Regional director: Michael Kennedy

Employment: 4,012

Turnover: £189m

Operating Profit: n/a

Royal Mail’s operating profit increased to £321m in 2009 from £162m the previous year.

First and Second Class Letter targets were also hit along with key business mail targets and a raft of modernisation and efficiency measures were introduced.

But competition from electronic media and other postal operators intensified, meaning mail volumes fell by 5.5% during the year and there is an expectation of further decline in the year ahead.

Royal Mail said its transformation of the business is well underway and on track to ensure it has the modern operation for the future.

However, the level of change implemented in Royal Mail was higher than in any previous year and as a result the company faced a series of strikes in autumn 2009 over pay and plans to modernise the postal service. More than 35 million items of mail around the UK were delayed.

Royal Mail said that over 85% of its planned modernisation programme was implemented during 2009, and expressed disappointment the Communication Workers Union (CWU) chose to bring people out on strike, noting that in Northern Ireland the changes had been introduced, in the vast majority of cases, without problems.

The company finally struck a deal in March with the CWU, which it expects to help it compete in the market going forward.

Elsewhere, Post Office Ltd moved into profit with an underlying 1.2% revenue increase leading to a £41m profit. New financial services, including mortgages were introduced as part of the joint venture with the Bank of Ireland and its travel, telephony and insurance products all grew their market share.

In Northern Ireland, the company’s Belfast city centre branch had a £200,000 makeover designed to improve customer service with easy to use post and go kiosks and a dedicated financial services area. Finaghy Post Office branch was also crowned overall Best UK Post Office branch at the firm’s annual awards in May.

Parcelforce Worldwide also continued in profit achieving a 50% increase in operating profit over the year in the highly competitive express parcels market. Royal Mail believes that within five years parcels and packets will be providing a very significant proportion of its revenues and profits.

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Royal Mail House,

20 Donegall Quay,

Belfast,

BT1 1AA

Tel: 028 9089 2052

www.royalmail.com