UK Mail “satisfied” with early year progress

UK Mail Group chairman Peter Kane has said he is satisfied with the company’s trading performance for the period 1 April to 30 June 2010. Speaking before the company’s AGM today (14 July), Kane said: “We have made a satisfactory start to the financial year, with trading performance in line with management expectations.

“Group revenues were up some 1% compared to the same period in the previous year.

“Our Parcels business continued to grow its revenues, aided by early signs of an easing in the pricing environment.  The launch of our Retail Logistics service within this division is progressing well and we now have our first active customers for this service.

“Mail revenues were in line with the previous year, as expected.  We have started trading with our first customers in Packets, and have been encouraged by the market reaction to this important new product offering.  As previously indicated, we expect revenue growth in our Mail business to be weighted towards the second half of the year as the impact of new customer wins and growth in Packets and other new product areas more than offset the overall decline in transactional volumes in the UK mail market.

“Our Courier business has continued its strong revenue growth, whilst our Pallets business has shown resilient performance in a market that continues to be challenging.”