Royal Mint Invests in New Future to Offset Falling Demand

The Royal Mint (TRM) announced its results for 2022/23 which, according to Anne Jessopp, its Chief Executive, was a pivotal year as it embarked on a five year business transformation plan.

Revenue for the year increased by 33.82% to £1.87 billion and operating profit by 27.3% to £17.7 million. The Mint noted that its underlying profit increased to £24.4 million, which enabled significant investment in new businesses aimed at sustainability. In the year it increased its production staff from 457 to 487, its sales and marketing staff from 194 to 242 and its administration staff from 759 to 909.

Although revenue for Currency (circulation coins) increased by 16.1% to £74.4 million, its operating loss increased from £4.5 million in 2021/22 to £13.1 million in 2022/23. Volumes dropped sharply, from 339 million to 56 million. The majority (33 million) were £1 coins. No 1p, 2p or £2 coins were produced.

TRM also sold 1.34 billion coins and blanks to 28 countries in the year (compared with 1.55 billion coins to 22 countries the previous year).

As recently as five years ago, TRM delivered 632 million UK circulating coins. In his Chairman’s statement, Graham Love noted that ‘we appreciate that the way people use coins is changing, and that coin usage is decreasing, and we’re realistic about what that means for the Royal Mint. Our historic core mission remains to ensure the availability of circulating UK coins but alongside that, our plan to transform our business is proving a success’.

TRM’s consumer division, which offers precious metals investments, collectables and historic coins, delivered its most profitable result to date as it continued to grow internationally, increasing its market share in precious metals and releasing the first official coins of King Charles III’s reign. Revenue increased by 21.5% to £149.2 million and operating profit by nearly 11% to £29.8 million.

Notably, TRM’s Precious Metals Investment division has, over the last four years, grown to account for almost half of its operating profits (up 60% to £32.7 million). Revenue increased by 36% to £1.65 billion.

The Mint indicated that its profitability had enabled it to make a significant £6.8 million investment in two new business divisions as part of its five-year transformation strategy, up from £2.8 million the previous year.

First is a new luxury jewellery business – 886 by The Royal Mint – launched in Spring 2022.

Second is a pioneering new factory recovering gold from electronic waste, which is planned to open later this year covering 3,736 m2. TRM invested £9 million out of a total capital expenditure of £15 million in the year on scaling up the factory, which will use patented chemistry to recover precious metals from printed circuit boards in discarded electronic devices, such as mobile phones and laptops, generating hundreds of kilograms of the metals per annum for TRM.

TRM has also developed and is deploying a Sustainability Framework, built around key ESG considerations. As part of its decarbonisation ambitions, it has developed near (2030) and long term (2050) science-based targets for validation by the Science Based Targets Initiative (SBTi). It aims to achieve an absolute reduction on Scope 1 and 2 greenhouse gas (CHG) emissions of 42% by 2030 and 90% by 2050; scope 3 emissions will be reduced by 25% by 2030 and 90% by 2050.