De La Rue drops challenge to passport contract

Can't really say I am surprised by De La Rue's decision, but the motives are a joy to read:

"We've done our homework, we've taken legal advice, we've looked at, frankly, the likelihood of overturning the decision and the sensible thing for us to do is to refocus our efforts elsewhere and to move forward."

and

"Following four weeks of intense consideration and clear legal advice, we have taken the decision not to challenge the award of the UK passport contract."

Seriously, was that no evident already two weeks ago? Or was it all an outburst to be seen doing something?

Bonus points for burying the news of the profit warning with the announcement of dropping the challenge. It will be interesting to see if the "profit warning should lead to lost contracts" brigade which sprung after Carillion's demise will be calling for their pound of flesh of De La Rue now.