Photo-Me Shares Surge on Hopes for Digital-Processing Unit
--From AOl.-- Cooters
London, Jan. 31 (Bloomberg) -- Photo-Me International Plc shares surged as much as 19 percent on hopes for its digital photo- processing lab business, analysts said.
The stock, which plunged to a two-year low of 72 pence earlier this month after first-half profit slumped 21 percent, rose as much as 16 pence to 100.5p. that's on track to be the steepest one-day rise since May 24, 1999.
Analysts said it was prospects for Photo-Me's mini-labs that were providing the main focus for the company's longer-term prospects, rather than the traditional photo booth business.
``Our future is in digital technology,'' said Chief Executive Serge Crasnianski in an interview this week. ``We are accelerating the replacement of our older photo-booths.''
Photo-Me, the world's largest maker of photo booths, this week said profit plunged after it replaced older booths with new machines and as transport disruption in the U.K. kept people away from railway stations, where many of its booths are located.
Photo-Me is expanding globally by joining with partners including SanDisk Corp. to add digital photo printing, Internet access and other technology to its kiosks. In October, the company installed more than 1,000 new machines in France to expand its range of services to pre-paid telephone charge cards.
Jan/31/2001 8:48 ET |
