Group financial performance
Revenue increased by one per cent. This was due to parcel revenue growth in UKPIL and revenue growth in GLS which was ahead of our expectations.
In UKPIL, operating costs before transformation costs were down one per cent, better than expected. People costs increased by one per cent and non-people costs reduced by four per cent.
Tight cost control drove operating profit margin before transformation costs improvement of 40 basis points.
Free cash inflow increased to £453 million, benefiting from £100 million of net cash flows from the London property portfolio.
As expected, cumulative net investment for 2013-14 and 2014-15 was £1.2 billion. Total investment increased from £617 million to £658 million.
Net debt reduced from £555 million to £275 million, mainly due to cash flow generated, offset by dividend payments of £200 million.
Adjusted earnings per share was 42.8 pence.
The Board is recommending a final dividend of 14.3 pence per ordinary share. Including the interim dividend of 6.7 pence per ordinary share, this represents a total dividend of 21.0 pence per share for 2014-15, up five per cent over the notional 2013-14 full year dividend of 20.0 pence.
