(Alliance News) - ME Group International PLC on Thursday saw its annual profit and revenue rise on sales growth across all geographical regions.

The Epsom, England-based vending machine operator said pretax profit rose 26% to GBP67.1 million in the financial year ended October 31 from GBP53.4 million a year ago, as revenue rose 15% to GBP297.7 million from GBP259.8 million in financial 2022.

The boost in revenue was driven by "strong growth" in each of the firm's geographic regions, with revenue growth of 15% in contintental Europe, due to a continued strong performance in France. In the UK & Republic of Ireland, revenue was also up15%, and in Asia Pacific operating revenue was up 11%

ME upped its final dividend by 47% to 4.42 pence from 3.00p the year prior, bringing its total dividend to 7.39p, down 42% from 12.70p.

Looking ahead, Chief Executive Officer & Chair said: "The board looks ahead to the future with confidence and, notwithstanding changes in the macro environment, expects the group to build on the success of FY 2023 and achieve continued revenue and earnings growth in FY 2024."

He added: "We are pleased to report a year of record financial performance during which we continued to make good strides in delivering on our long-term growth strategy. We have reported strong revenue and profit growth across all of our business areas and geographic regions, achieved despite the widely reported macroeconomic challenges. Our laundry operations, a key growth driver for the Group, performed particularly strongly and our expansion continued at pace. Demand for photobooth services remains robust and we continue to develop our relationships with governments and regulatory bodies for our digital and secure photo ID services."

Shares in ME were up 7.5% to 142.80 pence each in London on Thursday morning.

By Sabrina Penty, Alliance News reporter

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