Could Amazon make bid for Yodel?

Yodel owners, the Barclay family are thought to be considering offloading the troubled company.

Press reports suggest the Barclays are reviewing their entire stable of UK businesses which includes Shop Direct, The Telegraph and Sunday Telegraph newspapers and the Ritz hotel.

According to The Times, Aidan and Howard Barclay, the sons of Sir David Barclay, are streamlining the portfolio to generate capital to buy out some of the family members.

Financial advisers are set to value the portfolio and seek buyers.

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• Yodel pre-tax loss swells to £82m
• Jayne James joins Yodel to lead its international expansion

The move has led to speculation that Amazon may look to take over Yodel, which suffered losses in the year to 30 June 2018 of £111.8m.

This followed losses of £82.5m the previous year.

Formed from the merger of the Home Delivery Network (HDNL) and DHL’s Express Delivery business in 2010, profitability has eluded Yodel ever since. Its best result to date was a loss of £45.4m in 2014.

It is thought the full review of the Barclays portfolio will be completed within the next 18 months.