Record Year for The Royal Mint

The Royal Mint (TRM) announced a 27.3% increase in sales to £1.4 billion and pre-tax profit of £18 million for the year ending 31 March 2022, an increase of 45% over the previous year, largely due to higher precious metals sales in the UK, US and Europe.

This is the largest profit since TRM became a vested (limited) company in 2010. TRM is owned by the UK Treasury and will pay it a record dividend of £5 million.

In recognition of its record performance, employees were awarded a ‘profit share’ payment of just under £5,000 each.

The result marks the end of a three-year business transformation strategy led by CEO Anne Jessopp, which has seen it, the UK’s oldest manufacturer, successfully evolve into a consumer brand, expanding into precious metals, investment products, the sale of historic coins, jewellery, and luxury collectibles.

Of note was that this was the second consecutive year in which TRM’s profit has been driven entirely by its consumer facing divisions as the use of circulating coin declines.

In the year it made 339 million circulating coins for the UK, and 1.5 billion coins and blanks for 22 countries worldwide. Its Precious Metals division now accounts for almost half of total profitability. This evolution, TRM said, is helping to safeguard the business and employment for the future.

The Mint has committed to becoming a leader in sustainable precious metals as part of a new five-year strategy. In 2023 it will open a multi-million-pound plant to recover gold and other metals from circuit boards using patented chemistry to generate hundreds of kilograms of precious metals annually. It noted that during the last financial year, record numbers of investors hedged their portfolios with physical precious metals, and new customers were attracted through TRM’s digital savings accounts and the introduction of a range of Diwali-inspired gold bars.

Another notable event during last year was the launch of a new auction programme to offer rare and historic numismatic works of art. An auction of unique ‘trial pieces’ used in coin production raised over £370,000.

In yet another first, TRM was commissioned by a private collector to make the largest coin in its history – a 15kg gold ‘Masterwork’ to mark the late Queen’s Platinum Jubilee. It took over 500 hours to craft.

Graham Love, TRM Chairman, said of the results that ‘it is a rare privilege to see a business transform, and an even greater privilege to be part of a team that transforms at a scale and speed of The Royal Mint.’ Anne Jessopp, CEO, added that ‘over the last three years we have embarked on an ambitious plan to transform The Royal Mint for the future. I am proud of what we have achieved, and the new chapter that has opened up for a 1,100-year-old business’.