistl withdrew from the UK in 2015, sparking concerns that Royal Mail no longer faced rivalry in letter delivery.

Very greedy Management abuse alert!

Postal workers have reacted angrily to the news that the £1.8 million-a-year chief executive of Royal Mail is to take a part-time job as a non-executive director of Easyjet. Moya Greene has taken up the post at the short-haul airline with immediate effect and will start earning an annual £60,000 for only nine days a year set aside for board meetings. Her £6,666-a-day pay is the equivalent of about three times the annual wage of a Royal Mail delivery worker.

StockMarketWire.com
Royal Mail's pre-tax profit fell by 30% to £77 million in the six months to 24 September, led by a drop in profits in the UK Parcels, International and Letters (UKPIL) division.

The UKPIL arm's revenue was flat at £3.6 million, but operating profit declined from £247 million to £233 million with letter volumes dropping by 3%.

This follows a 2% revenue decline in the UKPIL arm in 2016-17.

The European parcels unit, General Logistics Systems (GLS) saw a 9% increase in revenue, with operating profits growing from £73 million to £90 million, driven by a strong performance in Italy. Volumes grew by 9%.

Overall, the group's revenue edged up by 2% on an underlying basis.

Moya Greene, chief executive officer, said: "Our performance for the full year, as always, will be dependent on the important Christmas period. We are opening six temporary parcel sort centres and recruiting over 20,000 staff. We are also extending opening hours at many of our enquiry offices to help retailers and consumers.

"As previously announced, we are now in external mediation with the CWU. Our priority is to reach agreement with the CWU to help underpin the sustainability of the business."

Jefferies International today reaffirms its underperform investment rating on Royal Mail Plc (LON:RMG) and raised its price target to 330p (from 320p).

Morgan Stanley today reaffirms its underweight investment rating on Royal Mail Plc (LON:RMG) and raised its price target to 410p (from 390p)

StockMarketWire.com
Royal Mail posted a 1% rise in underlying first-quarter revenue after growing parcel revenue was again offset by weak letter volumes.

The UK parcels and letters business saw sales fall 1%, with parcel revenue up 6% and total letter revenue down 7%.

International logistics business GLS continued to perform strongly, with revenue up 11% on the back of 10% growth in volumes.

'Overall, our trading performance in the first three months of the financial year was in line with our expectations,' Royal Mail said.

It maintained its outlook for addressed letter volume declines of between 4-6% per annum, excluding political parties' election mailings.

Due to the potential impact of new data protection regulations and if business uncertainty persisted, Royal Mail said it still expected to be at the higher end of the range of decline for 2018-19 -- and even may fall outside the range in a period.

In GLS, Royal Mail said it continued to expect a good performance in 2018-19, although margins may be impacted by continuing labour market pressures in many of its markets.

'Our outlook and other guidance are also unchanged from that set out in our financial report for the full year ended 25 March 2018,' the company said.

Liberum Capital Sell 363.75 415.00 250.00 Reiterates

Citigroup Neutral 363.75 485.00 - Reiterates

Deutsche Bank Sell 363.75 428.00 300.00 Reiterates

(Reuters) - Shares of Royal Mail (RMG.L) deepened its slump on Tuesday, hitting a record low, a day after the 500-year-old postal service warned annual profit would be far lower than expected, hurt by eroding logistics business margins and weaker letter volumes.

“We have been bearish on the outlook for productivity improvements, but yesterday’s profit warning was shocking in its scale and timing,” Liberum analyst Gerald Khoo said.

The brokerage slashed its target price on the stock to 250 pence from 415 pence and cut full-year earnings estimate by 30 percent and subsequent years by 38 percent.

Credit Suisse slashed its price target on the stock by 111 pence to 450 pence, while Deutsche Bank cut its target to 300 pence from 428 pence on Tuesday.

Although Royal Mail maintained its dividend, analysts warned that the policy did not look sustainable in the longer term."

similar slump this time last year below £4, they hit £6 six months later plus a juicy div.

Trading stock

Buy Buy Buy!!!

Bonfield.

Royal Mail reported revenue up 1% but a 25% decline in operating profits for the first half of the year. Chief executive Rico Back said a range of actions had been put in place to improve performance and confirmed the board's commitment to cut £100m of costs and generate adjusted group operating profit before transformation costs of £500-550m for the financial year.

Royal Mail tightened up its full-year profit guidance after what it said was a busy Christmas period. The letters and parcels group now expects to deliver adjusted group operating profit before transformation costs of £500-530m, from the £500-550m previously indicated.