Photo-Me reports six-month revenue up 3.4%, new branding campaign

Instant service equipment company Photo-Me International plc reported six-month revenue was up 3.4% to £94.6 million (2020: £91.5m) brought on by the greater movement of customers. EBITDA increased to £28.7 million from £16.7 million in the prior year period; pre-tax profit increased to £12.0 million. The company also announced restructuring plans, including a rebranding scheme.

“The group has had a better initially expected start to the current financial year, with a promising return to pre-COVID business conditions,” said Serge Crasnianski, CEO and Deputy Chairman. “We have completed a multi-country restructuring program which has radically reorganized our business areas and our country management. This includes a restructuring of operations in the UK, which is expected to return to a cash positive position in the short-to-medium term.

“We are introducing new photo services and upgrading our photobooths. ID photos are proving to be a sustainable market, serviced through our established network and partnerships with site owners, including in the United Kingdom. 

“We continue to have a great success in the rollout of our Revolution laundry machines in petrol forecourt locations, and our first 100 self-service apple juice machines have been delivered to the market alongside our 2,700 orange juice machines. 

“In addition to the above, our new corporate brand name, ME Group, is being rollout across the group, which will reinvigorate the group’s relationship with its B2B partners and consumers. Looking ahead, I am confident of a return to our fundamentals more quickly than previously expected, unless the COVID situation presents new difficulties.”

New corporate brand

Citing new corporate brand strategy to diversify operations, the board said Photo-Me International PLC is in the process of launching a new corporate brand “ME Group”, reflecting the wide range of easy-to-use and convenient vending products and solutions offered by the group, the company said. The “ME Group – Making Easy” branding will be rolled out across all of the Group’s countries of operation in the coming months. 

The company will also rebrand each of its four major business units: Identification will be known as Photo.ME, Kiosks will be known as Print.ME, Laundry as Wash.ME and KIS Food as Feed.ME. Some of the group’s consumer brands will coexist with the ME Group brand in the short-to-medium term, including Revolution Laundry across all geographies, Photomaton in France, and Photo-Me in the United Kingdom. 

As a result of the company’s restructuring plan, Photo-Me reported approximately 5,000 machines were removed from the vending market, but it was only a net decrease of 444 machines. Around 3,800 machines were removed from the United Kingdom (mainly children’s rides and photobooths), 444 from China and 1,000 across Continental Europe (primarily France, the Netherlands and Spain). Some of these machines will be relocated, the company said, adding the group has continued to expand by installing 1,500 machines in Europe and 1,700 machines in Japan (including Plaza Create machines).

Results by selected segments 

Identification – Photobooths and integrated biometric identification solutions

Identification revenue grew by 1.2% to £52.5 million. The recovery in photobooth revenue was faster than expected during the second quarter (mainly in France), and was driven by strong activity levels in Japan due to ‘My Number’ applications. In the United Kingdom, the trading environment remained extremely challenging due to the impact of the pandemic on consumer activity alongside the Government’s policy to accept photos taken at home for official documents and passport identification, the company said. In China, the trading environment also remained difficult and a recovery in activity is not expected in the short-to-medium term.

Photo-Me removed unprofitable identification vending machines to mitigate lower activity levels. The total number of photobooths in operation at 30 April 2021 reduced by 1.5% to 28,095 units. Identification accounted for 62.9% of the Group’s total vending units.

Kiosks – High-quality digital printing services

The revenue was £6.0 million, an increase of 9.1%, reflecting an improving trend in consumer activity levels during the Period as lockdown restrictions were eased in France, the UK and Switzerland, the company said. The total number of Kiosks in operation at 30 April 2021 was 5,211, a reduction of 5.2% due to the removal of unprofitable machines. Kiosks accounted for 11.7% of the total number of vending units in operation.