banking

Mr Niccol highlighted that taking on more staff would mean higher costs but said he was "banking on some growth to come with the investment".

The report comes as the Post Office announced a renewed deal with banks to ensure customers can access basic banking services at post office counters.

Lloyd Greif, CEO of Los Angeles investment banking firm Greif & Co., who represented the family of owners, said the sale was part of an estate planning process to secure the future of the business.

Morrisons faced huge problems with its Christmas orders last year, while Barclays and Lloyds were both hit by banking outages in the first two months of this year.

This was followed by two major banking outages on what was pay day for many in the first two months of this year.