What the Royal Mail sale means for you: From a one-price-goes-anywhere service to delivery days after the takeover is approved

Royal Mail is set to be taken over by Czech billionaire Daniel Kretinsky, leaving households wondering what the deal means for them.

Royal Mail is currently owned by International Distribution Services (IDS), and last night Labor ministers signed a £3.6 billion takeover deal by Kretinsky.

The deal has been on the table since April to allow Kretinsky’s EP Group to expand its 28 percent stake in IDS.

The takeover would give Royal Mail its first non-British owner since its founding in the 16th century.

Here’s everything you need to know about how the Royal Mail takeover will affect its customers.

Will the Royal Mail brand change?

No. An explicit part of the deal is that Royal Mail’s brand will not change, at least not for the next five years.

What could happen to stamp prices?

The price of stamps is not governed by the deal and is a decision for Royal Mail’s owners to make.

Currently, a First Class stamp currently costs £1.65 and a Second Class stamp costs 85p. In 2013, a first class stamp cost 60p and a second class stamp cost 50p.

Will Royal Mail service levels change?

Royal Mail’s most famous promise – that it will charge one price to send anything anywhere in the country – is being kept.

This is known as ‘one-price-goes-anywhere’, with first-class letters also delivered six days a week.

In theory, Royal Mail’s overall service must remain the same or improve under the deal, otherwise the new owners will not make any money.

The deal states that ‘no value will be extracted’ unless Royal Mail has maintained this, unless RMG has maintained or improved its performance against performance over the 2023-2024 period.

Last week, Royal Mail was fined £10.5 million by communications regulator Ofcom after failing to meet its delivery targets for both first and second class mail.

By law, the Postal Service must deliver 93 percent of first-class mail within one business day of collection and 98.5 percent of second-class mail within three business days of collection.

But Ofcom fined Royal Mail for delivering only 74.7 percent of first-class mail and 92.7 percent of second-class mail on time between April 2023 and March 2024.

When will the takeover take place?

The deal is still not completely final, as it still needs to be approved by shareholders and unions, and the Competition and Markets Authority may also look into it.

Current IDS shareholders must decide whether to sell their shares or not.

EP Group needs 75 percent of IDS to complete the deal.

But the government has said it has no objection to the deal, which could be completed as early as the first quarter of 2025.

What happens to Royal Mail staff?

Royal Mail will remain based in Britain, ensuring jobs remain secure and taxes are paid in Britain.

EG Group has said it will honor all agreements reached with postal unions and will not take excess money from the postal service. Royal Mail Pension Plan.