Spend money to make money: Mint's $4m loss
Turns out a licence to print money isn't always lucrative.
The Royal Australian Mint is reporting a $4 million annual loss after tax, partly due to a lack of "anniversaries and highly engaging themes" over the last year to print on coins.
The below expectation performance from Australia's sole supplier of coins is also due to changes in government policy, which had a negative impact on major coin collecting markets Germany and China.
The new policy resulted in a higher level of write-offs of slow-moving stock.
And despite the 100th anniversary of the Anzac landings at Gallipoli coming up in April, things don't look like they'll improve in a hurry.
The budget for 2014-15 predicts a further decline in demand for circulating coin as consumers switch to alternative methods of transacting, the Royal Australian Mint's annual report says.
"In the short term, the numismatic market shows no sign of improvement," it states.
Next year marks the Mint's 50th birthday.
