TNT UK saw its finances tumble into the red last year following the loss of a major contract, posting a £6.4m loss just a year after it quadrupled its pre-tax profit.

In a year that saw it cut staff numbers and make managers in a number of departments redundant, TNT’s financial accounts for the year ended 31 December 2013 showed that it turned a £13.8m pre-tax profit into a £6.4m loss.

The loss of a key contract with a major fashion retailer in its Fashion UK operation, along with contractual changes with some of its long-term customers, resulted in a 5% drop in turnover to £743m (2012: £783m).

Despite the loss in business in some areas, TNT said its core UK business grew “well above the UK macro economic growth”. However, it admitted business closures in January 2013 due to poor weather conditions hit both turnover and profit.

“In particular, the strength of the TNT brand enabled a significant increase in national core revenues,” the directors said in their strategic report.

Sales fell 5.1% in 2013 compared with the previous year, documents published at Companies House revealed.

During the year, a management shake-up in its sales and operations departments saw 15 managers made redundant as it introduced positions more suited to the way it operates. More than 230 staff in finance and admin departments were also made redundant.

One-off restructuring costs of £2.7m were incurred during the year. TNT was unavailable to comment on whether this is linked to the redundancies.

The firm has said it will close about half its Fashion Group DCs before year-end as the operation is integrated into the TNT Express network.

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