Royal Mail delivered the goods over the Christmas period

Royal Mail said its Christmas went to plan after it handled around 120 million parcels during December

Despite the growth, the company said trading conditions were “highly competitive” with UK parcel revenues flat in the nine months to December 28.

Its rival City Link was forced out of business in December amid the fall-out from Amazon’s increased use of its own network for deliveries.

Royal Mail said it introduced extra sorting capacity with 10 temporary hubs and training for around 19,000 extra staff ahead of the festive period. Chief executive Moya Greene said planning for Christmas started in April.

She added: “Our postmen and women delivered a great service over the busy festive period. Royal Mail delivered one of its highest ever quality of service performances for parcel delivery to our customers over the month.”

Royal Mail’s addressed letter volumes were down 3 per cent in the nine-month period, but this was better than its forecast range for a 4 per cent to 6 per cent decline per year, mainly due to the improvement in UK economic conditions.

Letter revenues were flat, compared with a rise of 1 per cent in the first half.