Whistl enjoys acquisitive boost ahead of peak period

Whistl is ramping up for the busiest peak period in its 15-year history as the mail manager reaps the benefits of a push into parcels and machinery investment.

Having launched a parcels service, assisted by the acquisition of Parcelhub in June last year, the company can now handle around 71 million parcels a year, compared to around 10 million previously, according to chief operating officer Nigel Polglass. This has been boosted by recent investment in new automated parcel sortation kit.

Its fulfilment branch continues to thrive, having taken on Prism DM in July 2017 and then Spark Ecommerce Group in December 2018. Renewed relationships with businesses such as Graze, QVC and Betterworld Books will see the business growing in the back end of the year.

Chief executive officer Nick Wells said: “Our continued investment in the business enables us to be the leading delivery management company both in the UK and increasingly internationally.

“Our commitment to operational efficiency delivered with best in class customer service allows us to provide the most cost-effective service in the sector.

“As we enter our 15th year, we continue to grow by winning business across all areas of the company as well as renew longstanding relationships, which is testament to the quality of service Whistl provides.”

In its core Downstream Access business mail division, Whistl has renewed contracts with Barclays, Tesco, Saga, E.ON, Cell Signal and OTM. It has also won the retailer Next, store card provider NewDay Cards and financial services company Close Brothers.

Whistl Doordrop Media continues to grow with wins ranging from food delivery company Just Eat to the charity RNLI.

Marlow-headquartered Whistl UK, which underwent an MBO in 2015 from PostNL (still a 17.5% shareholder), now enjoys sales in excess of £600m. The business provides mail, parcels, doordrop media and fulfilment services in the UK and internationally, handling 3.8 billion items a year.