A COMPANY that literally has licence to print money has continued its run of honours.

Banknote printer De La Rue has won yet another Queen's Award for Innovation.

It is the 11th time since 1966 that the Basingstoke-headquartered company has received the prestigious accolade, which recognises and rewards outstanding achievement by UK firms - this time for its StarChrome banknote thread.

The award was presented by the Lord Lieutenant of Hampshire, Mary Fagan, at the company's De La Rue Currency site in Overton, watched by customers from the Reserve Bank of India and the Bank of Mozambique, deputy borough mayor and mayoress Councillor George and Davina Hood, and representatives of Overton Parish Council.

Mrs Fagan said: "De La Rue are global leaders, but you can only remain in the lead and at the forefront through innovation these days, and this is why this particular award is so important and was so well won."

Before the presentation, one of Mrs Fagan's deputies, Julian Sheffield, who was formerly chairman of Portals before the paper mill was bought by De La Rue, gave a rundown of the company's history and its achievements.

StarChrome is one of De La Rue Currency's most successful authentication features and is a wide security thread in the paper that exhibits a distinctive colour changing effect as the note is tilted.

The visual effect has resulted in a rapid and widespread adoption of the feature by customers for both unprinted paper and printed banknotes.

Chief executive Leo Quinn said: "Everybody in this room knows that the last three years have been extraordinarily successful, by virtue of all the hard work and determination of all of our 6,000 employees around the world."

Paying particular tribute to employees in Overton, Mr Quinn added: "We are delighted to receive this award and I would like to congratulate all the members of the multi-disciplinary team at De La Rue Currency who were involved in the development of this innovative and highly successful banknote feature.

"Innovation is the life-blood of De La Rue's business.

"The past year has underlined this dedication with one of our most successful years ever for the launch of new products and the introduction of authentication features to the market."