De La Rue in scrap with top investor over its lacklustre performance

Banknote printer De La Rue has become embroiled in a spat with its second-largest shareholder over its lacklustre performance.

The business, which has been struggling since 2018 when it lost the lucrative contract to print Britain’s post-Brexit passports, is locked in a battle with investment firm Crystal Amber.

Crystal Amber – run by activist investor Richard Bernstein – accused De La Rue of defamation, after revealing that the chairman Kevin Loosemore had suggested Bernstein was plotting market manipulation.

Crystal Amber chairman Christopher Waldron said the comments were ‘inconsistent with how a chairman of a listed plc should engage with a long-term and significant part-owner’.

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