Q3 trading update

This morning we released our trading update for the three months to the end of December 2024, which includes the important peak period. 

I’m pleased to be able to say that both our operational and financial performance continue to improve, and the business remains on track to return to adjusted operating profit by the end of the financial year. 

Over the last quarter:

• Total Royal Mail revenue is up 2.4%
• Our parcel revenue grew 3.2% with volumes increasing by 2% despite a challenging market
• Addressed letter volumes declined by 7% in line with the historic trend.

We delivered a strong operational performance:

• Over 99% of items posted on or before the last recommended posting dates arrived in time for Christmas
• Over the Christmas period total Tracked parcel products (Tracked 24® / 48®) are up 19% year on year, enabled by the investments we have made in our network and ways of working
• We delivered millions of parcels to customers up to 9pm for the first time between Black Friday and the end of December, meeting customer needs for next day deliveries over peak
• The parcel hubs in Daventry and Warrington processed over 75 million parcels during the Christmas period, an increase of 23% year on year.

This means that year to date for the nine months ending December 2024 Royal Mail total revenue is up 7.5% with parcel volumes up by 6% and addressed letters down 6%.

Thank you to everyone across Royal Mail for your extraordinary efforts delivering Christmas for our customers. Spending time out in the operation over peak brought it home just how much this is a people powered business, especially at our busiest time of year. 

We have made improvement, but there is more to do

We continue to make progress by adapting to changing customer needs. The combination of more automation, thousands of new vehicles and the implementation of the changes set out in our union agreements is delivering better reliability for our customers. But there is more to do. 

Over the next year we will be refreshing our strategy, rapidly expanding our out of home network and, subject to Ofcom’s forthcoming consultation, implementing Universal Service reform. 

It’s going to be a super busy year but, if we stick to the plan, it will be a hugely rewarding and successful one.

Thank you

A heartfelt thank you for all of your hard work over peak. As we move into final three months of the year let’s re-double our focus on delivering our commitments to get ‘back in the black’ and continue building solid foundations for our future success.

I am excited to see what we can achieve together in 2025. I hope you are too.

You can read the full market update, here.