Announcement • May 28

EP Corporate Group, a.s. and J&T Capital Partners, A/S completed the acquisition of remaining remaining 71.96% stake in International Distributions Services plc (LSE:IDS) from a group of shareholders for £2.6 billion.

EP Corporate Group, a.s. and J&T Capital Partners, A/S submitted a non-binding indicative proposal to acquire remaining 72.4% stake in International Distributions Services plc (LSE:IDS) from a group of shareholders for £2.2 billion on April 9, 2024. EP Corporate Group, a.s. entered into agreement to acquire remaining 72.4% stake in International Distributions Services plc (LSE:IDS) from a group of shareholders for £2.6 billion on May 29, 2024. Under the terms of agreement, EP Corporate Group is paying £3.20 per share for the acquisition of International Distributions Services plc. There can be no certainty that any firm offer for IDS will be made, nor as to the terms on which any firm offer might be made. IDS shareholders are advised to take no action in relation to the Possible Offer. On April 11, 2024, The transaction was cancelled because the board concluded that the offer significantly undervalues IDS and its future prospects accordingly, the Board unanimously rejected the proposal. As of May 15, 2024, the Board of IDS confirms that it has received a revised non-binding proposal from EP Corporate Group for £3.7 pounds per IDS share comprised of: cash consideration of £3.60 per IDS share; (ii) the final dividend in respect of the Financial Year ended 31 March 2024, which is expected to be £0.02 per IDS share and which is expected to be paid in September 2024, a special dividend of £0.08 per IDS share which would be conditional upon completion of the transaction. The Proposal values the entire issued share capital of IDS at approximately £3.568 billion. EP Group has confirmed that the Proposal is not subject to any financing pre-condition. EP Group has entered into a confidentiality agreement with IDS pursuant to which EP Group and Vesa Equity have agreed to be subject to customary standstill restrictions during the course of the offer period. Accordingly, the Board has agreed to an extension of the relevant 'put up or shut up' deadline until May 29, 2024. The offer period relating to IDS which has commenced on 17 April 2024. In the event the Acquisition does not become Unconditional, there will be no Special Dividend. However, if approved by IDS Shareholders, the 2024 Final Dividend is expected to be paid on 30 September 2024 to IDS Shareholders on the register of members of IDS on 23 August 2024. The IDS Directors unanimously consider the terms of the Acquisition to be fair and reasonable and intend to recommend unanimously that IDS Shareholders should accept or procure the acceptance of the Offer. EP Corporate Group have received irrevocable undertakings in respect of their beneficial holdings totaling 183,236 IDS Shares from the shareholders. The cash consideration payable to IDS Shareholders under the terms of the Acquisition will be financed by a combination of new equity from EP, as well as fully underwritten debt facilities. The Offer will be conditional on, among other things, valid acceptances being received, Antitrust conditions received, approval from European Commission Merger Control, Regulatory conditions, UK FCA, Guernsey GFSC, EU Foreign Subsidies Regulation and Other Third Party clearances. The Acquisition is currently expected to complete during the first quarter of 2025. As of May 30, 2024, Threadneedle Investments, which holds about 5% of International Distribution Services, the parent company of Royal Mail, has spoken out against acquisition. Bidco announces that today, the Arrangers and the Interim Facility Agent agreed to the amendment and restatement of the Interim Facilities Agreement in order for each of Crédit Agricole Corporate and Investment Bank, ING Bank N.V., Prague branch, Intesa Sanpaolo S.p.A., London Branch, MUFG Bank, Ltd. and SMBC Bank International plc to become party to thereto and other related finance documents as underwriters, interim lenders and arrangers alongside the original Interim Lenders set out in the Offer Document, the Arrangers and the Interim Facility Agent entered into a new debt commitment letter, a new fee letter and a new syndication strategy letter which will replace the original form of such documents originally entered into on May 23, 2024 in order for each of Crédit Agricole Corporate and Investment Bank, ING Bank N.V., Prague branch, Intesa Sanpaolo S.p.A., London Branch, MUFG Bank, Ltd. and SMBC Bank International plc to become party to such documents as underwriters, interim lenders and arrangers (as applicable) alongside the original Interim Lenders set out in the Offer Document who were party to the Original Commitment Documents. As of December 16, 2024, the UK government has approved the transaction and the sale is also expected to be approved by the Labour government after getting the support of the workforce. As of December 19, 2024, the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster has approved the transaction, subject to the Parties ensuring that Royal Mail Group Ltd remains able to and continues to provide services that are in support of UK national security and the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster considers that the Final Order is necessary and proportionate to mitigate the risk to national security relating to Royal Mail Group Ltd acting as a critical supplier of services provided to UK Government departments which are in support of national security. The deal is expected to be completed in early, 2025. As of December 20, 2024, Each of the other Regulatory Conditions have now been satisfied. As of January 14, 2025, the parties received merger control clearance from the European Commission and clearance from the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States, and therefore each of the EUMR Condition and the US FDI Condition has been satisfied. As of March 5, 2025, regulatory condition with respect of foreign direct investment in Romania remains pending. Romanian FDI Condition will be satisfied so as to facilitate the Offer becoming or being declared Unconditional in the second quarter of 2025. On April 2, 2025, IDS and Bidco announced that all of the regulatory and anti-trust Conditions in relation to the Offer were satisfied and the timetable for the Offer resumed with effect from April 2, 2025, and the offer is expected to become unconditional on April 30, 2025. Alisdair Gayne, Nicola Tennent, Aamir Khan and Philipp Gillmann of Barclays Bank PLC, acting through its Investment Bank; Ed Peel, James Robertson, Justin Anstee and Jack Williams of Merrill Lynch International; and Eduard van Wyk, Mark Sorrell and Owain Evans of Goldman Sachs International acted as financial advisor and fairness opinion provider to International Distributions Services. Richard Smith, Claire Jackson, John Papanichola, Lisa Wright, Jessica Staples, Philippa O'Malley, Chris Sharpe, Ian Johnson, Charlie McGarel-Groves, Nick Bonsall and Gareth Miles of Slaughter and May acted as legal advisor to International Distributions Services. David Higgins, Dipak Bhundia, Jiri Peterka, and Matthew Sinclair-Thomson of Kirkland & Ellis International LLP and Neel Sachdev and Stefan Arnold-Soulby of Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison LLP acted as legal advisors to EP Corporate. Dwayne Lysaght, Charles Oakes and Siddharth Gupta of J.P. Morgan SE, together with its affiliate J.P. Morgan Securities plc; Barry Weir, Ram Anand and Christopher Wren of Citigroup Global Markets Limited and Kirshlen Moodley of BNP Paribas UK and George Holst and Guilhem Donnard of acted as financial advisor to EP Corporate Group and J&T Capital Partners, A/S. Tom Mercer, Tim Rennie and Darren Phelan of Ashurst LLP acted as legal advisor to J.P. Morgan Cazeno. EP Corporate Group, a.s. and J&T Capital Partners, A/S completed the acquisition of remaining 71.96% stake in International Distributions Services plc (LSE:IDS) from a group of shareholders for £2.6 billion on May 27, 2025. As of May 28, 2025, Bidco is pleased to announce that, as at 3.00 p.m. on May 27, 2025, it had received valid acceptances under the Offer in respect of a total of 631,515,875 IDS Shares, representing approximately 90.15% of the IDS Shares to which the Offer relates. Bidco will shortly despatch formal compulsory acquisition notices under sections 979 and 980 of the Companies Act (the "Compulsory Acquisition Notices") to IDS Shareholders who have not yet accepted the Offer.

