Capital Economy, Business and Finance
The UK government has approved Daniel Křetínský’s £3.6 billion takeover of Royal Mail, but the Czech billionaire has his work cut out to improve it. Royal Mail is struggling to do its key job: send letters.
Between March 2023 and March 2024, less than 75 per cent of first class post arrived on time. Under Ofcom rules it should be 93 per cent. Last week the independent regulator fined Royal Mail £10.5 million for failing to meet both its first and second class targets.
As times and behaviours change, it might seem sensible for Royal Mail to focus on cutting costs and meeting demand for packages instead. But it is still called upon to deliver billions of letters a year, and it has a workforce who signed up to be posties not delivery drivers.
So why does Křetínský want a British postal service caught between the old and the new? Its £3 billion property empire might have something to do with it.
