De La Rue to Further Upgrade Production in Malta

De La Rue has announced a major upgrade to its existing facilities in Malta, to turn them into a 29,000 m² state-of-the-art manufacturing site. This investment is supported by Malta’s economic development agency, Malta Enterprise, and the Maltese government.

According to the company, 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.

The site is home to production for both the Currency and Authentication divisions. For the Currency division, it will create De La Rue’s largest banknote facility and a more agile footprint. It also marks a continuation in De La Rue’s progression towards more sustainable manufacturing, which in turn ‘supports our customer base in reducing their environmental impact’.

This project is a progression of De La Rue’s strategy, it says, aligning to and supporting the Turnaround Plan for both divisions. Approximately 100 new jobs will be created in Malta by 2024.

De La Rue’s relationship with Malta dates back to 1860, when it printed the country’s first stamps, and it became the supplier of Malta’s banknotes in 1918, continuing as the sole supplier until Malta entered the Euro in 2008. It opened a purpose-built printworks there in 1975, and built a second facility in 2008. In 2015, it announced the decision to pull out of banknote production in Malta, but reversed this decision the following year, creating a Centre of Excellence for Security Print as part of a €27 million investment. Since then De La Rue has closed down its printworks at Gateshead in the UK, ceasing production last year. The latest investment allows for greater flexibility whilst maximising operational synergies and optimising global overheads, says the company.

The facility is now the largest of four De La Rue printworks around the world and the only wholly-owned one – the others being in Debden in the UK (which it runs under licence from the Bank of England), Sri Lanka and Kenya.

Commenting on the investment, De La Rue’s CEO Clive Vacher said: ‘De La Rue has been manufacturing in Malta since 1975 and we are extremely proud of the skilled workforce we have here. The De La Rue Malta site has a strong track record managing investment, business continuity and consistently meeting targets against our commitments. We continue to be humbled and honoured by the welcome of the Maltese people and government and look forward to long-term continued cooperation.’