Lockdown boosts parcel volumes at Royal Mail

The UK postal service, one of the world's oldest, said that parcel volumes had risen 38% year-on-year, or 117m more items, in the three months to 28 June.

Its domestic account, excluding Amazon, saw parcel volumes rise 64%, but addressed letters excluding elections recorded a 33% decline in volumes, with 788m fewer letters sent.

GLS, Royal Mail’s international ground-based parcel network, saw volumes rise 22% year-on-year.

The London-listed company said growth in both the Royal Mail-branded business and GLS continued to be driven by business-to-consumer and e-commerce.

However, advertising mail was suffering from “low levels” of business activity.

The company added: “As the UK starts to come out of lockdown, we are no seeing any change as yet in customer behaviour. Our customers are wanting more parcels delivered to their homes and are sending fewer letters. We are working as quickly as we can to adapt our business to meet our customer needs.”

As at 1115 BST, shares in Royal Mail were largely flat at 182.55p.