ROYAL MAIL POSTS £1BH IN LOSSES

Owner says sorry for failure to meet its postal delivery targets

- HOLLY WILLIAMS

ROYAL Mail has blamed strike action for helping send it slumping to a full-year loss of more than £1billion.

The group's owner, International Distributions Services (IDS), revealed Royal Mail swung to an operating loss of £1.04billion for the year to March 26, against earnings of £250million the previous year.

On an underlying basis, Royal Mail saw operating losses of £419million, against profits of £416 million the previous year.

IDS said the losses were largely down to crippling industrial action after it booked a £539million writedown on the value of Royal Mail due to the impact of strikes and the "current risk backdrop", while it took a hit of around £200million from 18 days of strikes.