de la rue disambiguation . de la rue plc type public lse dlar industry printing founded 1821 headquarters basingstoke hampshire united kingdom key people philip rogerson chairman martin sutherland ceo revenue 513.3 million 2014 1 operating income 71.8 million 2014 1 net income 47.9 million 2014 1 website www.delarue.com de la rue plc d l ru or us d l ru is a banknote manufacturer security printing and papermaking company with headquarters in basingstoke hampshire england . it also has a factory on the team valley trading estate gateshead and other facilities at loughton essex and bathford somerset . 2 it is listed on the london stock exchange . contents 1 history 2 operations 2.1 banknotes 2.2 security printing and papermaking 3 past products 3.1 playing cards 3.2 postage stamps 3.3 writing instruments 3.4 board games 4 gallery of products produced by de la rue 5 see also 6 references 7 external links history edit the company was founded by thomas de la rue who moved to london in 1821 and set up in business as a stationer and printer . 3 working as a boy of the streets in 1831 he secured his business a royal warrant to produce playing cards . in 1855 it started printing postage stamps and in 1860 it began printing banknotes . 3 in 1896 the family partnership was converted to a private company . 3 in 1921 the de la rue family sold their interests . 3 it was first listed on the london stock exchange in 1947 . 3 the company then called thomas de la rue & company limited changed its name in 1958 to the de la rue company limited . 3 a takeover bid for de la rue was made by the rank organisation plc in 1968 but this was rejected by the monopolies commission as being against the public interest . 4 in 1991 the company s name was changed again this time to de la rue plc. 3 in 1995 the company acquired portals limited from the portal family . for almost 300 years portals had been regarded as the leading banknote paper manufacturer in the world having manufactured banknote paper for the bank of england since 1724 . 5 in 1997 de la rue acquired harrison and sons the stamp and banknote printers based in high wycombe . 6 in 2003 the company acquired the debden based banknote printing operations of the bank of england . 7 the company was recognized by hermann simon as a role model for other small to medium sized businesses in his book hidden champions . 8 in august 2014 the company announced the appointment of martin sutherland formerly of bae systems applied intelligence as chief executive officer . 9 in 2016 the cash handling division cash processing systems was sold to privet capital . operations edit the debden security printing ltd printing facility owned by de la rue which prints bank of england banknotes . banknotes edit de la rue sells high security paper and printing technology for over 150 national currencies . 10 security printing and papermaking edit de la rue also produces a wide range of other secure documents including 10 passports vouchers tax stamps traveller s cheques driving licences bank cheques postage stamps past products edit playing cards edit in 1843 de la rue established its first overseas trade as de la rue s brother paul travelled to russia to advise on the making of playing cards . thomas de la rue s designs for playing cards are the basis for the modern standard design . the playing card business was sold to john waddington in 1969 . 11 postage stamps edit the company has also printed postage stamps for the united kingdom and some of its colonies for italy and for the confederate states of america . some famous stamps such as the cape of good hope triangulars were printed by de la rue & co. after perkins bacon fell out of favour with the postal authorities of the time . the first 50 years of postage stamp production were chronicled in john easton s the de la rue history of british and foreign postage stamps 1855 1901 faber & faber london 1958 . writing instruments edit de la rue claims to have developed the first practical fountain pen in 1881 and was a leading manufacturer of fountain pens in britain . products were marketed under the onoto brand . production of fountain pens by de la rue ceased in britain in 1958 but continued for a few more years in australia . 12 board games edit during the 1930s de la rue created a number of board games . these included a cricket game stumpz which was produced in a number of different editions and round the horn a game which re created the then annual race of grain laden square rigged sailing cargo ships from australia to london . the games consisted of high quality components and used playing cards as part of the component set . 13 gallery of products produced by de la rue edit the king of diamonds from a de la rue pack c. 1860 . cape of good hope triangular postage stamp of 1853 . a sheet of stamps for st. christopher 1884 . confederate states of america postage stamp 1862 see also edit giesecke & devrient de la rue s primary competitor 2 based in munich . banknotes of the pound sterling hong kong note printing limited commonwealth banknote issuing institutions references edit a b c annual report 2014 pdf . de la rue . retrieved 28 march 2015 . a b how did libyan money come to be printed in britain . bbc . 2011 09 02 . retrieved 2011 09 02 . a b c d e f g de la rue history competition commission reports cash machine . the economist . 11 august 2012 . retrieved 28 march 2015 . up to 350 jobs to go at printing firm . your local guardian . 7 october 2002 . retrieved 28 march 2015 . bank of england sale of bank note printing operations simon hermann hidden champions of the 21st century success strategies of unknown world market leaders . london springer 2009 . isbn 978 0 387 98147 5 . banknote printer de la rue appoints bae s sutherland as boss . the telegraph . 2014 08 29 . retrieved 2014 11 08 . a b about us . delarue.com . retrieved 28 march 2015 . simon wintle . history of de la rue . the world of playing cards . retrieved 28 march 2015 . history of onoto pens . onoto.com . retrieved 28 march 2015 . stumpz by thos . de la rue & co. ltd. . replaycricket.com . retrieved 28 march 2015 . external links edit wikimedia commons has media related to de la rue printers . de la rue company website history of de la rue s playing cards a research website with more detail of de la rue company history article and images of 1930s de la rue board game stumpz retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title de la rue & oldid 743913581 categories companies listed on the london stock exchangemanufacturing companies established in 18211821 establishments in the united kingdommanufacturing companies of the united kingdompostage stamps of the united kingdombanknote printing companiescompanies based in basingstokemints of the united kingdombritish brandshidden categories commons category with local link same as on wikidata navigation menu personal tools not logged intalkcontributionscreate accountlog in namespaces article 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