SHARE prices soared for a banknote giant after it confirmed a takeover bid had been made.
Hampshire-based De La Rue saw it shares shoot up by 26 percent after the approach.
However, bosses called the potential offer “highly preliminary and opportunistic”.
Rumours are that a £750m offer has been put in by French rival Oberthur Technologies.
The troubled De La Rue hit the headlines after a production crisis at its Overton plant, pictured below, in Hamp-shire.
Following an internal probe bosses claimed staff had falsified paper specification test certificates and a further investigation is currently being carried out by the Serious Fraud Office.
These problems cost the firm £35m and the scalp of boss James Hussey.
Furthermore the company, which prints notes for the Bank of England and more than 150 national currencies, claimed its volumes are likely to fall by a fifth due to a drop in demand.
The group has posted a 57 percent rise in pre-tax profits to £69.4 million in the six months to September 25 but only after the sale of assets and the closure of a pension scheme.
Shares fell by 12 per cent following the release of the figures.
Chairman Nicholas Brookes has taken over as chief executive on an interim basis following the resignation of Mr Hussey.
The group said Tim Cobbold, the former head of industrial group Chloride, was its preferred candidate to head up the firm.
James Bishop, an analyst at Investec Secur-ities, said there was potential for De La Rue to drive a good price for the business.
He said: “While the short-term quality problems are material, De La Rue has a very strong market position in a market that has little spare capacity to produce an obviously valuable product.
“We would, hence, expect a materially higher bid to be necessary to secure support.”
De La Rue not only prints banknotes, but supplies security documents such as passports, authentication labels and fiscal stamps, and provides cash and sorting equipment to banks.
It launched the new UK passport earlier this year which features complex images to help prevent fraud.
The group was awarded the £400 million ten-year contract last year.
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