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PHOTO-ME INTERNATIONAL
At the request of ex- CEO Serge Crasnianski and other shareholders representing 28% of the equity, David Young has resigned as chairman and Roger Partington has resigned as NEO.
Photo-Mes interim management statement was relatively encouraging, with sales holding up better than we thought likely. Vending revenues (c.a.75% of total sales) were up by 1%, an increase which is partly due to currency effects (as the Euro has a strong impact).
The Manufacturing Division, focused on photolabs, saw an 11% drop in revenues on a like-for-like basis.
Sales suffered from the world economic crisis, the mayhem caused by digital photography and the fierce competition from giant Fuji/Noritsu mini-lab merged businesses. (The combined businesses, which benefit from an 80% world market share and related economies of scale, achieved a c.a. 13% rise in sales and 32% rise in operating profit over the 9 months to December 2007).
Margins were hammered, especially in the Manufacturing Division, in particular Mini-Labs. If the worst comes to the worst, the company could merely pull out of the Mini-Lab business,.