Royal Mail hails best Christmas for four years – but staff miss £500 bonus

Delivery company says nearly all festive deliveries arrived on time and its revenues rose

Royal Mail has said it had its best Christmas for four years, with nearly all festive deliveries arriving on time - despite missing a target that would have handed postal workers a 500 bonus.

The delivery company's owner, International Distributions Services (IDS), on Thursday reported group revenues rose nearly 10% to 3.6bn in the final three months of 2023.