Royal Mail has been hammered by Labour's jobs tax and declining letter volumes.
Parent company International Distribution Services (IDS) said the UK business saw profits plunge to £96million in the year to the end of March from £198million over the previous 12 months.
The slump came as employee costs rose by 5.5 per cent, including a 4.2 per cent pay increase for frontline staff and a £133million hit from Rachel Reeves' national insurance tax raid.
The postal service is also grappling with declining letter volumes - down 10 per cent to 5.7billion last year - as people switch to digital communications and baulk at the soaring price of stamps.
But parcel volumes were up 7 per cent to 1.4billion.
