Amazon acquires rights to Yodel stake

Delivery company Yodel will soon be part-owned by Amazon.

The Guardian reports that the retailer has been given the right to acquire a 4.2 per cent stake in the Hatfield-based firm for 8.7m, valuing it at 207m.

Yodel ships around 135m parcels a year and is the UK’s second largest delivery service behind the Royal Mail. It has over 5,000 vans and employs over 16,000 staff. Clients include Tesco and Argos, although it has recently lost contracts such as John Lewis, Matalan and Mothercare.

It was in January voted Britain’s worst parcel delivery company, having achieved a 58 per cent ‘bad’ rating in a MoneySavingExpert.com poll. Amazon has recently been petitioned to stop using the company altogether.

Online retail rival eBay recently acquired the Shutl UK courier network.