Tag: Worldwide

Royal Mail could be in line for a GBP 2 billion cash injection if talks between the Department of Trade and Industry and a number of banks are successful.

The DTI was today reported to be in discussions with HSBC, Lazard and Merrill Lynch about the possibility of mounting a rights issue at Royal Mail, which would give the Government more shares in the postal group in return for the investment.

Although the Government is the sole shareholder in Royal Mail, it has only half of the 100,000 shares created when the group became a publicly-owned company five years ago.

Royal Mail kept 50,000 shares but can only allocate them to the Government. The Trade and Industry Secretary received 49,999 shares, while the Treasury solicitor holds both the remaining shares and a separate special share.

The Royal Mail has rejected an all-party call for Scottish stamps already issued to be made available in easy-to-buy books in retail shops.

A spokesman said the cost of issuing 1st and 2nd class Scottish stamps in book form would be “prohibitive” at a time Royal Mail faces competition with door-to-door deliveries in the new year.

The proposal was spelled out in a motion put down by Scottish Liberal Democrat spokesman John Thurso, MP for Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross, with the support of Aberdeen North Labour MP Frank Doran, SNP chief whip Pete Wishart, MP for Perth and North Perthshire, and sole Scottish Tory David Mundell, MP for Dumfriesshire, Clydesdale and Tweeddale.

It congratulated the Royal Mail on issuing country definitive stamps but noted “with concern” that in Scotland they are not available for sale in retail outlets, even in tourist centres, and that there is little public awareness of their availability.