Connect Group Shares Soar After Amazon Delivery Tie-Up

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 [e-mail]; Twitter: @RoryGallivan

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