Announcement • May 16

International Distributions Services Confirms Receival of A Revised Non-Binding Proposal from EP Corporate Group

The Board of International Distributions Services plc (LSE:IDS) (the "Board") confirmed that it has received a revised non-binding proposal from EP Corporate Group a.s. ("EP Group") for the entire issued share capital of IDS not already owned by EP Group and its affiliates, namely VESA Equity Investment S.à r.l. ("Vesa Equity") (the "Proposal"). As of 14 May 2024 (being the date prior to this announcement), Vesa Equity holds 264,138,365 ordinary shares in the capital of the Company, representing approximately 27.6% of IDS' issued share capital. The total value of the Proposal (the "Total Value") represents: 370 pence per IDS share comprised of: cash consideration of 360 pence per IDS share; the final dividend in respect of the Financial Year ended 31 March 2024, which is expected to be 2 pence per IDS share (the "2024 Final Dividend") and which is expected to be paid in September 2024; and a special dividend of 8 pence per IDS share which would be conditional upon completion of the transaction (the "Special Dividend"). The Proposal values the entire issued share capital of IDS at approximately £3.5 billion, and the Total Value represents a premium of approximately: 72.7% to the IDS share price of 214.2 pence as at close of business on 16 April 2024, being the day immediately prior to the start of the offer period; 63.2% to the one-month volume-weighted average price as at close of business on 16 April 2024, being the day immediately prior to the start of the offer period; and 53.1% to the twelve-month volume-weighted average price as at close of business on 16 April 2024, being the day immediately prior to the start of the offer period. The Proposal follows significant negotiation including a number of earlier proposals from EP Group (the first of which was made on 9 April 2024 at a price of 320 pence per share in cash). The Total Value represents an increase of 15.6% on EP Group's original proposal. Both Royal Mail and GLS perform critical functions in the markets where they operate, and the Board is particularly mindful of Royal Mail's unique heritage and responsibilities as the designated Universal Service Provider in the United Kingdom and a key part of national infrastructure. In assessing the Proposal, the Board has also been very mindful of the impact on Royal Mail and GLS and their respective stakeholders and employees, as well as broader public interest factors. Having considered the Proposal, the Board has indicated to EP Group that it would be minded to recommend an offer to IDS shareholders should an offer be made at the level of the Total Value, subject to satisfactory resolution of the final terms and arrangements. EP Grouphas confirmed that the Proposal is not subject to any financing pre-condition. Accordingly, the Board will continue to engage in discussions with EP Group to explore the Proposal in further detail and allow for each party to complete a limited period of confirmatory due diligence on the other.

