Market Report: Bad news in the post for Royal Mail

Bad news in the post sent Royal Mail tumbling yesterday, with signs of a squeeze in the parcel business and scrutiny from lawmakers. Dutch delivery specialist TNT Express sounded the alarm with a profit warning – bad news for Royal Mail, which depends on parcels for a large part of its revenues.

The Business, Innovations and Skills Select Committee then announced an inquiry into competition in the postal sector and the impact it has on Royal Mail’s universal service obligation, first revealed by The Independent on Sunday. Investors left Royal Mail 9.7p lower at 414.4p.

After a tough two days the Footsie was treading water, up 30.19 points at 6,706.27. Vodafone climbed 5.6p to 204.25p on reheated chatter that AT&T could be interested in a bid. Fresnillo jumped 16.5p to 775.5p, as UBS put the gold miner on its preferred European mining list.

Zoopla, down 5.5p at 239.8p, and Rightmove, 67p worse off at 2258p, were hit by a note from Citi, which warned that the online property portals’ subscription models mean they are not well placed to benefit from any increase in home sales.

Restaurant and pub group Mitchells & Butlers suffered amid chatter that Greene King, which slid 17.5p to 776.5p, could make a second takeover offer for rival pub group Spirit (up 2.25 at 91p). That would put M&B, down 13.4p at 405.6p, on the back foot.

Manchester-based debt collector Arrow Global leapt 12.75p to 263.75p on the small-cap index, after announcing a deal to snap up rival Capquest for £158m.

Website domain name vendor Minds + Machines jumped 0.75p to 11.25p as it revealed it swung to a £2.9m profit in the first half, from a loss of £1.8m a year earlier. The performance was helped by a 871 per cent surge in revenue to £68,000. The company also announced it has won the right to flog .law and .vip domain names.

Eagle Eye Solutions put out its first set of results since listing on AIM. Panmure Gordon’s George O’Connor said Eagle Eye, flat at 180p, was now a “key player in the growing markets for coupons and loyalty schemes.”