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Postage company Royal Mail said it would return £400 million to shareholders after reporting a jump in profit in the first half of the year.
For the 26 weeks ended 26 September, pre-tax profit jumped to £315 million from £17 million year-on-year as revenue increased 7.1% to £6.07 billion.
The company said it would returning £400 million capital to shareholders, of which £200 million would be returned via a share buyback commencing immediately and £200 million via a special dividend to be paid alongside interim dividend.
'Looking ahead, GLS continues to deliver good volume and revenue growth, both year on year and against H1 2019-20,' the company said.
'Whilst we are seeing upward pressure on costs in all of our markets, we maintain our outlook for the full year of low single digit % revenue growth and [about] 8% operating profit margin.
Looking ahead, the company said it expected to generate adjusted operating profit £500 million.