Royal Mail ties up festive parcels fillip

ROYAL Mail handled 120 million parcels during December in the run-up to Christmas, a rise of 4 per cent year-on-year, the former state-owned organisation said yesterday.

Moya Greene. Picture: Contributed

However, chief executive Moya Greene told investors that trading conditions remained highly competitive, with UK parcel revenues flat in the nine months to 28 December.

The group has faced rising competition from online retailing giant Amazon, which has been increasingly using its own network for deliveries, a move seen as contributing to the demise of rival City Link last month.

Royal Mail recently warned that the growth of the UK parcels market in the medium term will fall from a targeted 4 per cent to as little as 1 per cent for the next two years.

Letter volumes were down 3 per cent in the nine-month period, but this was better than Royal Mail’s forecast range for a 4 to 6 per cent decline as the UK economy improved.

The group said it introduced extra sorting capacity with ten temporary hubs and training for 19,000 extra staff ahead of the festive period.