£3.7m UK passport bill

SECURITY printer and paper maker De La Rue spent £3.7m on its failed bid to continue making British passports.

It lost the contract to FrancoGerman rival Gemalto this year and did not appeal despite warning it could damage jobs.

Chief executive Martin Sutherland, 49, downplayed the impact as he said full-year profits slid 11pc to £62.8m. He said: ‘The Uk passport contract is one of about 40 contracts that we have.

‘Ok, it’s quite large but our international ID business has actually progressed really well. So we are going to learn the lessons that we can from the bidding process in the Uk, but not overreact to it.’

Sales grew 7pc to £493.3m, while the company has reduced its debt to £49.9m.