De La Rue wins contract to supply new UK £20 notes

New £20 note design and personality unveiled by Bank of England

De La Rue plc today announced that it has been awarded a ten-year contract by the Bank of England to supply the base material for its new polymer £20 notes

New £20 note design and personality unveiled by Bank of England

De La Rue, the world’s largest commercial designer and printer of passports, has won the contract to design and print the Bank of England’s new £20 notes, which will be issued in 2020.

Under the terms of the contract, De La Rue will supply the Bank of England its Safeguard^® polymer substrate for 25% of the first call-off volume. Based on estimated timings, production for this contract is expected to commence in the financial year of FY18/19.

De La Rue launched its Safeguard^® polymer substrate in 2012, and it is now used by 15 issuing authorities across 21 denomination, and is the only vertically integrated producer of polymer banknotes, which is one of the Group’s fastest growing product lines. Production volume of Safeguard^® nearly quadrupled last year and is expected to double again this year.

Martin Sutherland, Chief Executive Officer of De La Rue commented:

“We are delighted to have been chosen by the Bank of England to supply polymer substrate for the new £20 notes in addition to our existing work designing and printing the notes. De La Rue is the only fully integrated supplier of polymer banknotes in the world. This new contract is an important strategic milestone and will increase our share of this fast growing market.”

“Having worked closely with the Bank to design and print the new polymer £5 and £10 notes, we look forward to continue our close relationships and the successful delivery of the new £20 notes in 2020 and beyond.”

De La Rue has a 10 year managed service contract awarded in October 2014 to print Bank of England banknotes at the Bank’s facility in Debden, Essex. Currently 3% of the 172bn banknotes issued each year globally are printed on polymer substrate, and there are currently 2.2bn £20 notes in circulation, representing 60% of the total number of notes issued by the Bank of England. The annual issuance of the £20 notes ranged between 250-320m in the last five years.

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