Royal Mail Group has announced a £75m, four-year investment programme in its UK express parcels business, Parcelforce Worldwide, creating 1,000 jobs across the country.

In the last financial year 48%, or £4.2bn, of Royal Mail Group’s revenues came from its three parcels businesses – Parcelforce, Royal Mail Specialist Services and the UK parcels operation of Royal Mail UK. The group employed nearly 159,000 people in the UK last year.

The new proposal will see a parcel processing centre open in Chorley, 20 miles north-west of Manchester, next autumn. Further depots will be opened in Cornwall and Hampshire, and nine existing depots will either be expanded or moved to larger sites over the next four years, alongside investment in IT systems.

Royal Mail Group chief executive Moya Greene says: “Our £75m investment is part of Royal Mail Group’s strategy to grow its parcels businesses in the UK and overseas. Our strategy is to convert the rise in parcel volumes into profitable growth.”

This announcement follows the news in August of GLS, Royal Mail Group’s European parcels business, forming a partnership with Chinese counterpart ZJS Express, which will see the two create a gateway between Europe and Chinese business.