Royal Mail’s red-letter day after home deliveries soar | Business

Royal Mail is reaping a big pandemic dividend with the privatised national postal group revealing that it will make more than three times as much profit in the age of Covid than it did before.

In an unscheduled trading update, it upgraded its profit forecasts for the second time in less than a month because of the continuing boom in home deliveries and a return to writing letters and sending mail.

It expects to make £700 million in operating profits in its financial year that closes at the end of the month.

At its nine-month update in February Royal Mail unexpectedly pleased investors by saying it expected profits of more than £500 million. Less than a year ago the company was warning that its UK