Crystal Amber is headed by Richard Bernstein, and has previously called for the group to be broken up. 

Yesterday (27 October), De La Rue confirmed that it had received a request from Crystal Amber that chairman Kevin Loosemore should resign immediately. 

In its statement, De La Rue said: “The board has engaged with Crystal Amber on a number of occasions to understand its concerns and so is disappointed that it has chosen to pursue this course of action, particularly in light of the overwhelming support (97.8%) received from shareholders for the re-election to the board of Kevin Loosemore at the Company’s Annual General Meeting held earlier this year on 27 July.”

The general meeting will be held on 2 December, when the group’s shareholders will have their say on the Crystal Amber motion. 

Crystal Amber was De La Rue’s third-largest shareholder at the financial year-end of 26 March 2022, with a 9.95% stake. 

The biggest shareholder was Schroders with just over 15%. 

Three years ago Bernstein also called for De La Rue’s then-chairman to go after a turbulent period including the loss of its £490m contract to product UK passports, and subsequent departure of its CEO at the time.

De La Rue’s share price has been on the up over the past month, and was at 93.00p at the time of writing. However the 52 week high is 177.80p (low: 71.10p).