Tomorrow's Business Today
Note to unions: Have a word with yourselves
According to George Orwell, sport is war by other means.
We had the corporate equivalent today, war by stock market statement.
Royal Mail’s trading update is quite something.
The company is fed up with the CWU, which two days ago suspended a strike.
Then yesterday unsuspended it, in what could be the biggest industrial action of the summer.
To its credit Royal Mail didn’t shy away from this issue in the RNS. In fact, it goes for it.
It almost reads like a sell note from a City analyst.
Phrases include “structural decline”, “inflexibility in the cost base”, and “need to act now”.
It wants to have a “more agile and sustainable relationship with the CWU” (translation: the present relationship is unsustainable).
Chairman Keith Williams does a pithy journalistic turn of telling us that losses are running at £1m a day – hey, that’s my job.
His quote: “The pandemic boom in parcel volumes bolstered by the delivery of test kits and parcels is over. Royal Mail is currently losing one million pounds per day and the efficiency improvements which are needed for long term success have stalled.”
All of which reads like a note to the unions which could be summarised as: have a word with yourselves.
It’s hard not to be on the side of postmen and women – genuine pandemic heroes – who earn on average £25,000 a year.
But any fair-minded reading of today’s statement does leave you with some sympathy for management. It is well done.
Press release of the day
Which shares do best and worst in the summer? Invezz has looked at historical trading data to get some answers.
Coke, Nike and Home Depot are among the summer winners. Six Flags and Avis among the losers.
Invezz says: “The hot weather can have a surprisingly big impact on consumer behaviour and therefore also investor decisions. Investors would be wise to keep an eye out for ‘summer stocks’ opportunities which are in the perfect position to thrive during the consumer and tourism boom during the hot months.”
Stories that will keep rolling
1) Do the people who floated AO World at what was plainly an absurd valuation now feel bad? Who were they again?
2) How much energy is SSE getting from renewables in present weather conditions?
3) Has IG’s cricket sponsorship lured in any new clients?
4) Will Twitter’s latest results boost the shares or not?
