Royal Mail boss’s pay package soars to £6.9m despite profits slide

The boss of the parent company of Royal Mail saw his pay and bonus package more than triple last year to almost £7m, despite group profits slumping by a fifth. Martin Seidenberg, the group chief executive of International Distribution Services (IDS), took home £6.9m in pay, bonus and long-term incentive scheme awards in the year to 31 March. This compares with the £2.1m he took home the previous year. The company said that the bumper pay package was due to the £3.6bn takeover by the Czech billionaire Daniel Křetínský, which resulted in IDS being de-listed last June and triggered the vesting of long-term incentive plan awards and share-based bonuses to Seidenberg. In addition, no award plans vested the previous year. “The vesting of awards was accelerated at the point of takeover,” IDS said in its annual report, published on Tuesday. “This explains the increase in emoluments of the highest-paid director.” In total the company’s two executive directors, which include former finance boss Michael Snape, took home £9.8m last year, more than double the £4.2m the previous year. IDS, which owns Royal Mail and the parcel delivery service GLS, reported that adjusted operating profits fell by 20% to £222m in the year to 31 March. While profits at Royal Mail grew to £5m from £2m a year earlier, GLS reported a 17% decline to £237m owing to factors including regulatory changes in Italy affecting the delivery sector and the impact of US tariffs on businesses in Canada. …