18 March 2022                                                                                                                     
REACH

DE LA RUE PLC

UPDATE ON RESPONSIBLE BUSINESS ACTIVITIES - ENVIRONMENT, SOCIAL, GOVERNANCE (ESG)

De La Rue plc (LSE: DLAR) ("De La Rue") has recently submitted targets to the Science Based Targets Initiative to reduce our greenhouse gas emissions, consistent with limiting global temperature increases to no more than 1.5°C.  We are also setting out in more detail the Company's priorities in the areas of Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) responsibility.

De La Rue's purpose of securing trust between people, businesses and governments reflects our long-held belief that we have a responsibility to operate in a way that benefits the world around us: for our customers, our employees, the wider communities in which we work and the natural environment.  Our strategy encompasses clear commitments to lead our industry in sustainability, to protect and respect our people and to maintain the highest ethical and governance standards in the conduct of our business.

At De La Rue, we have proactively taken steps to lead our industry on environmental sustainability for many years.  We have been certified for ISO14001 in the UK since 2003 and for all our manufacturing sites globally since 2011.  Our work in this field has also been recognised externally, being named within the Top 25 of Europe's Climate Leaders by the Financial Times in 2021.

In 2022 we submitted targets to the Science Based Targets Initiative to reduce our greenhouse gas emissions.  These science-based targets support limiting global temperature increases to no more than 1.5°C by reducing all our emissions (scope 1, 2 and 3) by 45% by 2030.  In addition, we have committed to achieve carbon neutrality for our own operations by 2030.  Recent initiatives which help towards this goal include the installation of cool roof technology in our plant in Malta, moving our Certify solution from on-premises hardware installations to a cloud hosted solution and recycling 100% of the polymer waste from our production process.

From a social perspective, inclusivity is at the core of our ways of working.  We believe in treating our colleagues, suppliers, customers and the communities in which we operate in an ethical and respectful way.  Our principle of 'Be heard, be valued, be you' underpins the way in which we build the strength of diversity of the people within De La Rue.  It articulates our focus on demographic diversity, organisational diversity and cognitive diversity. 

At De La Rue, we are proud of our 50:50 male/female ratio at both Board and Executive Leadership Team level.  However, our commitment to diversity runs much deeper than these headlines.  To achieve a culture of trust and respect we have a range of initiatives.  For example, we train our managers in hiring best practice and monitor the diversity of our applicant pool.  We hold employee forums and networks to share ideas, views and concerns and use engagement surveys to gather employee feedback.  As an active participant in the UNGC Target Gender Equality initiative, we have been able to benchmark ourselves and share learning with other companies.

As befits the sensitive nature of our business, we uphold the highest ethical standards in the way that we operate.  We are one of the founding members of the Banknote Ethics Initiative and a supporter of the Institute of Business Ethics.  As well as normal reporting lines, we have a number of Ethics Champions across the business to which employees can report any concerns.

Underpinning all this is our governance structure which provides the framework within which ethically-based, well-considered decisions about the business can be made.  In the interests of transparency, our website, which we have recently refreshed, sets out the key components of De La Rue's governance structure.

More detail on our responsible business culture can be found at www.delarue.com/responsible-business. 

Clive Vacher, Chief Executive Officer of De La Rue commented, "De La Rue has long been the industry leader on environmental sustainability and we are continuing our journey to net zero by setting SBTi and Carbon Neutrality targets.  We have a strong commitment to the highest ethical standards in all areas of our business and continue to execute world-class governance policies and procedures.  I am delighted to showcase the hard work that our teams are undertaking to maintain and improve those standards."

De La Rue plc's LEI code is 213800DH741LZWIJXP78.

Cautionary note regarding forward-looking statements

This announcement includes statements that are, or may be deemed to be, "forward-looking statements". These forward-looking statements can be identified by the use of forward-looking terminology, including the terms "believes", "estimates", "anticipates", "expects", "intends", "plans", "goal", "target", "aim", "may", "will", "would", "could" or "should" or, in each case, their negative or other variations or comparable terminology. These forward-looking statements include all matters that are not historical facts. They appear in a number of places throughout this announcement and include statements regarding the intentions, beliefs or current expectations of the directors, De La Rue or the Group concerning, amongst other things, the results of operations, profitability, financial condition, liquidity, prospects, growth and strategies of De La Rue and the industry in which it operates.

By their nature, forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties because they relate to events and depend on circumstances that may or may not occur in the future and may be beyond De La Rue's ability to control or predict. Forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance. The Group's actual results of operations, profitability, financial condition, liquidity, prospects, growth and/or strategy and the development of the industry in which it operates may differ materially from the impression created by the forward-looking statements contained in this announcement. In addition, even if the results of operations, profitability, financial condition, liquidity, prospects, growth and/or strategy of the Group and the development of the industry in which it operates are consistent with the forward-looking statements contained in this announcement, those results or developments may not be indicative of results or developments in subsequent periods.

Other than in accordance with its legal or regulatory obligations, De La Rue does not undertake any obligation to update or revise publicly any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.