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Royal Mail has enjoyed a surge in revenues as a record number of postal votes were delivered during the election.
International Distribution Services (IDS), its owner, said revenues from letters hit £985million in the three months to the end of June, up 11 per cent from the year before.
It came as Royal Mail cashed in on a record number of ballots cast by post.
Election boost: Royal Mail’s owner International Distribution Services said revenues from letters hit £985m in the three months to the end of June
The update is a much-needed boost for the service, which has suffered from a slump in letter-posting and is preparing for a crunch vote on a £3.6billion takeover by billionaire businessman Daniel Kretinsky.
IDS shareholders have until September 25 to have their say on the controversial takeover approach by the Czech businessman. The board has already backed his offer.
But the Government, under the National Security and Investment Act, can scrutinise and potentially block a deal.
Labour have given no timelines of when this may happen. In an update, Royal Mail said it had delivered 7.3m postal votes during the election campaign, around 50 per cent more than the 2019 vote.
It delivered 184m pieces of candidate mail and 50.8m poll cards.
That was more than any other election, despite a public outcry that deliveries were too slow, and votes were not being counted.
Some 90 constituencies voiced concerns, with the crisis thought to be caused by councils not printing enough ballot papers and Royal Mail not delivering on time.
The service said it had investigated the issues and found all votes were being delivered as soon as they entered the network.
Analysts at AJ Bell said the update showed there are ‘finally signs of a positive turnaround at Royal Mail’.
Overall IDS group revenues, which also includes its international service GLS, climbed 8 per cent to £3.25billion.
Kretinsky has vowed Royal Mail will continue to deliver letters six days a week and said he would never walk away from that obligation.
Alexander Paterson, analyst at Peel Hunt, said although the deal was ‘highly politicised,’ he expected it to go through, adding that there were ‘no objections to the bid not already answered’. IDS rose 1.8 per cent, or 6p, to 342p.
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