Mr Leighton said the figures had brought "welcome news" but he said the Royal Mail had not yet achieved a turnaround. He said: "Crucially, Royal Mail has still not implemented key operational changes in most of the letters business." Royal Mail was facing "very heavy" additional costs including pay increases for 165,000 postal workers and an extra £100m a year to the pension fund. Mr Leighton said the organisation had to earn almost half a billion pounds to keep the renewal plan on track.