De La Rue knocked by delay to orders

banknote printer De La Rue warned its annual profit would be lower than expected after a number of key currency orders expected in the second half of this year were pushed back.

“It will now be too late for these orders to benefit the current financial year, and as a result the board expects that the financial results of the group for 2012/13 will be similar to those for 2011/12,” the firm said.

The firm, which prints over 150 national currencies as well as passports such as the UK’s, had in July noted lower than expected orders in its first quarter but a raft of second-half work was expected to underpin a rise in full-year profit.

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Prior to yesterday’s statement, the company was expected to report an average pre-tax profit of £74.57m for the year to the end of March 2013, according to a poll of analysts. This compares to a pretax profit of £57.7m reported by De La Rue in 2011/12.

De La Rue said it was confident the delayed orders – estimated by analysts to be worth £70m – would be received in its next financial year, adding to a number of important orders already secured.