04 December 2017

DE LA RUE VYING FOR CRUCIAL PASSPORT CONTRACT

The firm prints the current passport, and issued over 15m this year. However, it could now face competition from the French and the Dutch, which are also vying for the opportunity. The contract is worth up to £480m.

De La Rue, which prints the £5 and £10 note for the Bank of England, has recently posted a report of the half year ending in September. Revenue is up 29 percent, but net debt has also risen to £137.4m, an increase of £16.5m.

Banknote print volumes had risen six percent up to 3.5bn tonnes, and De La Rue has also secured a ten-year contract to supply its polymer substrate for the Bank of England’s new £20 note. The firm’s polymer sector has been doing increasingly well, with polymer volumes up 570 percent to 400 tonnes.