CRISIS in the eurozone and regime change across the Arab world and North Africa is offering bank note printer De La Rue (DLR) new business opportunities.

A contract to print money for South Sudan, the worlds newest nation, helped to lift sales at the business which employs about 180 workers in Gateshead - its biggest UK factory.

Tim Cobbold, chief executive, said it had taken six months to manufacture and design a new currency for the country which was formed at the end of Africa's longest-running civil war, but he hoped the group would have lasting relationship with the new regime.

DLRs sales were up to £238.1m from £209.2m a year ago as it forged ahead with its turnaround plans following a sharp fall in profits last year.

Tim Cobbold, the firms chief executive, declined to comment on reports that DLR was in the process of delivering a further shipment of cash to Libya to solve a shortage of banknotes in the country. In February, the Government prevented DLR from delivering a consignment of cash after the fallen Gaddafi regime instigated a crackdown on protesters.

Mr Cobbold, who joined the firm in January, also wouldnt be drawn on the potential benefits of any European states quitting the eurozone and reverting to their individual currencies. But he said that DLR was monitoring economic and political shifts "that can create opportunities for us."

DLR is part-way through a recovery plan aimed at achieving an operating profit of more at least 100m within three years and a cost reduction of 30m to address.

Last year, the company announced the suspension of a contract, widely understood to be with the Reserve Bank of India, after production irregularities emerged at its plant in Overton, Hampshire. It said the full financial consequences, such as potential costs of any resolution or potential fines from regulatory authorities, could not yet be estimated.

The Gateshead site has benefitted from a recent restructure which saw DLR plants in Dunstable and Basingstoke earmarked for closure and work shipped to the North-East. The structure of the group has also been simplified into a currency division and a unit covering security products such as passports and driving licences.

The firm, which prints notes for the Bank of England and 150 other countries, reported bottom line pre-tax profits of £27.1m in the six months to September 24, compared to £69.4m the previous year, but stripped of exceptional items, such as the production problems, profits were up to £29m from £23.8m last year.

"Our strong order book in the currency business unit underpins our confidence in meeting our expectations for the full year," added Mr Cobbold.