De La Rue to shutter passport factory site

PRINTER De La Rue will end production at its Gateshead factory that has made the UK’s passports for the past decade, putting 260 jobs at risk.

The closure comes more than two years after the document and banknote maker lost the contract to print Britain’s blue Brexit passports to Franco-Dutch company Gemalto.

The troubled firm is looking to turn the business around with a shift to plastic bank notes, and plans to raise £100m in equity to fund the changes.

Yesterday its boss Clive Vacher said Covid-19 could help the industry as countries look to replace banknotes more frequently because of the crisis.

Some experts believe consumers will ditch cash for contactless payments. This is despite the Bank of England and the World Health Organisation insisting the risk of virus transmission via notes and coins is no greater than for any other surface.

De La Rue is recovering from problems including an unpaid £18m bill from Venezuela. It also sounded two profit warnings in 2019, as its debt mountain grew.

Shares rose 5.1pc, or 7.8p, to 160.6p.