De La Rue to reduce banknote printing capacity

LONDON (Reuters) - Banknote printer De La Rue (DLAR.L) plans to reduce its paper production as part of cost-saving plans over the next few years to bring production into line with falling demand for paper banknotes, it said on Wednesday.

The company, which prints over 150 national currencies as well as UK passports, said it would reduce its production lines to four from eight and its print capacity to 6 billion banknotes a year, down from 8 billion.

De La Rue has struggled to maintain its sector dominance in the face of continuing price pressure from competitors in recent years, leading to a number of profit warnings.

The measures, which include closing banknoteproduction in Malta, would help the group to make savings in excess of 13 million pounds a year from 2018/19, in addition to the group's existing cost-saving initiatives, it said in a statement.

Last week the company said it would launch a "root and branch" review of its cash-sorting machines business after first-half profits fell by more than a third.

(Reporting by Li-mei Hoang; Editing by David Goodman)