Joint Venture

Photo-Me International PLC 9 August 2000 PHOTO-ME INTERNATIONAL SIGNS JOINT VENTURE WITH SANDISK CORPORATION OF THE USA TO BRING DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHY TO THE MASS CONSUMER MARKET Photo-Me International (PMI) and SanDisk of the USA announce the creation of a 50/50 Joint Venture to operate self-service Digital Photo Printing Kiosks in the USA and Canada. The new joint venture company will be called Digital Portal Inc. PMI has developed a product using its revolutionary LCD Booster Technology, which is a self-service Digital Photo Kiosk. These machines may be located in public places and will allow the fast printing of 6 x 4 photos from digital cameras. The Digital Photo Kiosks will allow digital camera owners to conveniently and inexpensively print photos by inserting their digital flash memory cards, floppy disks and/or CDRom into the kiosks. The Digital Photo Kiosks will also be connected to the Internet and this will allow users to store, share and send images in addition to developing their photos. SanDisk Corporation is the world's leading supplier of flash data storage products used in a wide variety of electronic systems, including digital cameras. According to market research firms, SanDisk is the world leader in the flash card market. The company has optimised its flash memory storage solution, known as 'system flash,' to address the many needs of emerging applications in the consumer electronics and industrial/communications markets. CompactFlash, a small-size flash memory card invented by SanDisk, has become an industry standard and has been designed into more than 130 digital cameras introduced to the market. SanDisk-branded flash memory cards are sold in more than 20,000 retail outlets around the world. SanDisk is a publicly quoted company (NASDAQ:SNDK) and is based in Sunnyvale, California. It has a market capitalisation of US$4 billion. The joint venture company will be based in the headquarters of SanDisk and will be a company recognised under the laws of the State of Delaware. In order to provide sufficient working capital for the joint venture company, both parties will contribute US$4 million to the company. It is intended that the joint venture company will annually deploy a minimum of 2000 Digital Photo Kiosks for 10 years and this will commence in the final quarter of 2000. PMI will be responsible for the manufacture of the Digital Photo Kiosks from its facility in Grenoble, France and will sell them to the joint venture company at an initial unit price of US$20,000 based on current exchange rates. PMI, through its operations in the USA, will also be responsible for the installation and maintenance of the kiosks. Both parties to the joint venture company believe that the Digital Photo Kiosk will quickly become popular as they will accept virtually any storage media used in digital cameras today, including CompactFlash and SmartMediacards, Secure Digital MultiMediaCards, Memory Stick, CD Rom and floppy disks. Eli Harari, President and CEO of SanDisk said: 'This is a major step forward in popularising digital photography. Millions of people will now be much more likely to buy and use digital cameras because they won't have to deal with the inconvenience of using computers and printers to get their prints. They'll instead go to a nearby store, slip their flash memory card or floppy disk into a kiosk and get their prints in a matter of minutes' Serge Crasnianski, CEO of Photo-Me said: 'This joint venture confirms that the LCD Booster Technology we have developed has wide applications. We are delighted to see its use in the instant development of photos derived from digital cameras and flash memory. This market is still in its infancy but one that will surely capture a large part of the US$ 40 billion photo processing industry from the conventional 35mm and APS formats. SanDisk has world leadership in the supply of flash data storage products and is a perfect partner for PMI in developing new businesses around its digital technology.' Enquiries: Photo Me International plc 01372 453399 Serge Crasnianski Mobile 033611956363 Jean-Luc Peurois 01372 453399 Bankside Consultants 020-7220 7477 Charles Ponsonby
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