De La Rue has today announced the difficult decision to cease banknote manufacturing in Singapore. The Company has decided to focus operations on its other four factories in the United Kingdom, Malta, Sri Lanka and Kenya.
De La Rue has been finding it increasingly difficult to sustain its banknote manufacturing operation in Singapore. The key issues include rising costs and the long logistical chain from key suppliers in Europe. At the same time, a comprehensive review of the Company's global manufacturing operations has highlighted major advances in efficiency and flexibility that have been achieved in all our plants over the last three years.
The re-organisation of these locations will enable De La Rue's Currency division to produce the same volume of banknotes as were previously produced from five plants and continue to provide its worldwide customer base with the level of service and flexibility that they expect and receive from De La Rue. The estimated cost of closure which will be expensed in the current year will be approximately £7m (pre-tax). The re-organisation will involve transfer of capital equipment from Singapore and some additional resourcing at the remaining sites to handle their increased throughput.
Consultation with our workforce in Singapore, where De La Rue employs 320 people, is now taking place as part of the orderly transfer of operations to the other locations and support will be provided to our staff in Singapore. The Company anticipates that the transfer of operations will be completed in approximately nine months.
Commenting on the decision, James Hussey, managing director, De La Rue Currency said:
"After operating for nearly twenty years in Singapore, this has been an extremely difficult and painful decision to make and we deeply regret the proposed job losses. We have to continue to meet the needs of our customers and this action will help to ensure our future competitiveness. We hope that the measures we have announced today will lead to greater job security over time for those involved in manufacturing banknotes at De La Rue."
For further information please contact:
De La Rue plc
Mark Fearon, Head of Corporate Affairs: +44 (0)1256 605303
De La Rue Currency
Mark Crickett, Director of Marketing: +44 (0)1256 770770
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