Royal Mail said it expected group first-half adjusted operating profit to be £395m – £400m as it reported an 8.2% rise in revenue for the five months to August.
The letter and parcel carrier said revenues climbed to £5.1bn from £4.7bn as the boom in domestic parcel delivery during Covid lockdown continued.
At the international GLS division, revenue increased 9.3% year-on-year and by 31% from the same period in 2019 to £1.6bn.
“Whilst we continue to expect further normalisation of parcel performance as we unwind from the pandemic and anticipate some upward pressure on costs, both adjusted operating profit and margin are expected to be higher in H2 compared to H1,” the company said.
“In Royal Mail, we are increasingly confident that domestic parcels are re-basing at a significantly higher level than pre-COVID and believe we are maintaining our share of the market. Domestic parcel volumes are up around a third compared to pre-COVID.”
For GLS, which provides delivery services in Europe and North America, the group maintained full-year outlook of low-single-digit percentage revenue growth, and 8% operating margin.
Domestic parcel revenue rose 4.1% year-on-year, with total parcel revenue up 0.1% and letter revenue increasing 18%, the company said on Thursday.
