News in Brief

Loomis Expands in Switzerland

Swedish cash management service provider Loomis has announced that it has entered into an agreement to acquire certain assets and liabilities of SecurePost AG, a subsidiary of Die Schweizerische Post (Swiss Post Group).

The acquisition is through its wholly-owned subsidiary Loomis Schweiz, and includes all relevant customer contracts, employees and operational assets. New commercial agreements with other entities of the Swiss Post Group have been agreed and will take effect at the closing of the transaction, which is valued at approximately CHF 17.5 million.

SecurePost has a nationwide footprint in Switzerland and around 440 employees. Revenues in 2020 were approximately CHF 66 million. In addition to traditional CIT and CMS activities, the company also has a portfolio of 1,300 smart safes, which will be integrated into Loomis Schweiz’s SafePoint portfolio.

Prosegur Forges Ahead on Carbon Neutrality

Prosegur has initiated a CO2 emissions offsetting project with the aim of achieving its commitment to carbon neutrality by 2040, ie. ten years earlier than set by the Paris Agreement (which commits countries to limited global warming through, among other measures, reduction in greenhouse gases).

The plan starts with offsetting the equivalent CO2 emissions generated by the company's operations in Europe, through a waste management project located in Rio de Janeiro. This, since its launch, has prevented more than 2.5 million tonnes of CO2 (Certified Emission Reduction) from being emitted into the atmosphere.

Prosegur will gradually extend its emissions offsetting programme to the 26 countries in which it operates. The next region to enter the project will be Asia-Pacific and that will be followed by Ibero-America.

This initiative continues the measures already implemented by the company to reduce emissions from its activities. These have included hybridisation and electrification of its vehicles which, last year, reached 10% of the fleet.

De La Rue Scores on CO2 Emissions

The Financial Times’ inaugural listing of Europe’s Climate Leaders includes De La Rue among the top 300, in 24th place.

The new FT listing, published in advance of the UN Climate Change Conference (COP26) in the UK later this year and compiled by research company Statista, includes the 300 companies that achieved the great reduction in their greenhouse gas emissions intensity between 2014 and 2019 (missions intensity is defined as tonnes of emissions of CO2-equivalent per €1 million of revenue).

They only take account of so-called Scope 1 and Scope 2 emissions — that is, respectively, those directly produced by a company itself, and those produced in generating the energy used by the company. Scope 3 emissions, which occur at all other points in the value chain and which can account for the bulk of companies’ emissions – are not factored in, as there is no single standard for reporting them.

All European companies – defined as having headquarters in one of 33 European countries – with a minimum revenue of €40 million in 2019 were eligible for consideration.

The UK is home to by the far the largest number of companies on the list, 94 in total, followed by Switzerland and Germany with 35 each.

De La Rue came in at 24 on the list, with a 32.1% reduction in core emissions year-on-year from 2014-19 aligned with revenue growth (the highest score on the list was 52%, the lowest 4.4%). In terms of total reduction in core GCH emissions over the same period, the figure was 85.7%, putting it at No 17 on the list.

Large Scale Expansion for KRYPTEN

KRYPTEN Research and Production Company, the Russian producer of optical features for banknotes and other secure documents, is planning a large-scale expansion of its production and technological capacity in 2021.

The company, which is located in the Dubna region of Moscow, will launch a chemical laboratory, enlarge the space and research capabilities of its holographic laboratory, install two new wide web embossing machines and modernise a range of printing equipment.

The new Chemical Laboratory will exercise input control of raw materials and the synthesis of components for production. The laboratory specialists will be able to develop a wide range of chemical compositions that are used in the manufacture of holographic elements and develop chemical compositions that meet the special requirements for the manufacturing of security printing products.

Meanwhile the holographic laboratory will be equipped with a new set-up for digital recording of its proprietary 3D-Gram™ photopolymer holograms, for which it is actively developing new features to expand its portfolio.

On the manufacturing side, it is developing additional large format master shim production and another UV recombination unit. It will also complete the installation of two new 1200mm wide web embossers that will enable it increase the output of its holographic elements by ‘several times’. The equipment for vacuum deposition, polymer extrusion and printing will also be upgraded.

Auction of Swedish Banknote Printing Line

An auction has just concluded of 42 lots of banknote production equipment from the former Crane Currency printworks in Sweden.

The sale was conducted by Troostwijk Auctions of the Netherlands. Viewing and collection information was provided only by email, and before anyone could bid in the sale, registration had to be approved and a buyer’s acknowledgement document had to be signed and returned.

The sale listing included offset, intaglio and silk screen presses, varnishing and packaging lines, offset plate processing and water treatment, among other equipment, along with spare parts. Most of the equipment is less than 20 years old, having been purchased and installed from 2004 onwards by Crane from KBA-NotaSys (now Koenig & Bauer Banknote Solutions) when it bought the printing plant in Tumba from the Sveriges Riksbank in 2002.

In 2018, it announced that it would close the Tumba plant and move all its banknote printing to its new facility in Malta. It has maintained its international headquarters in Tumba, however, along with its design team and paper mill.

Sweden’s banknotes are now produced by De La Rue, Riksbank having terminated its contract with Crane after the closure was announced.