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Royal Mail has pledged to keep its six-day delivery service running throughout the UK in a win for Britons.
International Distribution Services (IDS), the postal service company’s owner, agreed to a £3.57billion takeover offer from Czech billionaire Daniel Kretinsky’s EP Group earlier this year.
This takeover will see Royal Mail taken off the public markets and into the hands of Kretinsky’s firm.
EP Group currently has a 27 per cent shareholding in the British institution.
Shareholders in Royal Mail are expected to vote on the deal at their next meeting on September 27.
During an interview with the BBC, Kretinsky confirmed he will keep Royal Mail’s Universal Service Obligation (USO) as long as he remains in charge.
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Britons have been concerned about potential changes to Royal Mail delivery services in the near future
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Under USO, Royal Mail needs to deliver first-class post six days a week to all UK addresses as part a “one-price-goes-anywhere” basis.
Kretinsky said: “As long as I’m alive, I completely exclude this, and I’m sure that anybody that would be my successor would absolutely understand this.
“I say this as an absolutely clear, unconditional commitment: Royal Mail is going to be the provider of Universal Service Obligation in the UK, I would say forever, as long as the service is going to be needed, and as long as we are going to be around.”
IDS has floated reforms to the delivery system, which it estimates could result in the reduction of about 7,000 to 9,000 daily delivery routes and up to 1,000 voluntary redundancies.
While Kretinsky confirmed he was not in favour of shared ownership, he share that he is “very open” to profit sharing.
Previously, unions representing postal workers have urged staff to be given a stake in the firm under any potential shake-up.
As it stands, the EP Group boss does not believe ownership stake is “the right model”.
He added: “The logic is: share of profit, yes, (but an) ownership structure creates a lot of complexity.
“For instance, what happens if the employee leaves? He has shares, he is leaving, he is not working for the company, he (still) needs remunerating.”
Furthermore, he cited that he would prefer to “remunerate the people who are working for the company, and creating value for the company”.
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Royal Mail has agreed a takeover offer from Czech millionairePA
Reports suggest Kretinsky has a staggering net worth of £6billion, including a range of other investments.
These investments include stakes in West Ham United and Sainsbury’s.
The potential sale of Royal Mail’s owner has attracted heavy scrutiny, with senior politicians and unions voicing concerns over the future of the postal service.
The Government has the power to block the deal altogether with Labour vowing to “robustly scrutinise” the takeover and give workers a “stronger voice” in its election manifesto.
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