BANK note printer and anti-counterfeiting specialist De La Rue, which has its biggest money manufacturing factory in Gateshead, says orders have been lower than expected.

But the company, which operates worldwide and employs 400 people at its Team Valley site, says current trading has been “satisfactory” over the last three months.

De La Rue chairman Nicholas Brookes said: “In currency, while the order pipeline remains good, confirmed orders in quarter one for both print and paper were lower than expected, reflecting delays in receipt of orders and the more challenging market conditions for bank note paper referred to in the most recent results announcement.

“We expect volumes for the year to return to the usual weighting towards the second half, unlike the previous financial year.”

The group, which is the world’s biggest commercial bank note printer, also makes identity, cash processing and security products.

It said that the order book for the end of the first quarter stood at similar levels to last year and a “number of important opportunities” are in the pipeline awaiting confirmation for production in the current financial year.

Around 100 additional De La Rue jobs are expected to come to Gateshead before March next year as the company shifts work from Bedfordshire as part of its improvement plan, which is targeting £100m-plus operating profits by 2013/14.

De La Rue, which makes bank notes for more than 150 countries and employs 4,000 people worldwide, reported profits of £63.1m in the year to the end of March as its improvement plan began to bear fruit.