International Distribution Services (IDS), the parent company of Royal Mail and GLS, has announced its financial results for the year ending March 30, 2025, revealing a return to profit for Royal Mail for the first time in three years.
The postal operator achieved £12m (US$16m) in adjusted operating profit (excluding voluntary redundancy costs) despite an increasingly competitive and challenging trading environment.
Meanwhile, GLS delivered a resilient performance and solid revenue growth, investing in its out-of-home (OOH) network and expanding its international business to support cross-border volumes. It made an adjusted operating profit of £286m (US$382m), down £34m (US$45m) on 2023-24 due to a challenging macroeconomic and regulatory environment in Germany and Italy, and foreign exchange movements.
Overall, IDS Group achieved £13.1bn (US$17.5bn) in revenue, up 4.8% on last year, with an adjusted operating profit of £278m (US$371m), an increase of £306m (US$408.5m) year-on-year.
Out-of-home expansion
According to IDS, the group made positive progress with its transformation plans in 2025, including the rapid expansion of OOH options across both Royal Mail and GLS – Royal Mail increased OOH locations by almost 70% to 24,000 by the end of August 2025 and launched its own branded lockers. GLS continued to expand its network to over 110,000 out-of-home access points, and more than doubled the size of the GLS locker network to over 20,000 by the end of August.
Martin Seidenberg, group chief executive officer, said, “It has been a year of change for IDS. Thanks to the hard work of our people and our investment in transformation, Royal Mail returned to profit for the first time in three years, marking an important milestone in the company’s turnaround.
“With IDS’s acquisition by EP Group complete and universal service reform decided now is the time for us to drive the business forward and capitalize on our momentum.
“GLS has further increased automation and capacity at strategic parcel hubs in France and Germany, alongside expanding the European out-of-home network with over 110,000 pick-up and drop-off points now available to customers. Under the ownership of EP Group, we will continue to invest in the rapid expansion of our out-of-home network across both businesses to meet the changing needs of our customers around the globe.”
For the full financial report, click here.
In related news, after a successful pilot in April of this year, Royal Mail is now rolling out its new solar-powered postboxes nationwide