International Distribution Services is the holding company, which includes Royal Mail and GLS, and is an international business that provides postal and delivery services across our extensive networks.

Royal Mail operates throughout the UK and offers letter and parcel delivery services internationally. 

GLS has a growing international footprint which currently includes around 40 countries and nation states. 

Our ambition, purpose and values

Our ambition is to build a more balanced and diverse international business.

Our purpose is to connect customers, companies and countries.

Our values, which shape our culture, underpin everything we do. We focus on our customers and on providing reliable and convenient value-for-money services. We want our people to be proud to work for our businesses. 

Royal Mail 

Royal Mail is an established brand with more than 500 years of history, from its beginning as a postal service exclusively for the King and his Court to the international delivery service it is today.

It operates as the United Kingdom’s sole designated Universal Service Provider, delivering a ‘one-price-goes-anywhere’ service on a range of letters and parcels, as well as commercial services to consumers, sole traders, SMEs, large businesses and retailers, and other postal operators.

These letters and parcels travel through the postal network and to the 32 million homes across the United Kingdom six-days-a-week, and this is thanks to the work of the 85,000 postmen and women who have helped build Royal Mail into the UK’s most trusted and preferred delivery company.

Since 2013, the service has been a publicly listed company on the London Stock Exchange. To this day our leadership and shareholders, which includes Royal Mail employees, have been committed to continuing and further strengthening our postal service’s reputation for reliability and consistency. 

Prior to privatisation, Post Office Limited was a subsidiary of Royal Mail Group, Royal Mail holding responsibility for delivering letters and parcels and the Post Office providing over the counter services. In 2011, the Postal Services Act was passed, paving the way for the separation of Royal Mail Group Ltd and Post Office Ltd in 2012 ahead of the privatisation of Royal Mail in 2013. 

In recent years, Royal Mail has been optimising its network to compete efficiently in the structural growth parcels market, alongside its traditional letters business. It is a modern, digitally innovative brand, connecting customers, companies and countries.

Transforming its network and working practices to handle more parcels is a key part of Royal Mail’s growth plan as it seeks to make the most of the opportunity it has in the market. This growth is best exemplified in the postal service’s two new state-of-the-art automated Parcel Hubs in Warrington and Daventry – two key pieces of infrastructure that have helped deliver next day services to customers.

GLS (General Logistics Systems) 

GLS is one of the largest self-reliant parcel services providers in Europe, with a strong local presence in almost all countries across the continent. It also operates through wholly-owned subsidiaries in Canada and on the USA’s West Coast within one GLS network.

This allows GLS to seamlessly connect its customers and communities with millions of parcels and stories every day. GLS’ network connects its markets with high velocity and flexibility to respond to their fast-changing and dynamic nature. GLS takes pride in providing its customers across 40 countries high-quality service that best suits their needs.

GLS has a proven track record of delivering top-line growth, strong margins and good cash flow generation. Its flexible operating model, B2B/B2C balance and geographic diversity provide a strong platform for further organic and inorganic growth.

Our shareholders

International Distributions Services is one of the most widely held stocks in the UK. We have a proactive engagement programme, which includes institutional investors in the UK and overseas and retail shareholder associations. 

We have a comprehensive, rolling programme of investor relations events and encourage open, two-way communication. Monthly reports are submitted to the Board, alongside analyst notes and summaries of market feedback. You can find out more in our investor relations section:

> Investor Relations

Our stakeholders

Our purpose – connecting customers, companies and countries – demonstrates the importance we place on our stakeholder relationships and our impact on wider society. Our stakeholders are integral to the Group’s success and if we are to create sustainable long-term value we strive to take account of their issues and concerns. Read more about our approach here. 

A responsible business:

Our impact on society has always been central to our purpose, discussions and decisions. We seek to be an integral, trusted and valued part of every community, operating in a responsible and sustainable way simply because it is the right thing to do. And as customers demand more sustainable deliveries, effective management of our environmental, social and governance (ESG) issues can create significant benefits and competitive advantage. In response to this demand, delivering a sustainable network is embedded in both Royal Mail and GLS’ strategies.