Revenue for the six months to 29 September 2012 rose from £238.1m to £245.4m, while pre-tax profit increased from £27.1m to £27.9m. Operating profit excluding exceptional items of £3.6m, relating to its Improvement Plan, was up 5% at £33.2m.

Banknote print volume was up 4% from 2.8bn to 2.9bn notes, but paper output fell 15% from 5,300 tonnes to 4,500 tonnes. This sent currency revenues down 7% to £139.7m, although operating profit before exceptional items was up 1% at £22.4m thanks to lower cotton prices and ongoing cost reductions.

The Improvement Plan, which delivered benefits of £4m in the period and £12m to date, was said to be on track to deliver cost savings of £30m per annum and an operating profit in excess of £100m in 2013/14.

De La Rue highlighted a number of revenue growth measures taken under the Improvement Plan, including the launch of a new polymer note, the first of which will come into circulation next month, with manufacturing capacity of up to 1bn notes per annum due to come online in 2013/14.

Cost reduction measures such as the consolidation of De La Rue's Stroudley Road and Dunstable factories into its Westhoughton and Gateshead facilities, was said to be "well advanced" with all manufacturing operations due to have been relocated by the end of this financial year, realising savings of £6m per annum from April 2013.

However, the much-publicised paper production issues that rocked the company in 2010 continue to cast a Damoclean shadow over the De La Rue's goals, with the financial fallout still an uncertainty.

A note in this week's accounts stated that while provision had been made in previous years for the costs associated with the paper production issues, including the write off of trade receivables, "provision has not been made for the potential cost of resolutions or for potential fines from regulatory authorities".

"The nature and extent of these resolutions will be the subject of ongoing discussions, the outcome of which cannot be reliably estimated at present. The timing, response and outcome of the consideration by the authorities of the reported findings of the investigation is also uncertain and the financial consequences, if any, cannot be estimated reliably at present," it added.

Earlier this month De La Rue downgraded its full year outlook due to delays to a number of "significant orders".