Royal Mail, the British postal and courier operator, has reported a 9.0 percentage point year-on-year rise in first class delivery performance, reaching 85.0 percent in the first quarter of its 2026-27 financial year. Second class performance rose 2.1 percentage points to 91.4 percent, covering the period from March 30 to June 28, 2026.

Royal Mail is the British postal and courier operator behind the Royal Mail and Parcelforce brands, headquartered in London. Its parent, International Distribution Services, reported revenue of £12,679 million and net income of £54 million for 2024, before its acquisition by Czech investor Daniel Kretinsky's EP Group in 2025.

The figures, first detailed in Royal Mail's latest quality of service results, show reliability also improving, with 98.1 percent of first class mail arriving within three working days and 98.4 percent of second class mail arriving within five working days.

The results place Royal Mail ahead of the first quarter trajectory set out in its Improvement Plan, published in April, which targeted 77 to 79 percent first class performance. Second class performance of 91.4 percent falls within the plan's target range of 90.5 to 91.5 percent.

The structural driver is Royal Mail's new delivery model, under which first class letters continue six days a week while second class and other non-first class letters are delivered every other weekday, a frequency change rolled out across the company's 1,200 delivery offices as part of a £500 million ($682 million) investment over five years.

Jamie Stephenson, Royal Mail chief operating officer, said, "These results are encouraging and show that the work we are doing to improve the service is having an impact. First Class performance is well ahead of where we expected to be at this stage of our Improvement Plan, while Second Class is tracking in line with the plan. None of this progress would be possible without the continued hard work of our frontline colleagues, including through the recent extreme heat."

For the sector, the results signal a gradual narrowing of the gap between operational performance and regulatory expectations across UK letter delivery.

Source: Parcel and Postal Technology International / International Distribution Services / Ofcom