Firm going for growth with £19m war chest

May 8 2008 by Karen Dent, The Journal

ANTI-counterfeiting company OpSec has secured a £19m war chest to help fund its ambitious expansion plans.

The Washington based group, which also operates in the US, agreed the banking facility with the Royal Bank of Scotland as it pushes ahead with its plans to grow organically and through acquisitions.

It comes just a month after the AIM-listed group announced it had acquired Light Impressions Ltd in a deal worth more than £6.5m. The Surrey-based business makes holographic authentication devices which are popular in the Far East and gives OpSec a foothold in the Asian market.

OpSec group finance director Mike Angus said: “In order to build up our company’s success to date and meet our future growth aspirations, including several acquisitions in the coming year, it was essential to have the necessary funding in place and we are delighted this has now been arranged.

“We believe the markets for our anti-counterfeiting products continue to expand and that there are opportunities to enhance OpSec’s position in these markets.”

OpSec, which employs 85 people in the UK and almost 200 in the US, provides anti-counterfeiting technology to more than 40 governments worldwide. Its ID Techologies branch uses its own patented colour shifting film to ensure that passports, driving licences and national identity cards are authentic.

Its technologies are also used to protect banknotes and high security documents such as tax stamps from counterfeiting. And OpSec equipment guards the brands of more than 100 corporate clients both physically and online.

OpSec, which had sales of £16.3m in the six months to the end of September 2007, has become a major force in its sector. The company, which was previously known as Applied Optical Technologies, suffered from a sales slump in 2005 which forced it to axe more than 80 jobs.

Managing director Andrew Mills said the decision to focus on the business’s key markets, products and customers was behind the turnaround.

He said: “We are now in a position to grow the business from the loss making position we were in four years ago. We couldn’t do that until we had secured the finances. We have focused on our core markets. We divested our packaging business and we decided not to go after the euro bank note any more. We have got where we are today by continued consolidation of the security market.”

Although he would not name any of the business OpSec is interested in acquiring because of confidentiality issues, he said: “We are always looking at companies. We are always in dialogue.”

OpSec also intends to use part of the £19m RBS funding package to refinance its existing banking facilities and improve its working capital facilities.

John Dryden, director corporate banking at RBS in the North East, said: “The business is entering an exciting period and the funding structure that has been put in place provides OpSec with the platform to continue the growth and success it has achieved.

“We look forward to supporting them with their growth aspirations and strategic corporate objectives.”