Good morning. Today, we report on ME Group's interim results for the six months ended 30th of April, 2023. We will start the presentation with an overview of the business, the business model, and the growth strategy. We will then talk through the Group's first half financial performance, followed by the key operational highlights from the period. Lastly, we will conclude with a summary of the six-month performance and the outlook for the remainder of the year. The Group operates, sells, and services a wide range of instant service vending equipment in 18 countries around the world. There are four principal business areas supported by our two R&D centers, the largest of which is located in France. Photo.ME, our photo booth and photo ID solutions business, remains the largest business area by number of photo booths and countries of operation.
We work with governments to deliver integrated biometric photo ID solutions. This represents 58.8% of group revenue. Wash.ME, our estate of unattended laundry services and launderettes, is a key growth area for the group, offering high-capacity laundry solutions in convenient locations, such as supermarkets and petrol station forecourts. This represents 26.4% of group revenue. Print.ME, our digital printing kiosks enable consumers to print high-quality pictures from their smartphones in high footfall locations. This represents 4.7% of group revenue. Lastly, Feed.ME, our vending equipment business for the food service market, is the newest business area, which includes self-service, fresh fruit, and pizza vending. This represents 4.4% of group revenue. In total, the group operates nearly 44,000 machines.
Our proven business model is underpinned by a disciplined approach to innovation and diversification, a key driver of our long-term growth strategy. On the right-hand side, we have listed out the key strengths of our business model. Notably, this includes good predictability and stability of cash flows through long-term contracts with site owners, which create high barriers for new market entrants, supporting our market-leading position. Our growth strategy supports the development of the Group's principal business areas and is centered around five core pillars. This includes expanding into new geographic territories, entering into new markets, expansion and diversification of our services, new product and technology innovation, and a focus on M&A activity. Deployment of next-generation photobooths remains a key focus under the Group's five-year growth strategy, and we expect to install 1,000 new units in France by the end of the current year.
We recently announced the Group has entered into a binding conditional agreement to buy a photo booth business in Japan. The total transaction consideration is approximately GBP 5.5 million. We believe that this strategy will help to drive our long-term growth ambitions and continue to deliver value for all our stakeholders. I'll now hand over to Group's CFO, Stéphane Gibon.
Here, we will talk through the first half financial highlights. Reported revenue increased by 24.7% to GBP 143.8 million. This was driven largely by a strong performance across all of our principal business areas and all of our 19 operating markets through a combination of higher consumer demand and, to a lesser extent, price increases. EBITDA improved by 14.7% to GBP 46.1 million, and the Group reported an EBITDA margin of 32.1%. Profit before tax increased by 36.7% to GBP 27.2 million, and profit after tax increased by 24.4% to GBP 20.4 million. A more detailed breakdown of the revenue and profit before tax performance is provided on the following slides.
The Group remains cash flow positive. Cash generated from operations increased by 23.5% to GBP 36.8 million. Gross cash increased by 18.1% to GBP 113.1 million, whilst net cash was down at GBP 27.2 million from GBP 19.9 million due to different reasons, which we'll come on to talk about in the following slides. The chart on the left provides a history of the Group's diluted earnings per share and dividend payments. Diluted earnings per share increased to GBP 0.0534 per share, compared with GBP 0.0434 per share in H1 2022. We are pleased to announce an interim dividend of GBP 2.90 , a 14% increase compared to H1 2022.
It is the Group's policy to return annual dividends to shareholders in excess of 55% of annual profits after tax. This chart shows the revenue performance of our key business areas compared to the prior year. Our Photo.ME business saw the largest revenue gain, up GBP 17 million on the prior year, as demand for photo ID services continued to improve. Wash.ME, our fastest-growing business area, contributed an additional GBP 11.9 million in revenue compared to the prior year and benefited from price increases rolled out during the period. Our Print.ME business also contributed more by way of revenue compared to the prior year, despite this being an area of lower investment priority for the Group. Subsequently, total Group revenue was up 24.7% at GBP 143.8 million.
This slide shows the profit bridge taking us from GBP 19.9 million in H1 2022 to GBP 27.2 million in H1 2023, an increase of 36.7%. In this graph, the GBP 7.5 million decline from other reflects an exceptional profit made on the sale of a building during H1 2022. As shown in the graph, the group benefited from changes in revenue, which was driven by volume increases as well as the implementation of pricing. The group started in 2023 financial year with GBP 33 million of net cash. Cash generated from operations contributed GBP 36.8 million of total net cash. In terms of split of operating cash contribution, 55% came from Photo.ME, 31% came from Wash.ME, 3% from Print.ME, and 3% from Feed.ME. The rest came from other vending equipment.
