3 November 2022

DE LA RUE PLC

NOTICE OF GENERAL MEETING

Further to the announcement on 27 October 2022 that a general meeting of De La Rue plc (the "Company" or "De La Rue") would be convened to be held on Friday 2 December 2022 (the "General Meeting"), the Company announces that it has today made available to Shareholders notice of the General Meeting (the "GM Notice") together with an associated Form of Proxy. The General Meeting will be held on Friday 2 December 2022 at 2.00pm at De La Rue House, Jays Close, Basingstoke, Hampshire, RG22 4BS, United Kingdom.

The General Meeting will have one resolution, which is to approve Kevin Loosemore continuing in office as a Director of the Company and Chairman of the Board of Directors (the "Resolution").

The Board of Directors (the "Board") unanimously and unequivocally recommends to all De La Rue Shareholders that they vote in favour of the Resolution.

If De La Rue Shareholders do not vote in favour of the Resolution and the Resolution is not passed, Kevin Loosemore will leave the Board and the Company with immediate effect.  If the Resolution is passed, Kevin Loosemore will continue to serve as a Director of the Company and Chairman of its Board until the Company's next Annual General Meeting, when Kevin will offer himself for re-election in the normal course.

De La Rue Shareholders may wonder why this vote is necessary given that, only in July this year, 97.8% of voting Shareholders voted to re-elect Kevin Loosemore as Chairman at the Company's Annual General Meeting.

As announced by the Company on 27 October 2022, Crystal Amber Fund Limited ("Crystal Amber"), has recently requested that Kevin Loosemore resign with immediate effect.  The Board has engaged with Crystal Amber on a number of occasions and so is disappointed that it has chosen to pursue this course of action.

However, the Board has concluded that it is in the Company's best interests to bring this matter to a conclusion in short order. This way, the Board and the Company can continue to deliver, without unnecessary distraction, its strategy for the long-term benefit of its Shareholders as a whole.

The Board is firmly committed to taking decisions to ensure the long-term, sustainable success of De La Rue, consistent with the interests of stakeholders as a whole. 

The Board unanimously believes that De La Rue has:

·    The right strategy to deliver the long-term success and value that the Company and its Shareholders deserve, which continues to evolve in response to market conditions; and

·    The right management, leadership and Board experience to execute that strategy.

Additional information for De La Rue Shareholders

The Board believes that the Resolution will promote the success of the Company and is in the best interests of the Company and its Shareholders as a whole. Accordingly, the Board unanimously and unequivocally recommends that De La Rue Shareholders VOTE IN FAVOUR of the Resolution, as each member of the Board intends to do in respect of his or her own respective beneficial holdings, totalling 1,266,215 ordinary shares and representing 0.65% of the issued ordinary share capital of the Company as at 2 November 2022, being the last practicable date prior to publication of the GM Notice.

As required by LR 9.6.1 R, a copy of the GM Notice together with the Form of Proxy has been submitted to the National Storage Mechanism and will shortly be available for inspection on the National Storage Mechanism, https://data.fca.org.uk/#/nsm/nationalstoragemechanism.

As required by DTR 6.3.5 R (3), the Company confirms that the GM Notice together with the Form of Proxy will also shortly be available to view or download from the Company's corporate website, www.delarue.com.  

Enquiries:

About De La Rue

De La Rue plc's purpose is to secure trust between people, businesses and governments. As a trusted partner of governments, central banks and commercial organisations seeking to secure their global supply chains and cash cycles, De La Rue provides highly secure physical and digital solutions that underpin the integrity of economies and trade.

De La Rue's Currency division provides market-leading end-to-end currency solutions, from finished banknotes to secure polymer substrate and banknote security features to over half the central banks and issuing authorities around the world.

Our Authentication division protects revenues and reputations through the provision of physical and digital solutions to governments and commercial organisations. We also manufacture financial documents and ID security components.

De La Rue's 2,300 employees work with organisations in more than 140 countries, leveraging the group's manufacturing facilities in the UK, US, Malta, Sri Lanka and Kenya.

De La Rue's shares are traded on the London Stock Exchange (LSE:DLAR). For further information please visit www.delarue.com.

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", "may", "will", "could", "shall", "risk", "aims", "predicts", "continues", "assumes", "positioned" 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, 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 known and unknown risks, uncertainties, assumptions and other factors because they relate to events and depend on circumstances that will occur in the future whether or not outside the control of the Company. Past performance cannot be relied upon as a guide to future performance and should not be taken as a representation or assurance that trends or activities underlying past performance will continue in the future. Accordingly, investors or potential investors should not place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements. The Group's actual results of operations, financial condition, liquidity 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, financial condition and liquidity 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 these forward-looking statements, which speak only as at the date of this announcement, and will not publicly release any revisions that may be made to these forward-looking statements, which may result from events or circumstances arising after the date of this announcement.