Photo-Me counts on laundry machines as photobooths bypassed for ID

(Alliance News) - Photo-Me International PLC on Wednesday reported a loss for its most recently ...

Alliance News 10 March, 2021 | 11:11AM
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(Alliance News) - Photo-Me International PLC on Wednesday reported a loss for its most recently ended financial year and guided for a further drop in revenue going forward.

Shares in the instant-service equipment and photo-booth operator were down 8.7% in London on Wednesday at 50.30 pence each.

For the 12 months to October 31, Photo-Me sunk to a pretax loss of GBP27.8 million compared to a profit of GBP44.9 million the year before.

Revenue cratered by 20% to GBP186.3 million from GBP232.2 million.

"Covid-19 has severely impacted each business area and early indications are B2B, children's rides and, to a lesser extent Identification, will be the most challenging from which to recover. Laundry operations were more resilient due to the accessibility of machines throughout the pandemic," the company explained.

Photo-Me noted its Identification unit was severely hurt by the pandemic, especially in the UK, due to home-taken photos being accepted for official documents such as passports, with revenue down 26%. As a result, Identification revenue in the UK and Republic of Ireland reduced by 52%, and the number of photobooths declined by 1,367 units.

Chief Executive Serge Crasnianski added: "Despite this, the group continued to make strategic progress and further expanded Laundry operations in key target markets in Europe. Our self-service Revolution laundry operations proved to be more resilient than other business areas, in part due to the accessibility of these site locations during lockdowns."

In March 2020, the company felt it appropriate to cancel the interim dividend, saving GBP14 million. Given the current situation, Photo-Me said, it remains the right decision not to recommend any other dividend.

"Beyond this, the board will continue to review the dividend policy and align any future dividend payments to performance of the business and its investment strategy, however no dividend will be recommended until at least the [French government-backed] PGE facility has been repaid."

Looking towards financial 2021, Photo-Me said visibility "remains extremely limited".

The firm guided guided for revenue of GBP175 million in financial 2021, with pretax profit of GBP9.0 million before any exceptional items, and it also expects to be cash flow positive.

"Going ahead, the board's initial strategy is to focus investment across all 17 countries in which the group operates, and on the continued expansion of our Laundry operations and to grow the KIS Food business, which together, over time, we believe will compensate for lower expected demand for Identification and other vending equipment," Crasnianski added.

By Paul McGowan; paulmcgowan@alliancenews.com

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Securities Mentioned in Article

Security Name Price Change (%) Morningstar
Rating
Photo-Me International PLC 166.19 GBX -0.60 -

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