Poland’s InPost buys British delivery firm Yodel to become third biggest player in UK parcel market

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Notes from Poland is run by a small editorial team and is published by an independent, non-profit foundation that is funded through donations from our readers. We cannot do what we do without your support.

Polish logistics giant InPost has acquired a 95.5% stake in the parent company of Yodel, one of Britain’s largest delivery firms, marking a further expansion of its operations in the UK.

InPost says that the deal – which follows an announcement earlier this year that it will invest £600 million (3 billion zloty) in the UK – will transform the firm into the third-largest independent logistics business serving online retailers in Britain.

The acquisition of Yodel’s owner, JLL, was structured as a debt-for-equity swap, with InPost converting its existing loan into shares. By the time of the transaction, InPost had provided JLL with £106 million in financing through convertible loan notes, said the company in a statement.

The move deepens the partnership first announced in October 2024, when Yodel began offering home delivery from InPost’s automated parcel lockers – the devices that InPost pioneered in Poland before expanding to western European markets.

Last year, InPost also strengthened its UK presence by acquiring two businesses from Menzies Distribution Limited for over £60 million, having previously held a 30% stake in the British logistics firm.

InPost had little presence in the UK just three years ago, holding a less than 1% market share. The company estimates now that the Yodel deal could lift its market share to 8%.

“The acquisition of Yodel Delivery is further evidence…that the UK is now a strategic market for us,” said InPost founder and CEO Rafał Brzoska, quoted by business daily Puls Biznesu. “I don’t want to state that it is more important than Poland, but looking at the growth potential, it definitely looks that way.”

“We are becoming number three in the UK. I think the positions of the two bigger players, Royal Mail and Evri, are realistically under threat. We have no plans to slow down,” he added. “Thanks to this investment, we are accelerating our growth in the UK, which could have taken us up to five years organically.”

Yodel posted an adjusted EBITDA loss of £36 million in 2024, but InPost expects the acquisition to improve its financial performance within a year. Brzoska said the group had conducted thorough due diligence and would begin optimising operations immediately.

InPost delivered 93.2 million parcels in the UK in 2024, more than double the previous year’s volume. It estimates that the Yodel deal could lift its annual parcel volumes in the UK to around 300 million.

Last year, InPost’s revenue in the UK surged to £1.2 billion, up 164% year-on-year, driven by growth in the consumer-to-consumer and returns sectors. Group revenue reached 10.9 billion zloty (£2.2 billion) last year.

The company operates 18,000 out-of-home (OOH) points in the UK, including 10,000 parcel lockers. It has more than 25,000 parcel machines in Poland itself. As well as those two countries, InPost also operates in France, Italy, Spain, Portugal, Belgium, Luxembourg and the Netherlands.

Notes from Poland is run by a small editorial team and published by an independent, non-profit foundation that is funded through donations from our readers. We cannot do what we do without your support.

Main image credit: InPost press materials

Alicja Ptak

Alicja Ptak is senior editor at Notes from Poland and a multimedia journalist. She previously worked for Reuters.