Pablo Cino, DHL e-commerce chief, left; and Martijn de Lange, Evri’s chief executive, right. The merger will bring together Britain’s worst-rated courier with one of its best

Britain’s least popular courier service is stepping up its challenge to Royal Mail after striking a deal that will see it deliver more than 1bn parcels every year.

Evri, which ranked bottom in Ofcom’s latest customer satisfaction survey, has struck a deal to combine with DHL’s e-commerce business in the UK.

The deal will expand Evri’s operations to include over 30,000 couriers and van drivers with a fleet of 8,000 vehicles that will deliver more than 1bn parcels each year.

That is up from 730m in the 2024 financial year and means Evri will handle a quarter of all UK parcels.

Evri, which was bought by US investment giant Apollo for £2.7bn last year, will also deliver a further 1bn business letters as it moves into business mail for the first time.

The merger brings together Britain’s worst-rated courier with one of its best. Ofcom’s latest report found that 39pc of Evri’s customers were dissatisfied with the service they received.

By contrast, just 17pc of DHL customers were dissatisfied, making it the joint second most popular courier behind Amazon.

DHL will take a minority stake in the combined company, which will operate under the Evri brand.

Evri is one of a number of specialist parcel delivery companies that have wrestled market share away from Royal Mail as the heavily-regulated postal service grapples with falling letter demand.

The tie-up will mount a fresh challenge to Royal Mail just weeks after Czech billionaire Daniel Kretinsky completed a £3.6bn takeover.

Mr Kretinsky, who also owns a major stake in Dutch postal operator PostNL, has pointed to parcels as the main area of growth and is expected to invest around £800m in the coming years by rolling out parcel lockers and undercutting rivals.

The Czech tycoon has also made a series of promises to ease concerns about the postal service moving into foreign ownership for the first time in its 500-year history. These include protecting first-class letter deliveries on Saturdays and keeping Royal Mail in the UK.

Evri said the deal will give it access to an expanded international network thanks to DHL’s expertise in cross-border shipping, enabling faster transit times. The combined company will also have the UK’s largest network of parcel lockers with 15,000 access points.

Alex van Hoek, Evri’s chairman and an Apollo partner, said: “This is a tremendous milestone in Evri’s journey, and we are delighted to welcome a global leader like DHL as a strategic partner and shareholder. By embracing technology and innovation, Evri has grown from strength to strength in a dynamic e-commerce market.

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“With DHL’s complementary expertise and strong network, the business is well positioned to further improve its reliable services and the customer experience.”

Pablo Ciano, the chief executive of DHL eCommerce, said: “By joining forces in the UK, we’re creating a one-stop shop for all our customers’ parcel needs here and giving them better delivery options from around the world.”

An Evri spokesman said: “Ofcom found that we are making year-on-year improvements and our rising parcel volumes are proof that customers and retail clients are voting with their feet and trust us with their deliveries.”

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