Royal Mail is set to be allowed to deliver second-class letters on alternate weekdays and not on Saturdays after the industry regulator announced a shake-up of postal service rules.
The communications regulator Ofcom has proposed that Royal Mail would still be required to deliver first-class letters six days a week and the price cap on second-class stamps would remain, but the company will be allowed to make cost savings by cutting the number of days it goes to every address.
The changes could save Royal Mail between £250m and £425m each year. The cuts would be a boon to the Czech billionaire Daniel Křetínský’s EP Group, as it nears a £3.6bn takeover of Royal Mail’s FTSE 250-listed parent company, International Distribution Services.
Shell has given its investors a multibillion-dollar windfall despite reporting weaker-than-expected profits of $23.7bn (£19bn) for last year as global oil and gas prices tumbled.
Shareholders of Europe’s biggest oil company are in line for a 4% dividend increase alongside share buybacks of $3.5bn for the last three months of the year.
This marks the 13th consecutive quarter in which Shell has given its investors buybacks of more than $3bn, despite falling earnings from its oil and gas.
It has started off as a fairly mild trading day across European stock markets. All the major indices have gained ground in early trading but that has still pushed the Euro Stoxx 600 index to its latest record high.
The Stoxx 600 reached 535.9 points this morning. It has risen from below 500 in mid-December as investors expect the European Central Bank to act to support the economy.
The FTSE 100 is up by 0.1%, or eight points, at 8,566.3. That leaves it 20 points short of its all-time high of 8,586.68 from a week ago.
The European Central Bank, led by Christine Lagarde, is widely expected to cut interest rates today in an effort to support economic growth.
We will get a good picture of the economy’s momentum this morning, with eurozone GDP figures.
The agenda • 9am GMT: Germany GDP growth (fourth quarter; previous 0.1% quarter on quarter; consensus -0.1%) • 10am GMT: eurozone GDP growth (fourth quarter; previous 0.4%; consensus 0.1%) • 1.15pm GMT: European Central Bank interest rate decision • 1.30pm GMT: US GDP growth (fourth quarter; previous 3.1% annualised; consensus 2.6%) • 1.45pm GMT: ECB press conference
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Dowlais deal shows crisis in the UK stock market is getting worse 
