Key facts
- Martin Seidenberg, CEO of IDS, received a £6.9m pay package in the year to March 31.
- IDS group profits fell 20% to £222m, while Royal Mail's profits rose to £5m.
- Royal Mail's revenue increased 2.6% to £8.4bn, driven by growth in non-home deliveries and parcel volumes.
- Total operating costs for IDS ballooned by £629m to £13.4bn, attributed to higher wages and taxes.
- Royal Mail missed its first-class mail delivery targets for another consecutive year.
Martin Seidenberg, the group chief executive of International Distribution Services (IDS), the parent company of Royal Mail, saw his pay and bonus package more than triple to £6.9m in the year to March 31. This significant increase, compared to £2.1m the previous year, was primarily due to the £3.6bn takeover of IDS by Czech billionaire Daniel Křetínský, which triggered the vesting of long-term incentive plan awards and share-based bonuses. In total, the company's two executive directors received £9.8m, more than double the £4.2m from the prior year.
Despite the executive pay surge, IDS reported a 20% slump in adjusted operating profits to £222m for the fiscal year. While Royal Mail's own profits grew to £5m from £2m, its parcel delivery arm GLS experienced a 17% decline in operating profit to £237m, impacted by regulatory changes in Italy and US tariffs on Canadian businesses. IDS group revenue increased by 3.6% to £13.6bn, but operating costs ballooned by £629m to £13.4bn, largely due to higher wages and associated taxes following government increases to employers' national insurance contributions and the minimum wage. People costs rose 5.7% to £7.16bn.
Royal Mail's operational performance showed parcel volumes growing 7% to 1.4bn, while letter volumes decreased by 10% to 5.7bn. The company is implementing Universal Service changes across the UK and investing in technology and AI to improve delivery speed and reliability. However, Royal Mail has faced ongoing scrutiny from regulator Ofcom for missing delivery targets, having been fined £37m since 2023 and recently launching another investigation after failing to meet first-class mail delivery targets for the year.
