De La Rue announces anti-counterfeiting partnership with Optel

De La Rue, which recently lost out on a £490m contract to make the post-Brexit blue passports, has announced a strategic partnership with Optel to address the growing threat of global counterfeiting.

The partnership between the two will leverage "an unparalleled" level of knowledge, capability and global reach to offer brand owners solutions which ensure product visibility and authenticity from manufacture to the end consumer.

De La Rue said on Monday that the combination of its expertise and Optel’s unique serialisation software will enable new anti-counterfeiting solutions, making the nature of this partnership technological as well as strategic.

The companies will collaborate closely on new product development and broad customer engagement in order to further fight counterfeiting and protect brands. The cost of counterfeiting in 2017 is estimated to be $1.2trn and growing, according to Research and Markets, so developing new products to address this is vital for both business and the consumer, De La Rue said.

Chief executive officer Martin Sutherland said: "A key part of De La Rue’s strategy is growth within the product authentication market. Following the acquisition last year to create De La Rue Authentication Systems, this partnership with Optel further enhances the skills and capabilities to accelerate our ambitions in this sector."

Optel President Louis Roy said: "Optel has always been an innovative and customer-centric company, so we are always pleased to use our technologies to help develop something new that will create value. The capability fit between our two companies is very clear. Beyond that, we are excited about this opportunity because we share a common belief in responsible and sustainable business. Our complementary technologies and shared values make me confident that this partnership will flourish."

At 1035 BST, De La Rue shares were up 0.4% to 513p.