De La Rue Facts for Kids

Quick facts for kids
De La Rue plc

Type	Private
Industry	Printing
Founded	1821; 204 years ago (1821)
Founder	Thomas de la Rue
Headquarters	Basingstoke, Hampshire, England
Key people	Clive Vacher (CEO) Clive Whiley (Chairman)
Revenue	£310.3 million (2024)
Operating income	£5.8 million (2024)
Net income	£(19.1) million (2024)
Owner	Atlas Holdings
Number of employees	1,674 (2024)

De La Rue plc is a British company. It is based in Basingstoke, England. The company creates secure items like banknotes, passports, and special protections for products. They work with governments, banks, and businesses in 140 countries.

De La Rue's authentication team helps governments with things like tax stamps. They also protect brands and make secure ID documents, such as passport pages. Their currency team designs and prints banknotes. They also make special materials and security features for money. This includes security holograms and security threads. De La Rue is the world's biggest company that prints banknotes for others. Since July 2025, the company has been owned by Atlas Holdings.

A Look at De La Rue's History
What De La Rue Does Today
Past Products from De La Rue
Gallery of Products
See Also

A Look at De La Rue's History

How De La Rue Started

The company was started by Thomas de la Rue. He moved from Guernsey to London in 1821. He first made straw hats, then became a printer. In 1831, he received a special permission from the Royal Family. This allowed his business to make playing cards.

Printing Money and Stamps

De La Rue began printing postage stamps in 1855. Five years later, in 1860, they started printing banknotes. The first banknotes they made were for Mauritius. In 1896, the family business became a private company.

Changes Over the Years

The De La Rue family sold their part of the company in 1921. The company was first listed on the London Stock Exchange in 1947. Its name changed a few times over the years. In 1991, it became De La Rue plc.

In 1965, De La Rue teamed up with an Italian printer named Gualtiero Giori. They formed De La Rue Giori in Switzerland. This company built machines for printing banknotes.

Important Purchases

In 1995, De La Rue bought Portals Limited. Portals had been making banknote paper for the Bank of England since 1724. This made De La Rue even stronger in the banknote world.

In 1997, De La Rue bought Harrison and Sons. This company printed stamps and banknotes. Its factory closed in 2003.

In 2002, De La Rue bought Sequoia Voting Systems. This company provided electronic voting systems in the United States.

In 2003, the company took over the banknote printing for the Bank of England at their Debden site. De La Rue also supplied banknotes to Iraq in 2003 and 2004.

Recent Events

In 2016, De La Rue sold its Cash Handling division. In December 2016, they bought the authentication part of DuPont.

In March 2018, the company sold its paper business. De La Rue kept a small share in the new company, Portals International Limited.

In October 2019, the company sold its Identity Solutions business.

In April 2023, Kevin Loosemore stepped down as chairman. Clive Wiley was appointed as the new chairman in May 2023.

In February 2024, De La Rue was chosen to help design new banknotes. These notes will feature King Charles III's portrait.

In October 2024, the company sold its authentication business.

In April 2025, the company agreed to be bought by Atlas Holdings. The deal was completed on July 3, 2025. This meant De La Rue was no longer listed on the London Stock Exchange.

What De La Rue Does Today

The Bank of England printing facility at Debden, operated under contract by De La Rue, which prints Bank of England banknotes.

Making Banknotes

De La Rue sells very secure banknotes. They also provide the special plastic material (polymer) and security features. They do this for over 69 different national currencies.

Secure Printing and Paper

De La Rue also makes other secure documents. These include tax stamps, which are used to show that taxes have been paid on certain goods.

Company Leadership

Clive Wiley is the chairman of the company's board. The board also includes non-executive members Nick Bray, Mark Hoad, and Brian Small.

Past Products from De La Rue

Playing Cards

In 1843, De La Rue's designs for playing cards became the basis for the standard cards we use today. The playing card business was sold in 1969.

Postage Stamps

The company has printed postage stamps for the United Kingdom and its colonies. They also printed stamps for Italy and the Confederate States of America. The famous Cape of Good Hope triangular stamps were also printed by De La Rue.

Writing Tools

De La Rue created the first useful fountain pen in 1881. These pens were sold under the "Onoto" brand. They stopped making fountain pens in Britain in 1958.

Board Games

In the 1930s, De La Rue made several board games. One was a cricket game called Stumpz. Another was Round The Horn, a game about sailing cargo ships.