By Alex Brummer for the Daily Mail Updated: 16:50 EDT, 24 May 2024 The wheels of commerce spin ever faster with a rush of FTSE 350 takeover bids. But the General Election campaign will usher in a period of regulatory purdah. The effort by Czech billionaire Daniel Kretinsky to swallow …

Key moments from Paula Vennells’ three days of questioning at Post Office inquiry Former Post Office chief executive Paula Vennells has broken her almost decade-long silence on the Horizon IT scandal. She was quizzed over the course of three days on how things unfolded during her time at the head …

IDS overview: Revenue £12,679 million, up £635 million year-on-year, driven by GLS and strong H2 in Royal Mail. Reported operating profit of £26 million (2022-23: loss of £742 million); adjusted operating loss1 reduced to £28 million (2022-23: loss of £71 million). Adjusted operating profit1 in GLS of £320 million and adjusted loss …

The owner of Royal Mail filed its delayed annual results on Friday night after the stock market had closed and as the regulator launched an investigation into its failure to meet its postal delivery targets. International Distributions Services, which had been due to file its full-year results at 7am on …

Royal Mail’s owner has warned that a potential £3.5bn bid by the Czech billionaire Daniel Křetínský could put the company’s financial future and operations at risk. It came as the industry regulator Ofcom announced it had opened an investigation into the parent group, International Distributions Services (IDS), for failing to …

Ofcom has today opened an investigation into Royal Mail’s failure to meet its delivery targets for 2023/24, following the company’s publication of its results this afternoon. Under our rules, Royal Mail is required to meet specific performance targets across the whole financial year, excluding the Christmas period. Among other targets, Royal Mail must: …

Martin Seidenberg, chief executive of parent company IDS, said: “In the last six months we have set Royal Mail on the right trajectory. We made good progress delivering our modernisation agenda and returned to growth in the second half. “We have improved quality, won back customers lost during industrial action, …

Regulators have launched an investigation into Royal Mail after it delivered less than three quarters of first class post on time in the last year. In its yearly financial results on Friday, Royal Mail’s parent company, International Distribution Services (IDS) said only 74.5% of first class mail was delivered within …

Former Post Office chief executive Paula Vennells has finished giving evidence to the Horizon IT inquiry after three days of intense questioning. Ms Vennells broke down in tears multiple times and made a series of admissions about her tenure as chief executive from 2012 to 2019. Over the past three …

Former Post Office boss Paula Vennells has admitted to amending the legal document Royal Mail issued to would-be investors before it became publicly owned to remove mention of the flawed Horizon IT system. Data from the accounting software created by Fujitsu was used to prosecute more than 700 sub-postmasters for …