De La Rue: ‘Welsh Wizard’ investor hoping to cast spell over banknote maker’s shares
An investor known as the ‘Welsh Wizard’ in City of London circles has increased his stake in De La Rue, the company that makes UK passports and banknotes.
Richard Griffiths, who is now based in Jersey, has upped his holdings in the Basingstoke-based firm from 10.19 per cent to 11.44 per cent, according to a new filing with the London Stock Exchange.
Griffiths is a former sheep farmer and rugby player, who founded investment bank Evolution and boutique finance house ORA Capital.
Other major investors in De La Rue include the likes of Crystal Amber Advisers, Schroder Investment Management and Butterfield Bank.
Shares in De La Rue are currently trading at just under 80p, giving it a market capitalisation of more than £155m.
The investment from Griffiths comes after De La Rue announced that it has signed a five-year renewal of its contract with Microsoft for the supply of authentication services to Microsoft’s OEM, retail and Xbox channels.
In December, the business posted a pre-tax loss in the six months ended September 30, 2023, of £16.8m compared to £15.9m in the same period last year. Revenue ticked down 1.7 per cent to £161.5m.
Currency revenue fell 2.6 per cent to £113.4m. However, the firm said its currency order book more than doubled since September 2023 to £219.8m as the market recovers.
Last year it also revealed that demand for banknotes had slumped to the weakest level for 20 years.
But it since reassured investors that demand for currency was picking up and raised its profit expectations for the first half of the year after it.