Latest News

Astrid Mitchell

1 Aug. 2022

7 min read

De La Rue Terminates Agreement with Portals; Latter to Close Banknote Paper Mill

On 26 July, De La Rue announced that it is terminating its ten year supply agreement with Portals Paper five years early, an agreement that formed part of private equity-backed management buyout of the paper maker in 2018.

Companies

Astrid Mitchell

29 June 2022

2 min read

Komori Increases Sales and Returns to Profit

Komori Corporation has published its financial figures for 2021/22, reporting a return to profit and an increase of 22% in consolidated net sales compared to the previous year.

Companies

Astrid Mitchell

29 June 2022

5 min read

A Vision of a Circular Economy for Banknote Waste

Not many people know that Royal Dutch Kusters Engineering (Kusters) used to make fluorescent lamp recycling equipment for the electronics giant Philips, glass recycling for the brewer Heineken and coffee pod recycling for Sara Lee.

Companies Sustainability

Astrid Mitchell

29 June 2022

2 min read

CCL Secure Reduces CO2 Emissions by 26% in UK

CCL Secure has achieved a 26% reduction in carbon emissions per tonne of product at its Wigton site in England since 2018. With the support of sustainability consultants Verco, CCL Secure has reduced manufacturing emissions across all three scopes of greenhouse gases, without the inclusion of carbon offsets and market based instruments.

Companies Sustainability

Astrid Mitchell

29 June 2022

7 min read

War, Energy Crisis, Inflation, Recession, COVID on the Rise – Markets, Unsurprisingly, Tumble

In the December edition of Industry Watch, the focus was on the implications of a new infectious COVID variant, Omicron. In the March edition, the focus switched to the war in Ukraine and the sanctions imposed on Russia and the implications, if the war continued, of a global fuel, food, fertilizer and aluminium crisis. This on top of the shortages of many goods used in manufacturing – a legacy of COVID.

Companies

Astrid Mitchell

1 June 2022

2 min read

Profits Up for De La Rue, Despite Headwinds

De La Rue’s sales fell marginally in 2021/22 – revenue (non IFRS) of £375 million and operating profit of £36.4 million were down 3.3% and 4.5% respectively on the previous year.

Companies

Astrid Mitchell

1 May 2022

1 min read

BP – A New Name in Banknote Paper

BP Security is the new name for the security papermaker in Brazil, the only one in Latin America capable of producing banknote-grade mould made paper, formerly owned by Fedrigoni.

Companies

Astrid Mitchell

1 May 2022

3 min read

G+D Reports One of Best Years in History

Giesecke+Devrient has described 2021 in financial terms as one of the most successful in its history. Sales of €2.38 billion were a 2.8% improvement on the previous year and almost back at the pre-pandemic levels of 2019.

Companies

Astrid Mitchell

1 May 2022

3 min read

Crane – One Becomes Two

Crane Co – the US-based industrial products and processes conglomerate – has announced plans to separate the company into two independent publicly-traded companies.

Companies

Astrid Mitchell

1 May 2022

2 min read

De La Rue Issues Trading Update

De La Rue has issued a trading update in which it said that it expects its full year operating profits to be in line with market expectations (these being based on the average published notes from Investec and Numis Securities). Net debt is expected to be slightly better than market expectations of £75 million.

Companies

Astrid Mitchell

1 May 2022

1 min read

SICPA Names New Campus for Economy of Trust

SICPA has unveiled the name for its new campus in Lausanne – unlimitrust. Formerly known as Square One, the aim of the new campus, the first of its kind, is to bring together diverse partners promoting the ‘Economy of Trust’, linking the security of the physical world with its digital counterpart in order to protect goods and people from the vulnerabilities created by today’s global digitalised economy and governance.

Companies

Astrid Mitchell

1 May 2022

2 min read

Mint of Finland Returns to Profit

After several years of losses, the Mint of Finland has reported a significant increase in sales and return to profit for 2021. Consolidated revenue increased by 45% to €83 million, due largely to a good order backlog at the beginning the year.

Coins Companies

Astrid Mitchell

1 April 2022

5 min read

A Mixed Bag in Latest Results from Cash Leaders

Last month, we covered the annual results of five of the major companies in the cash sector – Brinks, Loomis, NCR, Diebold Nixdorf and Crane Co. All bar one reported an increase in both sales and profits. This month is the turn of Spectra Systems, Orell Füssli and Prosegur, where the results are more mixed.

Companies

Astrid Mitchell

1 April 2022

5 min read

Russia Invades Ukraine, Sanctions, Energy Crisis, Inflation and COVID – Markets Surprisingly Stable!

In the December edition of Industry Watch, the focus was on COVID, and the emergence of a new variant that was a major blow to the anticipated return to relative normality.

Companies

Astrid Mitchell

1 April 2022

3 min read

G+D’s Green Banknote Initiative

According to Giesecke+Devrient, the sustainability revolution has accelerated to embrace an ever-growing range of environmental and social issues.

Companies Sustainability

Astrid Mitchell

3 March 2022

2 min read

Brinks’ Digital Vision to Disrupt the Cash Management Industry

Last December Brinks disclosed its three year strategic plan and 2024 financial targets, with a major focus on new digital cash payment solutions. According to CEO Doug Pertz, ‘Brink’s is evolving from a route-based logistics company with growing organic revenue and expanding margins into a key player in the broader payments ecosystem - with a focus on digital cash payment solutions.'

Companies

Astrid Mitchell

3 March 2022

5 min read

Good Times Return for Cash Industry Leaders

February is when several of the leading listed companies in cash report their annual results for the previous year. In 2019, all bar one reported strong results and optimistic outlooks. Needless to say, this was before COVID struck, and the optimism was quickly overturned in 2020 as the pandemic took its toll.

Companies

Astrid Mitchell

3 March 2022

2 min read

Open Sesami – A New Force in Cash Management Technology

Canadian security services provider GardaWorld, the world’s largest privately owned provider of security, cash and risk management service, has announced the launch of Sesami, a new cash ecosystem performance and technology company that will operate independently of its parent.

Companies Technology

Astrid Mitchell

1 Feb. 2022

2 min read

COVID 19 Impacts De La Rue Turnaround Plan

De La Rue has announced a trading update on the financial year ending March 2022, as well as an update of progress on its Turnaround Plan, which unsurprisingly has been impacted by the pandemic.

Companies COVID-19

Astrid Mitchell

1 Feb. 2022

2 min read

New Business Segment for Goznak as it Enters Banknote Processing Market

Russian state printer and mint Goznak has launched its own banknote counting and sorting machine – the BARS-S5. This follows the acquisition last year of BIS (which stands for Bank Innovation Systems), with whom the new machine was co-developed. The first order has already been received from the Central Bank of Russia.

Companies