Photo-Me International
Photo-Me International
Fotofix electronic booth in Germany.
Photo-Me International plc (LSE: PHTM [17] ) based in Epsom, Surrey operates photobooths. It became a public limited company 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 a shareholder revolt over plans to sell off the vending division forced Vernon Sankey and Serge Crasnianski to resign.[1]
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]
Canary Wharf in London has installed the company's photo booths but in this case they are ones designed in conjunction with Philippe Stark. [5]
The company's chairman, John H. J. Lewis, was knighted by the Honours Committee in the 2019 New Year Honours. Critics noted that Lewis had donated approximately £390,000 to the Conservative Party since 2006.[9]