Royal Mail share price: Group drops out of FTSE 100 index

Royal Mail Group (LON:RMG) has lost its fight to stay in the UK benchmark index, FTSE Russell has revealed. The move marks the postal operator’s second demotion from the FTSE 100 after the group lost its spot in the blue-chip index in 2017, nearly four years after it floated on the London Stock Exchange.

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Royal Mail’s share price has climbed into positive territory in today’s session, having gained 0.55 percent to 309.10p as of 10:25 GMT. The stock is outperforming the FTSE 100 which has taken a hit today and currently stands 2.53 percent in the red at 6,746.71 points, with news that Canadian authorities had arrested a top Huawei executive fuelling worries over the trade relations between the US and China.

Royal Mail out of FTSE 100

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Index provider FTSE Russell confirmed in a statement yesterday that Royal Mail will leave the benchmark FTSE 100 at this month’s quarterly reshuffle, along with Just Eat (LON:JE), and enter the mid-cap FTSE 100 250 index. Hiscox (LON:HSX) and Spirax-Sarco Engineering (LON:SPX) meanwhile will be joining the Footsie.

The changes will be implemented at the close of business on Friday, December 21, and take effect from the start of trading on Monday, December 24.

The postal operator’s departure from the Footsie comes in the wake of October’s profit warning, which sent Royal Mail’s share price down to its lowest level since its initial public offering in 2013. The group’s shares have lost more than 27 percent of their value over the past year.

Analyst ratings update

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Deutsche Bank, which rates Royal Mail as a ‘sell,’ lowered its valuation on the privatised postal operator from 300p to 250p today. According to MarketBeat, Royal Mail currently has a consensus ‘hold’ rating and an average price target of 383.43p.

As of 10:37 GMT, Thursday, 06 December, Royal Mail share price is 308.70p.