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De La Rue has announced that it will continue to print banknotes at its factory in Malta.

This is a turnaround from last December when the company announced major redundancies at its Malta banknote printing plant, with reportedly a view of eventually phasing out banknote printing activities within the country.

A press release from De La Rue confirms that it will continue to print currency within the new Centre of Excellence for Identity and Security Print in Malta, which is being built as part of a global investment of €33 million in equipment, factory upgrades and skills.

As such, the banknote printer has confirmed that, contrary to previous intentions, it will not be reducing its workforce and therefore will not be offering further voluntary retirement schemes. In fact, De La Rue has said that it has a revised need for an increased workforce of around 500 in Malta.

Speaking of the announcement, Malta’s Prime Minister, Joseph Muscat, said

“Malta has a long and proud relationship with De La Rue, and we are delighted that following continuous engagement between the two sides, the company has decided to continue to print currency here in addition to the Global Centre of Excellence for Identity and Security Print. Yet again, Malta has demonstrated why it is such a great place to do business. We continue to attract and retain great businesses here, and we are delighted that De La Rue will continue printing currency here. Malta is committed to new training programmes that will help the industry source more trained individuals ready to enter this sector.”

The announcement follows the release of De La Rue’s 2016/17 half year profits, showing “Solid performance underpinned by strong order book and good strategic progress”.

Malta: a banknote printing hub?

This announcement from De La Rue comes exactly 2 months after Crane Currency announced that it would set up a $100 million banknote printing plant in Malta. This news will no doubt come as a welcome relief to the skilled workers based in Malta.

To read the full press release from De LA Rue click here.

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