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United Parcel Service reported a jump in quarterly profits and revenues despite a dip in residential deliveries as pandemic lockdowns lift.

The parcel delivery company said revenues jumped to $23.4bn in the second quarter, up 14.5 per cent from the year before. This was slightly ahead of analysts’ forecasts of $23.2bn, according to a Refinitiv survey.

Net income rose to $2.7bn or $3.05 per share, compared with $1.77bn or $2.03 a share in the year ago quarter. Adjusting for one-time items, the company reported earnings of $3.05 a share, a 50.2 per cent jump over last year’s second-quarter results, and above expectations of $2.82 a share.

In the US, revenue was up 10.2 per cent because of a strong improvement in all product lines. Adjusted operating profit was $1.7bn, up from $1.2bn in 2020’s second quarter. The adjusted operating margin for the segment rose to 11.6 per cent, the firm’s highest second quarter operating margin since 2017.

UPS’ gains in the US were in part due to the growth of weekend services, with Saturday ground delivery jumping by 13 per cent. The Atlanta-based firm expects to cover 90 per cent of the US population on Saturdays by the end of October, said Carol Tomé, chief executive officer.

“These improvements benefit all of our customers, large and small, by enabling faster time in transit and expanding capacity,” she said.

However, average daily volume in the US was down 2.9 per cent, led by declines in its residential ground service SurePost which fell by 15.8 per cent. The firm’s business-to-business channel grew by 25.7 per cent as more retail foot traffic returned to brick-and-mortar locations, said Brian Newman, UPS’ chief financial officer.

“As expected, last year’s surge in essential goods delivered to homes created tough comparisons on a year-over-year basis,” he said. “As a result, total average daily volume in the US in the second quarter of this year was down 619 pieces per day.”

Overseas revenue increased by 30 per cent to $4.8bn, driven by a strong performance in Europe, while operating profit rose to $1.2bn from $842m a year ago. Average daily volumes in the retail channel internationally slid by a smaller percentage than the US contraction — 4.1 per cent — and business to business grew 25 per cent.

“These year-over-year comparisons reflect the unique pandemic effects from last year as [business to consumer] doubled in the second quarter of 2020,” Newman said.