De La Rue denies a cheap sale of Camelot
Banknote printer De La Rue today admitted it is considering selling its stake in the National Lottery operator Camelot but denies it will be at a knockdown price.
Analysts suggested that four of Camelot's original five shareholders - De La Rue, Japanese IT firm Fuijitsu, Cadbury, and French defence group Thales - could sell their combined 80% stake for around £250 million.
The fifth shareholder, Royal Mail, is not involved in the potential sale.
De La Rue today told the stock market that "it is considering a review of its options in relation to its shareholding in Camelot and will only pursue any outcomes that fully reflect the value of its investment in Camelot."
A Thales spokeswoman similarly said: "The four shareholders have informed Camelot that, should a sale process result from this review, this would be subject to achieving an acceptable price for their shareholdings."
Camelot won an eight-year licence to run the National Lottery when it started in 1993 and this was renewed in 2001. At this beginning of this year it was awarded a 10-year licence with an option to extend it by another five years.
Under the terms of the latest licence profits for Camelot are supposed to be between 0.3% and 0.5% of total revenues which last year were just under £5 billion.
Last month Camelot said it wanted to axe around 250 jobs out of a total staff of 880 to cut costs from 5% of revenues to 4%.
