Royal Mail finally delivers its annual results

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 Thursday, reported that Royal Mail had made a £348 million operating loss for the year to the end of March, with the company blaming “challenging macroeconomic conditions”.

The loss was partially offset by a £320 million operating profit at GLS, its European and American courier company, although that was 8 per cent worse than the previous year. At the bottom line International Distributions Services reported a group loss before tax of £75 million. The company