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Picsolve Enters Administration

Islander

TS Member
Not sure where best to post this, but as a result of the ongoing Coronavirus crisis, Picsolve is the latest company to enter administration. Article here.

Theme park photography company Picsolve has entered administration. Deloitte is currently looking for buyer for the business.
Deloitte was appointed as the administrator for the UK based company on Monday.

In a report from Insider Media, Matt Cowlishaw, a restructuring partner at Deloitte, said that, “The mandated closure of virtually all the leisure attractions the Company operates from gave rise to an unpreceded [sic] situation situation for the company and significant cash pressure.

“We are actively seeking a buyer for all or parts of the business to allow it to continue and eventually reopen as theme parks and leisure attractions come back online.”

Picsolve does not survive the COVID 19 lockdown
Picsolve’s 160 permanent staff and 447 seasonal and casual workers, had almost all been furloughed in response to the COVID 19 lockdown.

The company was founded in 1994 as Rx Technology, changing its name to Picsolve in 2002. The company is currently owned by London-based investment firm Eight Roads which manages proprietary capital of Fidelity International.

For the year ended 28 February 2019, Picsolve Holdings booked turnover of £54.6 million, an almost £10 million increase on the previous year. The increase was driven by international expansion in the US and Asia. However, pre-tax losses increased from £6 million to £6.9 million.

In August 2019, Picsolve purchased Belgium-based start-up Panora.me. This led to the creation of Picsolve’s first innovation and creativity hub, called Picsolve Lab, a centre for developing unique new capture technology, by bringing together world-leading market expertise.
 
Oh what a surprise, the company willing to spend £5k plus fighting a single customer couldn't handle money properly.
They haven't been in a good position for a long time.

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I feel sorry for the staff. But I have no sympathy for any company who insisted on ripping their customers off. The prices for most of their products were hugely marked up. Especially considering what you got for your money. Real rip off merchants.

Good riddance!
 
I feel sorry for the staff. But I have no sympathy for any company who insisted on ripping their customers off. The prices for most of their products were hugely market up. Especially considering what you got for your money. Good riddance!
I fell sorry for non pride park staff, everyone apart from PP staff have been lovely to speak with.

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While I don't disagree, is it any different with on-ride photography at other theme parks that don't use Picsolve? Not exactly cheap at somewhere like Disney

You are absolutely right. It is not different no. Still doesn't make it right though.
 
I feel sorry for the staff. But I have no sympathy for any company who insisted on ripping their customers off. The prices for most of their products were hugely marked up. Especially considering what you got for your money. Real rip off merchants.
Isn't that true of everything for sale at every theme park though? There were obviously enough people prepared to pay these rip off prices to make their business viable (prior to Corona ofc).
 
I have a friend on Facebook who's constantly ordering Merlin merch online. People do buy the stuff.

The only time I ever bought an on-ride photo was in China because it was about £2 or something. And in that case, it was an actual person taking photos while the ride was running.
 
I assume there’s a lot more going on behind the scenes than we’re ever likely to hear about. When you talk to people who’ve worked at companies that have gone into administration, they generally feel there’s a lot going on that isn’t necessarily reported in the press. Clearly the coronavirus crisis won’t have helped, but there could be a bigger story here. We don’t know whether their contract with Merlin has anything to do with the administration, but…

I’ve wondered why a company the size of Merlin uses concessions for the games and photography, rather than doing it in house. I presume it’s partly because they’ve been able to negotiate strong deals where Pic Solve and HB Leisure work to very tight profit margins. If Pic Solve and HB Leisure were making big profit margins, I presume they’d have bought these services in house. When you have a company that’s as big as Merlin, they often can be hard negotiators, because suppliers and business partners are worried about losing the contract when it represents a big chunk of their business. It’s like a farmer trying to negotiate with a supermarket.

One way or another I’d assume that the Merlin parks will still have onride photography after the current crisis, but it is possible that they will have to accept a smaller cut of the revenue. After CCI went bankrupt wooden coaster manufacturers seemed to learn lessons about not letting parks negotiate the price of rides down too low. There’s no point in building a ride if it costs more to build than you’re selling it for. Whoever takes Pic Solve over, or whichever photography comes in to replace them, will no doubt be weary of giving the parks too favourable a deal on any future contracts. These days such a big percentage of the major theme parks are owned by a relatively small number of chains. Whilst it does mean the consumer can get cheap annual passes for a wide range of attractions, I do worry that behind the scenes a lot of suppliers can get squeezed really hard. Although admittedly one company going into administration isn't proof of that.

Of course, it is possible that this has nothing to do with this. It mentions Pic Solve being more global, which could add a lot more costs with senior managers flying around the world, and it’s possible they invested in new technology that hasn’t paid of.

Like everyone else I feel sorry for the staff, most of which won’t have had anything to do with their employer’s financial problems. Another sad day for the industry. I don’t personally tend to buy onride photos, but from what I’ve seen Pic Solve’s are some of the better quality ones.
 
You have to ask what does picsolve or really any photography company bring to the picture that is unique?
They don't have their own design cameras from what I'm aware off
Picasso is still a buggy mess.

What does that leave?

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I’ve wondered why a company the size of Merlin uses concessions for the games and photography, rather than doing it in house. I presume it’s partly because they’ve been able to negotiate strong deals where Pic Solve and HB Leisure work to very tight profit margins. If Pic Solve and HB Leisure were making big profit margins, I presume they’d have bought these services in house. When you have a company that’s as big as Merlin, they often can be hard negotiators, because suppliers and business partners are worried about losing the contract when it represents a big chunk of their business. It’s like a farmer trying to negotiate with a supermarket.

Tussauds group used to pay Picsolve for the installation and then have their own staff on the photo kiosks, but then contracted the whole operation out to Picsolve.
The reason for contracting out is to remove the risk.
If the sales of photos goes down, then its Picsolve who go bust rather than Alton Towers / Merlin losing money. The staff are the biggest cost of the operation so getting Picsolve to take on the risk of paying staff would have saved Merlin a lot of money at times when photo sales were low.
 
Tussauds group used to pay Picsolve for the installation and then have their own staff on the photo kiosks, but then contracted the whole operation out to Picsolve.
The reason for contracting out is to remove the risk.
If the sales of photos goes down, then its Picsolve who go bust rather than Alton Towers / Merlin losing money. The staff are the biggest cost of the operation so getting Picsolve to take on the risk of paying staff would have saved Merlin a lot of money at times when photo sales were low.
On that note picsolve mentioned having 3 models for operations at sites
1. Fully picsolve controlled, with them in effect paying rent to the sites they are operating at.
2.picsolve providing the technology with it being operated by the sites themselfs.
3. A hybrid of the above two.

Sites with model 2 and maybe some 3 sites if there are any should be able to fairly quickly switch to a new technology provider.
Merlin is model 1 at least in the UK.

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