By Rory Gallivan
LONDON--Shares in U.K. newspaper and book distributor Connect
Group PLC (CNCT.LN) jumped more than 16% Wednesday after the
company said it had partnered online retailer Amazon.com Inc.
(AMZN) to enable shoppers to pick up deliveries from their local
stores.
Connect said its new "Pass My Parcel" service can be used by
shoppers to order something online and pick it up at one of 500
local stores from 4pm on the same day if they order before 11.45am,
or by 6.30am the next morning if they order before 7.45pm.
"This is our fastest pickup service yet," said Amazon.co.uk's
managing director, Christopher North.
Connect Chief Executive Mark Cashmore said Connect plans to
extend the service to thousands of other stores in the next year.
Connect serves 30,000 stores, according to its website
Nick Spoliar, an analyst at WH Ireland, said the "Pass My
Parcel" service also has the potential to be offered to online
retailers other than Amazon.
Connect posted a pretax profit of 43.1 million pounds ($69.3
million) for the year ended Aug. 31, up from GBP38.9 million the
previous year amid lower distribution costs, on revenue that rose
just 0.1% to GBP1.81 billion.
Connect said its books division had a disappointing year but has
stabilized.
Write to Rory Gallivan at rory.gallivan@wsj.com; Twitter:
@RoryGallivan
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