Royal Mail set to charge back into FTSE 100 after shares surged during coronavirus pandemic
Royal Mail is set to charge back into the FTSE100 index after its shares surged during the pandemic.
The stock has risen nearly four-fold since hitting an all-time low of 124p in April last year and yesterday closed at 578.6p, down 2.8 per cent, or 17p, on the day.
That valued the company at almost £6billion – enough to propel it back into the blue chip index of the country’s 100 leading listed firms.
Susannah Streeter, senior investment and markets analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown, said: ‘Royal Mail has opened a bulging sack of profits for the year, showing its success in capitalising on the e-commerce boom.’
The quarterly reshuffle will be based on closing prices on Tuesday next week and announced on Wednesday.
Royal Mail, a former state monopoly that was privatised for 330p per share in 2013, is one of Britain’s biggest companies, with 140,000 staff.
But bosses were left red-faced in 2018 as it was demoted to the FTSE250 following a string of embarrassments.
After Rico Back replaced Moya Greene as chief executive in 2018, a row erupted over a £6m ‘golden hello’ handed to the German boss.
Under Back’s leadership, the share price collapsed as poor industrial relations led to strike threats and modernisation efforts stumbled.
The stock crashed to a record low of 124.3p in April 2020, as global stock markets were roiled by the pandemic.
But the company has bounced back under the leadership of Keith Williams – and thanks to the boom in parcel deliveries during the pandemic.