Royal Mail owner IDS puts Martin Seidenberg in the driving seat

Royal Mail’s parent company International Distributions Services has gone back to its original management structure of having a group chief executive.

Martin Seidenberg, 50, is to step up to the role in August after heading the company’s international parcels business GLS since 2020.

After the departure of Rico Back as group chief executive in May 2020 — itself a controversial, short-lived tenure during which he faced criticism over a £6 million golden hello on which as a Swiss resident he paid no UK tax — the chairman Keith Williams took over executive duties and appointed separate chief executives for Royal Mail and GLS.

Following the abrupt exit of Simon Thompson as chief executive of Royal Mail in May after 15 months in post and after