Photo-Me expecting serious lift in profit

Instant-service equipment group Photo-Me updated the market on its trading for the year to 30 April on Friday, ahead of its final results which would be published on 27 June.

The London-listed group said it made “excellent progress” in the financial year, which the board claimed reflected the success of its strategy of investing in new products, growing its laundry business and favourable currency movements.

It said the photo identification and laundry businesses continued to perform well.

“Further progress was made in the deployment of photo ID security technology during the year, the Photo-Me board explained in its update.

“In France, the vast majority of photo booths have been upgraded for ANTS to enable direct and secure transmission of ID photos and data to the government database for driving licence applications.

“In Ireland, the group's encrypted photo ID upload technology, launched in partnership with the Irish Government for the new online passport application service, will be rolled out to 300 secure digital upload enabled photobooths by the end of 2017.”

The group said it had now also started the progressive roll-out of the ANTS booths in Germany.

Photo-Me said the expansion of the laundry business in Europe had continued apace, with consistent expansion of the estate of owned-and-operated laundry units currently in operation, primarily located in France, Ireland, Belgium and Portugal.

“During the second half of the year, the group actively started deploying its Revolution laundry units in the UK, where some 100 machines were available to consumers at the end of the year.

“Revolution, the 24/7 outdoor self-service machine range, has been extended to include two reduced footprint models, Compact and Mini, targeted at the Far East market.”

During the second half of the year, the group said its programme to open further launderettes was consistent with the announced plan.

The first launderette shop opened in Japan during the last quarter, and it was proving to be “very successful”.

Photo-Me’s board said it expected the financial year ended 30 April to be in line with market expectations, with significant revenue growth and record progress in profit before tax - up around 20% compared with 2016.

That would be supportive of the group's stated commitment to increase the total ordinary dividend by 20% year-on-year.