Logistics earnings growth	17.0%
Revenue growth rate	3.5%
Future return on equity	9.89%
Analyst coverage	Good
Last updated	06 May 2025

Date	Revenue	Earnings	Free Cash Flow	Cash from Op	Avg. No. Analysts
3/31/2028	14,943	N/A	N/A	N/A	1
3/31/2027	14,154	465	232	735	6
3/31/2026	13,618	377	42	545	6
3/31/2025	13,120	257	216	592	6
9/29/2024	13,160	252	-140	264	N/A
6/29/2024	12,920	153	-155	240	N/A
3/31/2024	12,679	54	-170	215	N/A
12/31/2023	12,374	-478	-39	354	N/A
9/24/2023	12,068	-1,010	91	492	N/A
6/24/2023	12,056	-941	19	433	N/A
3/26/2023	12,044	-873	-54	373	N/A
12/26/2022	12,261	-308	26	525	N/A
9/25/2022	12,478	256	105	676	N/A
6/25/2022	12,595	434	331	918	N/A
3/27/2022	12,712	612	557	1,160	N/A
12/27/2021	12,876	744	723	1,223	N/A
9/26/2021	13,039	876	888	1,285	N/A
6/26/2021	12,839	748	858	1,229	N/A
3/28/2021	12,638	620	827	1,173	N/A
12/28/2020	11,992	321	741	1,102	N/A
9/27/2020	11,345	22	655	1,030	N/A
6/27/2020	11,093	92	632	990	N/A
3/29/2020	10,840	161	608	950	N/A
12/29/2019	10,837	242	501	842	N/A
9/29/2019	10,833	323	394	734	N/A
6/29/2019	10,707	249	262	614	N/A
3/31/2019	10,581	175	129	493	N/A
12/31/2018	10,419	135	232	593	N/A
9/23/2018	10,257	95	N/A	693	N/A
6/23/2018	10,215	177	N/A	799	N/A
3/25/2018	10,172	259	N/A	905	N/A
12/25/2017	10,097	307	N/A	852	N/A
9/24/2017	10,022	355	N/A	798	N/A
6/24/2017	9,899	314	N/A	776	N/A
3/26/2017	9,776	272	N/A	754	N/A
12/26/2016	9,608	243	N/A	N/A	N/A
9/25/2016	9,439	213	N/A	770	N/A
6/25/2016	9,345	214	N/A	749	N/A
3/27/2016	9,251	215	N/A	727	N/A
12/27/2015	9,248	252	N/A	N/A	N/A
9/27/2015	9,245	288	N/A	683	N/A
6/27/2015	9,287	307	N/A	723	N/A
3/29/2015	9,328	325	N/A	762	N/A
12/29/2014	9,395	254	N/A	761	N/A
9/28/2014	9,315	180	N/A	757	N/A
6/28/2014	9,292	1,230	N/A	796	N/A

Data	Last Updated (UTC time)
Company Analysis	2025/05/28 13:26
End of Day Share Price	2025/05/28 00:00
Earnings	2024/09/29
Annual Earnings	2024/03/31

Package	Data	Timeframe	Example US Source ^*
Company Financials	10 years	Income statement Cash flow statement Balance sheet	SEC Form 10-K SEC Form 10-Q
Analyst Consensus Estimates	+3 years	Forecast financials Analyst price targets	Analyst Research Reports Blue Matrix
Market Prices	30 years	Stock prices Dividends, Splits and Actions	ICE Market Data SEC Form S-1
Ownership	10 years	Top shareholders Insider trading	SEC Form 4 SEC Form 13D
Management	10 years	Leadership team Board of directors	SEC Form 10-K SEC Form DEF 14A
Key Developments	10 years	Company announcements	SEC Form 8-K

Analyst	Institution
Susanna Invernizzi	Barclays
William Fitzalan Howard	Berenberg
Hugo Watkins	BNP Paribas

This company listing is no longer active

International Distribution Services Future Growth

Future criteria checks 3/6

Key information

Recent future growth updates

Price target decreased by 8.0% to UK£2.66

Consensus EPS estimates upgraded to UK£0.067 loss

Consensus EPS estimates fall by 16%

Price target increased by 8.5% to UK£2.75

Consensus EPS estimates fall by 189%

International Distributions Services plc Provides Earnings Guidance for the Fiscal Year 2022-2023

Recent updates

IDS De-Listing and Cancellation of Shares Update

EP Corporate Group, a.s. and J&T Capital Partners, A/S completed the acquisition of remaining remaining 71.96% stake in International Distributions Services plc (LSE:IDS) from a group of shareholders for £2.6 billion.

