Banknote printer De La Rue has announced its plans to buy back shares as it reported an increase of 1 per cent in pre-tax profits to £97 million on revenue of £561 million for the year ended March 27th.

Revenue jumped 12 per cent, while earnings per share jumped from 50.4p to settle at 70.5p, prompting the printer to increase its full-year dividend by 3 per cent to 42.3p as the group has plans to pay a final dividend of 28.2p.

De La Rue chief executive James Hussey said that figures showed group's buoyancy in the doubtful economic environment.

De La Rue has also said that some of the proceeds from the sale of its stake in Camelot would be used to hack its £204 million pension deficit. The group added that its pension deficit grew nearly four-folds during the three years to April 2009 due to recent financial crisis and improvements in life expectancies.

De La Rue has plans to terminate its defined benefit pension plan from April 2013, for a one-off benefit in the fiscal 2011 income statement of around £16 million and around £20 million reduction in the deficit.

Shares in De La Rue slipped 1p to close at 890p-a-share.