Royal Mail has entered into a settlement agreement with French competition authority Autorité de la Concurrence, meaning it will benefit from a reduction to any fine when the regulator completes its investigation in the second half of the 2015/16 financial year.

The investigation into alleged anticompetitive activities also includes FedEx and TNT Express, which announced last month that it was setting aside €50m (approx £40m) after reaching its own settlement with the regulator.

Royal Mail's £18m provision includes £6m in estimated legal costs and £12m in respect of the "current estimate of any fine", which is a long way short of the £160m mooted by analysts in July (based on the maximum possible fine of 10% of GLS's global turnover).

The £18m provision will be included in Royal Mail's interim accounts for the six months to 28 September 2014, which it will publish on 19 November.

Royal Mail's share price rose 1.6% on the news, to 404.4p at the time of writing.