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The boss of Royal Mail’s parent company received almost £7m in pay and bonuses last year – more than triple the previous figure – despite group profits slumping by a fifth.
Martin Seidenberg, group chief executive of International Distribution Services (IDS), took home £6.9m in pay, bonus and long-term incentive scheme awards in the year to 31 March, compared with £2.1m the previous year.
The company said the bumper pay package was due to the £3.6bn takeover by the Czech billionaire Daniel Křetínský, which resulted in IDS being delisted last June and triggered the vesting of incentive awards and share-based bonuses to Seidenberg; no award plans vested the previous year.
“The vesting of awards was accelerated at the point of takeover,” IDS said in its annual report, published on Tuesday. “This explains the increase in emoluments of the highest-paid director.”
In total the company’s executive and non-executive directors took home £9.8m last year, more than double the £4.2m the previous year.
IDS, which also owns the parcel delivery service GLS, reported that adjusted operating profits fell by 20% to £222m in the year to 31 March.
While profits at Royal Mail grew to £5m from £2m a year earlier, GLS reported a 17% decline to £237m due to factors including regulatory changes in Italy affecting the delivery sector and the impact of US tariffs on businesses in Canada. Revenues increased by 3.6% to £13.6bn, as total operating costs ballooned by £629m to £13.4bn.
The company blamed the increase in costs on “higher wages and associated taxes”, following the government’s move to increase employers’ national insurance contributions (NICs) and the minimum wage.
IDS said people costs, including wages and salaries, rose 5.7% to £7.16bn, a £384m rise over the previous year.
At Royal Mail, parcel volumes grew 7% to 1.4bn, while letter volumes fell 10% to 5.7bn.
Earlier this month, the UK postal regulator, Ofcom, once again launched an investigation into Royal Mail for missing its annual delivery targets.
The company, which has been fined £37m since 2023 for missing targets set by Ofcom, was late delivering almost a quarter of first-class mail in the year to the end of March.
In order to secure the deal to take over IDS, which included a state review of national security laws, Křetínský’s EP Group made a number of promises including that IDS and Royal Mail would maintain their headquarters in the UK for at least five years and remain tax resident in the country. Other pledges included no change of control for GLS or Royal Mail for three years, not to touch any Royal Mail pension scheme surpluses, and to continue to recognise the Communication Workers Union and CMA Unite workers’ unions.
