CURRENCY printer De La Rue celebrated a 73 per cent rise in profits amid reports it is preparing to start making drachmas in case Greece crashes out of the eurozone.

The company, which employs about 180 workers in Gateshead – its biggest UK factory – designs and prints banknotes for 150 countries.

Last week, it was reported that De La Rue had drawn up contingency plans to print drachmas should Greece exit the euro and call on the services of a firm that has been manufacturing money for 152 years.

Commenting on yesterday’s strong end of year results, Tim Cobbold, De la Rue chief executive, refused to comment on the Greek crisis, but added: “In terms of printing a currency it does take some time.

“You have to design it and there is a difference between doing a new currency and topping it up.”

The firm, which designed nearly half of all the banknotes issued in the world last year, has also produced diamond jubilee stamps and security holograms for Euro 2012 tickets.

A contract to produce UK passports helped lift operating profits 56 per cent to £63.1m in the year to March 31, but Mr Cobbold, who became chief executive at the beginning of last year, warned that the market was becoming more competitive as rivals add additional capacity.

Last summer, De La Rue introduced an “improvement”

plan, closing two factories in Dunstable and Basingstoke.

That resulted in 200 job losses, with some of the roles being transferred to the Gateshead site. The structure of the group has also been simplified into a currency division and a unit covering security products, such as passports and driving licences.

Mr Cobbold added: “De La Rue has made good progress in the first year of the plan, demonstrating both the fundamental strengths of the business and its capacity to improve.

While recognising there is still much to do, I am confident that with the momentum we have established, we are on track to achieve our target of a 2013-14 operating profit in excess of £100m,” he added.

De La Rue is still recovering from problems in 2010 when it announced the suspension of a contract, widely understood to be with the Reserve Bank of India, after production irregularities emerged at its plant in Overton, Hampshire. Its thenchief executive and several managers subsequently resigned and profits fell.

Revenues increased by 14 per cent to £528.3m in the year to the end of March. Operating profit before exceptional items rose by 56 per cent to £63.1m but the bottom line pre-tax profit figure was hit by exceptional costs and fell to £32.9m from £72.8m the previous year.

DE LA RUE FACTS

• De la Rue has been supplying banknote paper to the Bank of England since 1725.

• The first banknote order placed with the firm was from the Government of Mauritius in 1860. The Bank of Mauritius is still a customer.

• The company invented the envelope-folding machine in 1846 and pioneered security thread in banknotes in the 1940s.

• It now makes notes and secure documents, such as passports, for about 150 countries.

• 70 per cent of its revenues come from emerging and developing countries.