Printing group, De La Rue, is to invest £20m in new bank note technology, following a 3 year contract from The Bank of England.
Its Safeguard polymer substrate, which will appear on £5, £10 and £50 notes, will be manufactured at an expanded facility in Westhoughton, Bolton.
“This is another significant milestone for De La Rue, and I want to congratulate everyone who worked so hard to make this happen,” said Ruth Euling, Managing Director, De La Rue Currency.
“It is a testament to all the hard work that the Bank of England has such a high level of confidence in De La Rue to award us the majority polymer substrate supply contract for the £5, £10 and £50 denominations.”
The Bank of England awarded De La Rue the majority share (65%) of its polymer substrate volumes, with the contract beginning in July 2021. The company had previously been appointed to work on the £20 polymer supply.
De La Rue said that it expected that the expanded operation in Westhoughton would be fully operational before the end of the year and would enable it to double its outpu.
It would be recruiting up to 70 new staff over the next 2 and a half years and investing around £20m on its polymer strategy.
“I am delighted to announce further investment in manufacturing and job creation in the North West of the UK, as we continue to increase our polymer market share globally. The Currency team has done a remarkable job in bringing De La Rue’s SAFEGUARD® polymer substrate to a position of industry leadership,” added Clive Vacher, CEO of De La Rue.
“It is a fitting endorsement of the technical and operational capabilities of our Westhoughton site, that we have made the decision to concentrate our polymer substrate manufacturing into this Centre of Excellence.”
