Late dash for online gifts over Christmas gives UK Mail a boost
LAST-MINUTE online shopping over Christmas helped boost revenues at delivery company UK Mail, the firm said yesterday.
Parcel volumes were up 15 per cent in the final three months of the year, and mail volumes also rose from last year’s levels.
“It is clear from weekly volume patterns that shoppers were, more than ever before, leaving their online Christmas shopping to the last minute, as consumers increasingly trust that online deliveries will arrive on time, as promised,” said chief executive Guy Buswell in a statement yesterday.
UK Mail’s overall revenues were up six per cent in the period.
The increase in deliveries reflects a 19.2 per cent increase in online sales of non-food products in December, the highest growth in four years, according to a British Retail Consortium (BRC) survey carried out by KPMG.
Shore Capital analyst Robin Speakman said the figures were encouraging, but are unlikely to spell similar volume growth at recently-privatised Royal Mail, given its most established position and efforts to restructure.