Estate and infrastructure investment, tax, and interest and finance amounted to a combined cash deduction of GBP 46.5 million. Closing net cash as at 30 April 2023, was down as GBP 24.4 million from GBP 42.2 million in H1 2022. Continental Europe is the group's largest region, both by number of machines and contribution to group revenue. Revenue grew by 23.5% to GBP 93.4 million, in large part driven by the strong performance in photobooth activity, as well as continued momentum in the group's laundry business. Continental Europe contributed 65% of total group revenue. Operating revenue across Photo.ME and Wash.ME grew significantly, up 32.6% and 31.6% respectively, while Print.ME operating revenue also increased by 14.8%.
Operating profit in the region was up 23.5% at GBP 21 million, as our operations in the region benefited from consumer price increases, which the group implemented across France and Germany, moving the price from EUR 6- EUR 8 and EUR 8- EUR 10 respectively. Operating margin remained stable at 22.5%. In the U.K. and Republic of Ireland, revenue increased by 31.7% to GBP 26.2 million, driven by a strong performance across our Photo.ME and Wash.ME businesses as demand for photo ID grew, and we continued the expansion of our laundry operations. Operating revenue across Photo.ME and Wash.ME increased by 15.1% and 50.9%, respectively. The number of Revolution units in the region also increased by 11.4% compared to H1 2022.
During the period, we removed a number of digital printing kiosks from operation in the region and relocated to France, where there were more profitable machines. Other vending equipment, which includes children's rides and photocopiers, experienced a strong recovery post-pandemic, with operating revenue increasing by 23.8%. Operating profit increased by 33%, driven by a strong performance of our photobooth and laundry businesses, as well as the continued rollout of Revolution unit installations. Revenue in the Asia Pacific region grew by 22.2% to GBP 24.2 million. This was driven largely by a strong performance in China and Japan, our largest markets in the region, where pandemic restrictions has been lifted later than other territories.
Operating revenue for Photo.ME improved by 14.6%, as demand for photo ID continued at pace, whilst operating revenue for other vending equipment in the region was up 96.3%, a significant increase from H1 2022. We continue to expand our fresh fruit juice operations in Japan and now have more than 200 machines operating in the region. Operating profit for Asia Pacific increased by 73.7%, and operating margin improved to 13.6% from 9.6% in H1 2022. We are moving on to the business review.
We will now provide an update on progress in each of the group's principal business areas. Photo.ME continues to be our largest business area by number of units, revenue, and EBITDA contribution. We have more than 27,000 units across all our territories, which make up 62.5% of the total group vending estate. Our photobooth operations contribute 64.4% of total group EBITDA. Revenue from our photobooth operations increased by 25.4% to GBP 83.9 million, as activity across all of the group's key territories improved, driven by growing demand for photo ID, particularly in Europe and Asia.
Average revenue per machine grew sufficiently to GBP 6,152, up 24.5% from GBP 4,941 during H1 2022, reflecting consumer price increases implemented by the group, as well as an increase in demand for our services. CapEx remained broadly flat at GBP 1.3 million, resulting from the slower than expected rollout of next generation photobooths, which will ramp up in H2 2023. We plan to deploy 10,000 next generation photobooths by the end of FY 2025. We are targeting installing between 1,000 and 1,500 machines in France by the end of the current financial year.
Our next generation photo booths will provide greater functionality and additional diversified services, such as fun features, as well as being fully compliant with the group's digital platform. This slide lays out some of the new functionalities of our next generation photo booths. This includes features ranging from biometric systems through to different sizes for printing. It is our aim that the next generation photo booths will increase group revenue in the medium term. Our Wash.ME operations consist of unattended, large capacity, energy-saving, rapid self-service laundry services and launderettes, which operate 24/7. Laundry remains our fastest growing business area. More than 6,000 units have been deployed, up 12.1% on last year. Total Laundry contributed GBP 37.8 million of revenue, up 37% on the prior year, and GBP 18.3 million of EBITDA.
Of our total laundry estate, we operate more than 5,000 Revolution Laundry units, which make up 11.5% of our total vending estate. The group remains focused on expanding its Revolution Laundry machine estate, with 688 new machines deployed in H1 2023. Revenue increased by 37.5% to GBP 34.8 million as the group continued to see the benefit from its expanding estate of machines. Average revenue per machine was up by 18.8% at GBP 15,226, compared with GBP 12,884 in H1 2022, reflecting consumer pricing as well as strong demand.
