Under the terms of the agreement Austriacard has acquired 100% of Nitecrest shares, while the leadership team of the Lancashire-based firm retain their director positions and join the board of the newly-formed group, with equity status.

Following a merger around 18 months ago between Austriacard and Andorra-based specialist security firm Tag Systems, with which Nitecrest has operated a joint venture (JV), Tag Nitecrest, printing payment cards since 2016, all the businesses will now operate under the Austriacard Holdings umbrella.

“When Austriacard and Tag Systems merged, our JV became part of the group so it made sense for us to complete this merger,” said Ronnie Hart, who is chairman of Nitecrest and Tag Nitecrest and chief executive of Nitecrest.

“We are personalising a lot of cards for the new challenger banks and they are very focused on international growth outside of the UK. So, this merger means we can service those customers locally.

“When data comes in for lost or stolen or new cards the banks want them in the customer's hands within 24-48 hours and you can’t do that from the UK. So, we can now use our international presence to service those banks that are rapidly expanding into Europe and the US. That’s where we will see a lot of growth,” he explained.

“It’s the same with retailers who are expanding internationally. Obviously, Brexit has caused some distribution issues, so we are just much more able to service customers at a local level.”

Hart continued: “Additionally, for the high street banks, they want disaster recovery sites so that if anything happened to our site we could transfer production easily elsewhere. It’s easier with traditional print, but with security printing it takes a lot of setup. When you’re just one business it’s more challenging but this gives us multiple sites and makes us a stronger force.”

Nitecrest operates from a 13,000sqm facility in Lancashire. In 2020 Nitecrest and Tag Nitecrest’s consolidated turnover was €30m (£25.3m), employing around 160 people.

The Lancashire site houses a huge range of kit including an HP Indigo, two Koenig & Bauer litho presses and a raft of specialist finishing and personalisation kit resulting from major investments over the last five years including a Sakurai MS 80 SD, an Otto Künnecke KS 104 P two-stage punch and a Kern K91 plastic card affixing and inserting machine.

Austriacard Holdings operates seven production facilities and seven personalisation centres across Europe, one in the US and one in South America. At a pro-forma level in 2020 the combined group of Austriacard, Nitecrest and Tag Nitecrest turned over €200m with a 1,600-strong workforce.

“Following the successful merger with Tag Systems in recent years, Austraicard's decision to join forces with Nitecrest was straightforward, the latter being a leading provider for cards and services in the UK with sales globally, as well as the undisputed leader for Europe’s fintechs, through Tag Nitecrest. The fit was perfectly complementary,” said group chief executive of Vienna-based Austriacard Holdings, Panagiotis Spyropoulos.

“At group level we are about to change the game,” added Leeroy Pye, Tag Nitecrest chief executive.

“Our fintech and challenger bank customer adoption takes the entire group into a new era, as we shall be able for the first time to offer product-led core banking services. We are partnering with key companies around the globe, to flip card-issuing on its head and take the helm to delivering the next generation of payment cards.”