De La Rue plc (LSE: DLAR) (“De La Rue” or the “Company”) today announces a trading update for financial year 2020/21, which ended 27 March 2021.
As a result of continued positive trading, the Board expects Adjusted Operating Profit for the financial year 2020/21 to be around the top end of the £36 million to £37 million range previously indicated in the Company’s trading update of 28 January 2021.
End of year Net Debt was approximately £53 million, which is lower than market expectations(1) by approximately £21 million. This is mainly due to lower capital expenditure during the year, consistent with adjustments made to the timing of capital spend as the Turnaround Plan has evolved. Total aggregate 3-year cash investment for the Turnaround Plan remains unchanged.
Due to the positive outcome of the financial year, the Company has repaid all the money received from HM Government’s Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme. Furlough payments received under this scheme totalled approximately £0.4m.
In the results for financial year 2020/21, the Company will record non-cash exceptional asset impairment and accelerated depreciation charges of approximately £13 million on historic assets, as a result of the closure of the Gateshead banknote printing operations in December 2020. Of this, approximately £12m was recorded in the second half of the year following finalisation of the detailed plans for which assets currently are expected to have any ongoing use within the group.
De La Rue expects to announce its results for the full year ended 27 March 2021 on 26 May 2021.
(1). Market expectations are based on the average of published notes from Investec and Numis Securities.
Enquiries:
De La Rue plc
+44 (0) 7387 122645
Clive Vacher, Chief Executive Officer
Rob Harding, Chief Financial Officer
Matthew Rose, Director of Tax, Treasury and Investor Relations
Brunswick Group LLP
+44 (0)207 404 5959
Stuart Donnelly/Ed Brown
Cautionary note regarding forward-looking statements
This announcement includes statements that are, or may be deemed to be, "forward-looking statements". These forward-looking statements can be identified by the use of forward-looking terminology, including the terms “believes”, “estimates”, “anticipates”, “expects”, “intends”, “plans”, “may”, “will”, “could”, “shall”, “risk”, “aims”, “predicts”, “continues”, “assumes”, “positioned” or “should” or, in each case, their negative or other variations or comparable terminology. These forward-looking statements include all matters that are not historical facts. They appear in a number of places throughout this announcement and include statements regarding the intentions, beliefs or current expectations of the directors, De La Rue or the Group concerning, amongst other things, the results of operations, financial condition, liquidity, prospects, growth and strategies of De La Rue and the industry in which it operates.
By their nature, forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties, assumptions and other factors because they relate to events and depend on circumstances that will occur in the future whether or not outside the control of the Company. Past performance cannot be relied upon as a guide to future performance and should not be taken as a representation or assurance that trends or activities underlying past performance will continue in the future. Accordingly, investors or potential investors should not place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements. The Group's actual results of operations, financial condition, liquidity and the development of the industry in which it operates may differ materially from the impression created by the forward-looking statements contained in this announcement. In addition, even if the results of operations, financial condition and liquidity of the Group and the development of the industry in which it operates, are consistent with the forward-looking statements contained in this announcement, those results or developments may not be indicative of results or developments in subsequent periods.
Other than in accordance with its legal or regulatory obligations, De La Rue does not undertake any obligation to update these forward-looking statements, which speak only as at the date of this announcement, and will not publicly release any revisions that may be made to these forward-looking statements, which may result from events or circumstances arising after the date of this announcement.
