Timpson snapped up Klick for £1.3m

FORMER high street photo-processing business Max Spielmann – part of one of Scotland's highest-profile victims of the credit crunch – was bought for just £1.3 million, accounts for its new owners have revealed.

The Timpson Group, the shoe repair and key cutting chain, paid administrators of parent company Bowie Castlebank the sum for the 187 branches of the chain, which also traded under the Klick brand, 18 months ago

Bowie Castlebank had operated 197 branches of Klick and 117 of Max Spielmann before it went into administration.

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The remaining 127 outlets, including 55 in Scotland, were closed.

Manchester-based Timpson, best known for its key-cutting and shoe-repair outlets, said the acquisition of Max Spielmann and Klick had enabled the group to "enhance its position as the leading high street retail service provider".

The company said despite tough conditions on the high street the outlook for the group was "bright".

Timpson accounts showed a contribution of 20.2m in the nine months since it acquired the Max Spielmann business helped push full-year turnover up by 29 per cent to 124.6m.

The 823,000 of operating profits generated by the acquisition contributed to a 23 per cent rise in pre-tax profits to 10.2m. Employee numbers increased by almost 1,000 to 2,633.

Bowie Castlebank went under after battling the effects on its photo development business caused by the rise of digital photography.

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