De La Rue reports rise in revenue but dip in profits
Banknote printer De La Rue has reported revenue growth for the year to 26 March 2016, as the company continues with a concerted five-year turnaround attempt.
The almost 200-year-old business is moving away from cash printing and plans to grow its identification side, using many of the same techniques it uses to make bank notes secure.
Chief executive Martin Sutherland told City A.M.:
The identity business has doubled the number of contracts over the last year, and we're targeting some big wins over the next couple of years for both our new polymer notes and the ID business.
De La Rue's non-cash lines – made up of both product identity and ID cards, including passports – currently makes up 30 per cent of revenue but this is expected to grow to rival the cash business during the turnaround plan.
De La Rue last year won a contract to produce the new Bank of England five pound polymer note, which is expected to hit the streets in September.
The company doesn't plan to sell off any more of its existing business after off loading its cash processing (CPS) yesterday to a private equity group.
The figures
Revenue from continuing operations – excluding CPS – was up by seven per cent to £454.5m. Including CPS however, revenue rose by three per cent.
Pre-tax profit dropped by 47 per cent to £20.8m – but was up 35 per cent to £54.9m when CPS was taken out of the equation.
The group declared a final dividend 16.7p per share, leaving the full year dividend unchanged at 25p per share.
Why it's interesting
De La Rue is attempting a massive turnaround, having seen its share price fall by 250 per cent since highs in 2008 due to rising costs and a string of profit warnings.
Sutherland said the results were a sign that the company is heading in the right direction, although there is more work to do.
What De La Rue said
In the last year we have made good progress against our five year strategic plan to transform De La Rue into a technology-led security product and service provider. We have reorganised the business structure, increased investment in product development and new technologies, and successfully completed a manufacturing footprint review.
In short
De La Rue seems to be on track with its turnaround plan.