De La Rue profits little changed

25th May 2010 07:14

Losses at its cash processing division meant profits came in little changed last year at banknote printer De la Rue, despite good sales growth.Pre-tax profits in the year to March were £96.6m, up from £96.1m, on sales of £561m some 12% higher. Operating profits rose by 13% to £109m driven by good growth from the banknote arm. The dividend goes up by 3% to 42.3p, while De la Rue will also buy back shares and boost its pension fund using the £78m proceeds from the recently agreed sale of its stake in lottery operator Camelot.The firm was generally upbeat in its forecast for its businesses in the coming year. Banknote volumes should remain at similar levels to 2009/2010 but with a greater than normal weighting towards the second half. Pension charges will be £3m higher than the prior year."The strong margin mix in Currency will not be repeated in the current financial year. It is expected that this will be offset by productivity gains, by cost reduction, especially in Cash Processing Solutions, and by improved trading in other parts of the business," it added.