CapEx for Revolution increased to GBP 10.8 million from GBP 8.5 million in H1 2022, reflecting an uptick in production and installation costs, as well as a program of relocating some machines to more profitable locations, particularly redeployment in France. In line with our innovation and diversification strategy, the group has continued to roll out new machine formats, such as the Revolution Compact V3 and the Revolution Flex, at an accelerated rate of 50- 60 machines per month. These new machines provide more environmentally friendly and compact solutions for consumers. Post the period end in June, we were pleased to launch a new consumer app for laundry. The app aims to improve the user experience whilst enabling the group to better understand its end consumers.
The app includes features such as a Revolution Laundry machine finder, full details of the laundry services available, as well as rewarding consumers through an effective loyalty program. The group operates 4,740 high-quality digital printing units, which make up 10.8% of the total group vending estate, contributing 4% of the total group revenue and 4.3% of total group EBITDA. Print.ME revenue increased by 11.5% up to GBP 5.8 million, benefiting from the installation of new digital kiosks which replaced older machines. We installed a total of 413 new digital kiosks in the period. Average revenue per machine increased by 12.6% to GBP 6,152, driven predominantly by the replacement of 500 digital kiosks.
CapEx for Print.ME increased significantly, up at GBP 1.3 million from GBP 100,000 in H1 2022, due to the rollout of new machines. We expect the full benefit of these machines to be realized when we report our FY 2023 results. Investment has been focused in our other business areas in recent years, there continues to be a good demand for high-quality printing services, which is reflected in the strong revenue performance for Print.ME. This slide shows the capabilities of our digital printing kiosks. Our suite of printing services ranges from fun photos and calendars through to posters and printing on objects, such as cups or mugs. Furthermore, we offer mobile-to-print ready functionalities across our digital kiosks. We have 6,702 other vending equipment units, such as children's rides, photocopiers, and other miscellaneous machines.
Typically situated at high-footfall sites alongside our other operations, these machines account for 15.3% of the total group vending estate. These machines have recovered strongly compared with H1 2022, having been severely impacted during the pandemic, and contributes 2.4% of total group revenue. Feed.ME remains a key strategic focus for the group. We believe there are long-term growth opportunities to meet growing consumer demand in this principal business area. Our Feed.ME operations are focused on two key areas, including self-service fresh fruit juice equipment for the B2B market and pizza vending machines targeted at B2B hospitality. Our contracts run for an average of 15 months for fresh fruit juice vending equipment and for an average of five years for pizza vending equipment, providing the group with good visibility and stability of revenue.
Revenue from the sale of equipment increased significantly from GBP 3.1 million- GBP 6.4 million, amounting from the sale of approximately 20 machines per month. During the period, we saw a recovery in our B2B fresh fruit juice vending operations in Japan, which consists of approximately 200 machines in the region. We plan to continue expanding our estates in Japan. Pizza machine installations were rolled out at a lower level than expected due to some technical adjustments to the machines. The group has taken action to substantially increase this rate and has taken steps to bring manufacturing of pizza vending equipment in-house, with the aim of increasing production to between 30 and 40 machines per month. This will be overseen by our expert R&D team in France and will in turn also improve quality, control, and cost efficiencies.
During this period, we also began deploying omnichannel software across our pizza vending estate in partnership with Digitiz.me. This new technology provides the group the capabilities to manage units remotely while offering consumers an easy and integrated solution. We are pleased to have made good progress during the first half of FY 2023. Our strong performance has been driven by increasing volumes across our key markets and, to a lesser extent, pricing optimization implemented across our operations. We continue to make good progress in delivering on our growth strategy, entering new markets, developing our offering of innovative and diversified products, as well as driving forwards our M&A strategy. In turn, we are delighted to be increasing our interim dividend for shareholders to GBP 2.97 per ordinary share.
As mentioned, we have continued to progress our M&A strategy. In June we entered into a binding agreement to acquire the photobooth business of FUJIFILM, which we expect to complete in the autumn. Our rollout of next generation photobooths continues to progress. The group has plans to deploy around up to 10,000 units by 2025. At the same time, we remain focused on deploying Revolution Laundry units across key territories and aim to accelerate the rate of installations to approximately 80- 90 units per month. We remain confident in the group's long-term growth prospects. Notwithstanding any changes to the broader macroeconomic environment, expect FY 2023 results to be in line with current market expectations. Thank you very much for listening.