Royal Mail’s owner finally given a stamp of approval

After a torrid 12 months for International Distributions Services marred by a bitter industrial dispute and ballooning losses, analysts at one of the City’s top stockbrokers believe investors should start buying shares in the owner of Royal Mail.

Shares in the FTSE 250 group, which also owns GLS, the overseas parcels business, climbed by 5p, or 1.9 per cent, to 262¼p after analysts at JPMorgan upgraded their recommendation to “overweight”.

They argued that the company had a cheap valuation despite a deal between Royal Mail and the Communication Workers Union, which postal workers accepted in July, ending a year-long pay dispute. The disruption pushed Royal Mail to a £1 billion operating loss in the year to March 26, resulting in IDS swinging £748 million into