The Royal Mail has reported that trading in the nine-month period up to and including 27th December 2015 met its expectations.

As part of its latest trading statement, Royal Mail said that parcel volume growth continued to be driven by Royal Mail account parcels, which benefitted from recent new contract wins, import parcels, and Parcelforce Worldwide, which saw volumes increase by 16 per cent.

Despite potential roadblocks in the success for Royal Mail over Christmas - such as the competition in the market and new trends - parcel revenue was up by 1 per cent.

The company has made several changes to improve its technological capabilities and to enhance its offering in the parcel space.

Speaking on the high levels of performance, Moya Greene, chief executive officer of Royal Mail, said: "Once again, our postmen and women delivered a great Christmas - even better than last year's strong performance."

She continued: "Extensive planning, which began in the spring, ensured we had the capacity to accommodate additional volumes from our retail customers and other delivery operators."