Can Royal Mail deliver?

Royal Mail has struggled in the years since it was privatised. Should investors expect more of the same? Matthew Partridge investigates.

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The bad news is priced in

It's been nearly four years since Royal Mail was privatised. Whatever the merits of the decision politically, it's been a poor investment, unless you were among the many small investors who "flipped" your shares early in the process. If you'd invested at the peak in early 2014, when the share price stood at more than 600p, you would have ended up losing nearly 40% of your money. The price has fallen to 376p, below the price at which it first listed. It recently suffered the shame of being demoted from the FTSE 100, which may force several funds to sell their holdings in it.

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Dr Matthew Partridge
Shares editor, MoneyWeek

Matthew graduated from the University of Durham in 2004; he then gained an MSc, followed by a PhD at the London School of Economics.

He has previously written for a wide range of publications, including the Guardian and the Economist, and also helped to run a newsletter on terrorism. He has spent time at Lehman Brothers, Citigroup and the consultancy Lombard Street Research.

Matthew is the author of Superinvestors: Lessons from the greatest investors in history, published by Harriman House, which has been translated into several languages. His second book, Investing Explained: The Accessible Guide to Building an Investment Portfolio, is published by Kogan Page.

As senior writer, he writes the shares and politics & economics pages, as well as weekly Blowing It and Great Frauds in History columns He also writes a fortnightly reviews page and trading tips, as well as regular cover stories and multi-page investment focus features.

Follow Matthew on Twitter: @DrMatthewPartri