International Distribution Services plc(LSE:IDS) dropped from FTSE All-Share Index (GBP)

International Distribution Services plc Announces Declaration of the Special Dividend, Payable on May 14, 2025

GLS's Asia Pacific Expansion And Digital Solutions To Drive Revenue Growth And Profitability

International Distribution Services plc to Report First Half, 2025 Results on Nov 21, 2024

International Distribution Services plc Proposes Special Dividend

International Distributions Services plc Announces That Ingrid Ebner Will Join the Environmental, Social, and Governance Committee

International Distributions Services plc, Annual General Meeting, Sep 25, 2024

International Distributions Services Shares Listing to Cancel from FCA

Full year 2024 earnings released: EPS: UK£0.056 (vs UK£0.91 loss in FY 2023)

International Distributions Services plc Proposes Final Dividend

International Distributions Services Confirms Receival of A Revised Non-Binding Proposal from EP Corporate Group

International Distributions Services plc's (LON:IDS) P/S Is Still On The Mark Following 28% Share Price Bounce

EP Corporate Group, a.s. cancelled the acquisition of remaining 72.4% stake in International Distributions Services plc (LSE:IDS) for £2.2 billion.

Price target decreased by 8.0% to UK£2.66

International Distributions Services plc Appoints Emma Gilthorpe as Chief Executive Officer of Royal Mail Group

Does International Distributions Services (LON:IDS) Have A Healthy Balance Sheet?

International Distributions Services plc Announces Appointment of Michael Snape as Group Chief Financial Officer

International Distributions Services plc's (LON:IDS) Share Price Matching Investor Opinion

First half 2024 earnings released: UK£0.23 loss per share (vs UK£0.09 loss in 1H 2023)

International Distributions Services plc to Report Q2, 2024 Results on Nov 16, 2023

Consensus EPS estimates upgraded to UK£0.067 loss

Consensus EPS estimates fall by 16%

Price target increased by 8.5% to UK£2.75

International Distributions Services plc Appoints Martin Seidenberg as Group Chief Executive Officer, Effective from August 2023

Consensus EPS estimates fall by 189%

High number of new directors

Is International Distributions Services (LON:IDS) Using Debt In A Risky Way?

International Distributions Services plc, Annual General Meeting, Jul 20, 2023

International Distributions Services plc Does Not Recommend A Final Dividend in Respect of 2022-23

Full year 2023 earnings released: UK£0.91 loss per share (vs UK£0.62 profit in FY 2022)

International Distributions Services plc Announces Step Down of Simon Thompson as Chief Executive Officer

Is There An Opportunity With International Distributions Services plc's (LON:IDS) 36% Undervaluation?

Is It Too Late To Consider Buying International Distributions Services plc (LON:IDS)?

Here's What's Concerning About International Distributions Services' (LON:IDS) Returns On Capital

Here's Why International Distributions Services (LON:IDS) Has A Meaningful Debt Burden

International Distributions Services plc Provides Earnings Guidance for the Fiscal Year 2022-2023

Price target decreased by 8.9% to UK£2.53

Price target decreased to UK£2.58

Consensus forecasts updated

Consensus forecasts updated

Consensus forecasts updated

High number of new directors

Investor sentiment improved over the past week

Why International Distributions Services plc (LON:IDS) Could Be Worth Watching

Consensus forecasts updated

Price target decreased to UK£3.20

Consensus forecasts updated

Investor sentiment deteriorated over the past week

Consensus forecasts updated

Returns At Royal Mail (LON:RMG) Appear To Be Weighed Down

Does Royal Mail (LON:RMG) Have A Healthy Balance Sheet?

Consensus forecasts updated

Consensus forecasts updated

Consensus forecasts updated

Upcoming dividend of UK£0.13 per share

Price target decreased to UK£4.27

Royal Mail's (LON:RMG) Upcoming Dividend Will Be Larger Than Last Year's

Price target decreased to UK£4.40

Royal Mail (LON:RMG) Will Pay A Larger Dividend Than Last Year At UK£0.13

Price target decreased to UK£4.83

Royal Mail (LON:RMG) Is Increasing Its Dividend To UK£0.13

Consensus forecasts updated

Price target decreased to UK£4.83

Consensus EPS estimates fall by 15%

Royal Mail (LON:RMG) Will Pay A Larger Dividend Than Last Year At UK£0.13

Full year 2022 earnings: EPS exceeds analyst expectations