Company says still expects to receive contracts in time for next year's figures
Banknote printer De La Rue has disappointed the market with news of delays in a number of contracts.
The company's shares have dropped more than 7%, down 79p at 985p, after the news. It said:
A number of significant orders which had been expected and planned for production in the second half of the current financial year have continued to be delayed. It will now be too late for these orders to benefit the current financial year, and as a result the board expects the financial results for the group for 2012/13 will be similar to those for 2011/12.
It said it was confident the delayed orders will be received for shipment in 2013. It gave no further details of the delayed contracts, prompting City wags to suggest one of them might be an order to print Greek drachma. The company has never commented on persistent rumours it might be involved in a revival of the Greek currency if it leaves the eurozone.
All this overshadowed news that first half profits had climbed 5% to £33m, although competition had increased with other manufacturers increasing capacity. Analyst Chris Dyett at Investec cut his price target from £10 to 940p, saying:
We downgrade our 2013 estimated earnings per share by 23%, solely due to the impact of these delays. However, we leave our 2014 estimates unchanged as we expect the orders to be received in due course.
De La Rue would have been the biggest faller in the FTSE 250 if not for Finnish miner Talvivaara Mining Company, down 8.35p to 87.4p on continuing delays at restarting production at its nickel mine in the east of the country. The mine has been leaking water for more than a week.
Paper producer Mondi is down 18.5p at 637p on talk Barclays was placing 19.3m at between 634p and 640p.
 |
| READ THE ORIGINAL POST AT www.guardian.co.uk |
