The company announced today that it has been selected as the preferred bidder to design and produce the UK passport for the Identity and Passport Service (IPS), part of the Home Office.

James Hussey, chief executive of De La Rue, said: "As a British company, producing passports and identity documents for more than 50 governments, De La Rue is proud to be selected to bring its expertise to this project.

"This contract further reinforces De La Rue's strong growth in the identity sector."

However, the news will come as a blow to the incumbent passport printer 3M Security Printing Systems (SPSL), a division of 3M, which had already been producing biometric passports.

In July last year, 3000 passports were stolen from a delivery van sent out from SPSL..

A spokesman for 3M said: "We remain focused on the current contract, which will continue until 4 October 2010. During this transition period we will continue to provide excellent service and quality to IPS, as we have over many years."

De La Rue has a long history of passport production having produced its first passport in 1915. Its Identity Systems division has now implemented more than 50 national schemes across the globe.