Photo-Me sees sharp profit fall

Photo-Me has seen the industry change with digital photography

Photobooth operator Photo-Me is looking to sell part of its business after seeing half-yearly profits drop by 30%.

The firm saw pre-tax profits hit £11.1m in the period to 31 October compared with £15.9m a year earlier, excluding exceptional items.

Photo-Me said lower margins from vending machines, operated in Britain, France and Japan, were partly to blame.

The firm ceased takeover talks last month but said it would consider selling off parts of the firm.

Next steps

"The vending side is more obviously of interest to more people, so that is more likely to have a bigger attraction initially," Vernon Sankey, Photo-Me's chairman told news agency Reuters.

"We have no doubt we will find people interested, but the question is at what price."

The three parts of the firm - vending, minilab manufacturing and wholesale manufacturing - are all being assessed to see what the company will decide to do with them.

The firm expects vending to see "significantly smaller profit than in the first half, due to normal seasonality," said Serge Crasnianski, the firm's chief executive.

The advent of digital printing has made it harder for firms that rely on photographic printing for their business.

As digital photos can be viewed instantly after being taken and can be distributed electronically, far fewer people are printing photos.