Auditor delay forces Royal Mail owner IDS to postpone annual results

Royal Mail’s parent company International Distribution Services (IDS) has failed to deliver its full year trading update on time, scheduled for 07:00 on Thursday morning, as a possible takeover hangs over the group.

IDS was set to announce its full financial year 2024 results this morning, but at 07:42, the press team sent an email apologising for the inconvenience.

It said there was “a delay in issuing our results this morning. We expect them to be up in the next hour or so.”

After several hours of silence, at 13:46, the company issued the following statement: “International Distribution Services plc today announces a delay to the publication of its financial results for the 53 weeks ended 31 March 2024, previously planned for 23 May 2024.

It added: “The group’s auditor, KPMG, has requested additional time to complete the usual standard procedures after their internal reviews were late in the audit timetable, thereby delaying their final audit process.

“The board confirms that it expects adjusted operating profit (excluding voluntary redundancy costs) for the 53 weeks ended 31 March 2024 to be broadly in line with previously published guidance,” the statement concluded.

The company said it would issue a further announcement as soon as possible but the market took the news badly, with shares falling four per cent.

It comes as IDS remains in an offer period following an announcement last week about the potential takeover swoop Czech billionaire Daniel Kretinsky‘s by EP Group.

It said last Wednesday that it is “minded” to accept the raised takeover offer worth around £3.5bn.

The FTSE 250 company’s shares soared as much as 20 per cent after the update, with IDS saying it was likely to agree on the terms and price of the proposal if Kretinsky makes a firm offer.

Kretinsky’s EP Group, which already holds a roughly 27.6 per cent stake in IDS through its affiliate group Vesa Equity, had raised its proposal to 370p per share, including a 10p dividend.

The potential takeover comes as Britain’s embattled national postal service, which was privatised in 2013, is calling for urgent action to modernise its operations. Royal Mail is facing rapidly declining letter volumes and increased competition from nimbler opponents such as Amazon, Evri and DPD.

In its third quarter results, IDS said group revenue was up 9.8 per cent on the same period in 2022 as Royal Mail regained some customers, although it was partially offset by increased costs from pay increases and inflation.

The company posted losses of £169m in the first half of the year.

This article has been corrected to reflect the statement issued by IDS at 13:46.