Royal Mail in profit for first time in three years

'Undelivered letters meant my son missed his surgery'

Solar-powered postboxes being rolled out across UK

The curious case of why a billionaire wants to buy Royal Mail

In its first set of results since being taken over in April, Royal Mail reported annual profits of £12m, excluding redundancy costs, compared with a £336m loss.

Last month, Royal Mail stopped delivering second-class letters on Saturdays in some areas, estimating it will take up to a year and a half to fully implement the changes.

The firm has had a difficult few years, losing money and market share amid declines in letters being sent. It has also been hit

The 500-year-old firm, which was bought

Over the year to 31 March, Royal Mail parcel volumes increased 6% while letters declined 4%.

Martin Seidenberg, chief executive of International Distribution Services (IDS), which owns Royal Mail, said the return to profit marked an "important milestone in the company's turnaround".

"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," he added.

Taking into account redundancy costs, Royal Mail made a loss of £8m in the year to March.

Last week, Royal Mail said it would roll out 3,500 solar-powered postboxes across the UK to enable customers to deposit small parcels.

The takeover

Royal Mail was founded

EP Group has agreed to maintain the one-price-goes-anywhere Universal Service Obligation (USO), which currently means it has to deliver letters six days per week, Monday to Saturday, and parcels Monday to Friday.

But the USO is currently under review, with Royal Mail suggesting to regulator Ofcom that reducing second-class deliveries to every other weekday would save up to £300m a year and give the business "a fighting chance".

The conditions agreed

The government retained its so-called "golden share" in Royal Mail, which requires it to approve any major changes to the company's ownership, HQ location and tax residency.