UPS reports revenue surge fuelled by online shopping boom

United Parcel Service (UPS) has reported a 13.4% year-on-year jump in revenue for its second quarter, reaching $20.5 billion.

This means it beat analysts' forecasts of around $17.5 billion.

The company reported an average daily volume of 21.1 million domestic packages a day, a year-on-year increase of 22.8%. Residential deliveries rose 65.2%, while deliveries in overseas markets rose 9.8%.

UPS attributed the rate of growth to an online shopping boom as a result of the coronavirus pandemic, as more customers took home deliveries during lockdown.

Growth also came from an increase healthcare shipments and strong demand from Asia.

However, the volume surge has also led to tighter profit margins. Residential deliveries, which are typically more costly for courier companies than business-to-business (B2B) shipments, accounted for almost 70% of all shipments this quarter, compared to roughly a half in the same period in 2019.

Source: Financial Times