Money printers De La Rue hit by tough market
Banknote printer De La Rue saw its profits plunge by 36 per cent in the six months to 27 September, falling from £28.4m to £18.1m.
Revenue fell by eight per cent, from £234m to £215m, and the firm’s dividend was cut by 41 per cent, from 14.1p to 8.3p. This was despite banknote print volumes increasing by four per cent to 2.7bn notes. The company, which signed a new 10-year banknote print contract with the Bank of England in October, blamed “ongoing challenging market conditions” for adversely impacting financial performance.
Philip Rogerson, De La Rue chairman, commented: “We have partially mitigated the impact in the first half through cost savings from operational efficiencies and have commenced a further rationalisation of our manufacturing footprint.”
He added that the challenging trading conditions were expected to continue, which, together with lower than expected new business in its solutions division, had impacted the outlook for the next two years.
Martin Sutherland, who was appointed as chief executive at the firm in August, said: “Over the coming months, I shall be evaluating the strategy of the group and expect to report on this with the full-year results in May 2015.”
The company’s share price improved slightly yesterday, increasing by 0.55 per cent.