Photo-Me International

Photo-Me International plc (LSE: PHTM) based in Bookham, Surrey operates photobooths. It became a plc in 1963 and has built operations in several countries including Indonesia, Japan, Philippines, Germany and France in addition to the UK. Although most well known for its photobooths, Photo-Me operates, sells and services a range of instant service equipment.

The Company's shares have been listed on the London Stock Exchange since 1962. In 2007 Vernon Sankey and Serge Crasnianski were both forced to resign over plans to sell off the vending division by a shareholder revolt.^[1]

In February 2009 there was a profit warning ^[2] and in March 2009 chief executive Thierry Barel resigned.^[3]

Serge Crasnianski was reappointed to the Board as a Non-Executive Director in May 2009 . He was subsequently appointed Deputy Chairman and Joint Chief Executive and in May 2010 assumed the role of Chief Executive.

Following his reappointment, a major restructuring was carried out at KIS and the Group after losses of £6.3 million in 2008 and recorded a pre-tax profit of £1.6 million in the year ending April 30, 2009. In the year to April 30, 2010, the Group’s loss-making wholesale photo-processing labs business was sold and pre-tax profits were reported at £14.0 million. Of note was the £31.6 million improvement in the overall cash position such that the net cash on the Balance Sheet was £8.1 million compared to net debt of £23.5 million the previous year.^[4]

Photo-Me equipment in Castle Court, N Ireland.

Fotofix electronic booth in Germany.

References

External links

• Photo-Me UK
• Profit concerns
• Reuters article on Crasniaski buy back
• Website dedicated to photobooths