In the 2000s, De La Rue shares were flirting with £14, but they are now dicing with £1. It has been worse, though: less than two years ago, there were such concerns about the 201-year-old banknote printer that the shares tumbled to 37p and a £100 million placing was needed to bolster the balance sheet.
However, Clive Vacher, a former Rolls-Royce executive, has steadied the firm in the face of war, civil unrest, supply bottlenecks and inflation.
Yesterday, De La Rue announced £375.1 million in revenue for the year to March 26, against £397.4 million in 2020-21. Adjusted operating profit dropped from £38.1 million to £36.4 million, but the earlier figure included £7.5 million from the since-sold identity solutions arm, so there was a
