De La Rue Malta investment will double authentication capacity

De La Rue has launched an expansion of its facilities in Malta that will double the production capacity for authentication products like tax stamps and brand protection labels.

The increase in the size of the plant from 14,000 to 29,000 sq. m. will be completed without extending the £79.8m ($110m) investment budget allocated to De La Rue's ongoing turnaround plan, according to the company.

The Maltese facility – which produces tax stamps, authentication labels, polycarbonate data pages for passports and banknotes – will also see its headcount increase by around 100 by 2024 as a result of the upgrade. It is being supported by the Maltese government and Malta Enterprise.

De La Rue's authentication division provides physical and digital technologies used to authenticate products through the supply chain and protect them from counterfeiting, as well as to track taxable goods and fight against illicit trade.

"The new facility will be larger, more modern and more energy efficient whilst improving the capability, flexibility, and efficiency of De La Rue's overall footprint," said the company in a statement.

"This underlines the strong growth the government revenue solutions business has experienced leading to the authentication division doubling revenues in the last three years," it added. Much of that increase has been driven tobacco tax stamp schemes in countries around the world.

De La Rue Malta exports to 85 countries around the world and generates around €30m ($35m) a year for the local economy, according to the company. This financial year, it expects to produce over 14bn secure documents at the Maltese site.

"We are incredibly proud of what our dedicated team in Malta has achieved in the last three years to support the introduction of new tax stamp schemes around the world," said Andrew Clint, managing director of De La Rue's authentication division.

"Investing in Malta allows us to leverage this expertise and to ensure a consistent, highly secure service to our current and new authentication customers," he added.

In the year-ended March 31, De La Rue's authentication division posted revenues of £77.6m, a rise of 5 per cent overall but up 28 per cent in the latter half of the year.

Chief executive Clive Vacher has been tasked with turning around the fortunes of De La Rue since coming on board in October 2019, and has implemented a cost-cutting drive, restructured the business and raised new funding.