Royal Mail's parent International Distributions Services PLC (LSE:IDS) said the delivery business benefited from a double boost in the first quarter of its financial year - from stamp price rises and General Election mailouts.
The domestic letters and parcels operation generated £2 billion in revenue from April to June, up from £1.8 billion the previous year, with parcel deliveries increasing by 11% to 315 million.
Addressed letter volumes, excluding election mail, fell by 4%, but total letter revenues grew by 11% due to election-related mail and stamp price hikes.
In total, the IDS business, which includes European parcel firm GLS, saw an 8% revenue increase to £3.3 billion for the quarter.
Investors were told the company expects a return to profitability (before redundancy costs) in the current year.
IDS is currently the focus of a recommended £3.6 billion takeover bid from the billionaire Daniel Kretinsky, which is awaiting sign-off by the new Starmer administration.
Earlier this week the so-called Czech Sphinx committed to maintaining the Universal Service Obligation for six-day-a-week letter delivery.