News in Brief

Record Year for Royal Mint

The Royal Mint (TRM) has announced revenues of £1.4 billion for 2021/22, up by 27% over the previous year, and pre-tax profits of £18 million, up by 45% over the 2020/21 and the largest profit since it was vested as a limited company in 2010.

The results mark the end of a three year business transformation strategy that has seen the UK’s oldest manufacturer evolve into a consumer brand, expanding into precious metals investment products, the sale of historic coins, jewellery and luxury collectibles.

It is also committed to becoming a leader in sustainable precious metals, and in 2023 will open a multimillion pound plant to recover gold from UK electronic waste.

Over the last three years, TRM’s Precious Metals division has grown to account for almost half of total profitability, offsetting the decline of the circulating coin business.

During the year, TRM produced 339 million circulating coins for the UK, and 1.5 billion coins and blanks for 22 countries worldwide. Revenues from the division fell by 30% to £64.1 million, and it recorded a loss of £4.5 million.

The circulating coin business is likely to be boosted in the coming years, however, with the introduction of new coins bearing the effigy of King Charles III. The first, a memorial 50p coin to the late Queen, has now gone into production, and will be issued by the end of the year.

Brinks Buys NoteMachine

The Brink’s Company has acquired the UK division of NoteMachine from investment firm Corsair Capital for approximately $179 million. For the latest financial year, NoteMachine generated revenue of approximately $131 million and adjusted EBITDA of approximately $36 million.

NoteMachine is the second largest provider of ATMs in the UK, operating over 9,0000 machines that process more than 29 million transactions every month and £14 billion each year. As a vertically integrated ATM operator, it uses its own cash centre, engineering and processing infrastructure to provide an end-to-end solution for independent retailers, national accounts and financial institutions.

The acquisition expands the footprint of Brink’s ATM managed services business to approximately 130,000 ATMs worldwide.

‘We have been actively growing our ATM managed services business, both organically and inorganically, and this is an important step in the execution of our long-term strategy,’ commented Mark Eubanks, President and CEO of Brinks. ‘NoteMachine’s expertise, monitoring and dispatch centre, and software technology infrastructure will be of great strategic value in supporting the growth of our global ATM operations, especially those in Europe.’ 

Spectra Amends Contract with Central Bank

Spectra Systems Corporation has announced an amendment to a materials procurement contract with a long-standing central bank customer, which will increase the price of the specified material supplied by c. 21% relative to the current price.

The price increase will apply to the next order and, says Spectra, reflects its proactive efforts to mitigate supply chain issues for the customer by bringing more processing in-house. The price increase portion under the amended contract also has a built-in annual price escalator of approximately 3%.

In the year ended 31 December 2021, Spectra generated revenue of approximately $5.9 million from sales of the specified materials under the earlier procurement contract. In addition, it will receive a $1.3 million one-time payment for the development effort undertaken to be able to provide this capability.

Diebold Refinances, Lowers Outlook

Self service and financial automation specialist Diebold Nixdorf has announced a comprehensive agreement with key financial stakeholders to support transactions that would refinance certain debt with near-term maturities and provide the company with $400 million in new capital. In addition to giving the company enhanced financial flexibility, the new funding will enable it to make strategic investments in the business.

Octavio Marquez, Diebold Nixdorf’s newly appointed President and CEO, expressed thanks to the company’s lenders and noteholders for their continuing support, and gave a financial update. By the end of the year, the backlog of orders is expected to be approximately $1.3 billion, whilst 70% of the $2.1 billion income from its Services Business is recurring.

It has also revised its operating forecast for full-year (FY) 2022 and for FY2023 and FY2024. Revenues for 2022, originally in the $3.55-3.75 billion range, have been reduced to $3.5 billion, rising to $3.97 billion in 2024. Adjusted EBITDA, originally in the $320-350 million range, has now dropped to $293 million, rising to $540 million in 2024.

Prosegur Goes Greener

Cash management company Prosegur has launched a comprehensive lighting project at its main operating base and flagship building in Madrid, Spain, involving the replacement of all lighting with LED lamps and the instatllation of photovoltaic solar panels to cover part of its consumption with self-generated energy.

The lighting project will enable the company to reduce its consumption by 58% compared to the previous installation, avoiding the emission of more than 129 tonnes of CO2 per year. In addition, the installation of photovoltaic panels will reduce consumption by an estimated 14%, and avoid the emission of more than 62 tonnes of CO2 each year.

This project is in line with other initiatives developed by Prosegur, including the installation of photovoltaic panels in 15 buildings in Brazil, tree planting and the deployment of electric CIT vehicles. The intention is to roll out the LED lighting and other energy efficiency measures in another ten corporate buildings in Spain and Portugal.

In the next phase, Prosegur says it will implement technological energy management systems in its main locations that will allow consumption patterns to be controlled and reduced by up to 10% through remote measurement, sensors and data analysis.