Against a target of 92.5%, only 88.3% of first class letters were delivered the next day. Royal Mail's chief executive Adam Crozier said that the service had improved month on month since dipping in the spring, when changes to the service took place.
Crozier said that he hoped to see the service hit all of Royal Mail's targets within the coming months and that it was now hitting four of its 15 targets, according to preliminary figures for August.
The worst performing areas were Oxford, Glasgow, Lerwick, Swansea and Kirkwall, with the best performing areas being Kirkcaldy, Sunderland, Milton Keynes, Kingston-Upon-Thames and Sheffield.
Second-class post is now hitting its target of 98.5% of items being delivered in time compared with April, when 98.3% was getting to destinations on time, according to the company.
Crozier said that 95% of operational changes, such as scrapping the second post, had now been made.
"Royal Mail is now operating profitably after launching its renewal plan two-and-a-half years ago when the company was losing more than 拢1m every working day," he said.
Commentators have hinted that more could be done and that Crozier could face the axe if he fails to show that his leadership is working. Crozier took personal day-to-day control of the letters business in May.
Postwatch, the postal watchdog, said that the news that just six of the country's 121 postcode areas were above the Royal Mail's delivery targets was "worrying".
The figures do not bode well for regulator Postcomm, which has to decide whether to penalise Royal Mail for failing to meet last year's targets.
The figures for the second quarter also revealed that the Royal Mail has paid out 拢50m in compensation for late delivery of post. The compensation, to business and individual customers, followed disruption to the service last year when deliveries were hit by industrial action.
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