On the other hand, provisions are very high and the interest rate margin is very sharply down."Mr Barrett insisted that in spite of the bad publicity over April's branch closures, and the row over cash machine charges,the bank was winning new customers and doing more business with existing clients. However, he admitted he was not satisfied with performance in the mortgage market and in long-term savings.He also described recent computer problems which had forced the bank to delay a planned upgrade in its online banking service as "unacceptable". "There will be some bumps in the road - you may have noticed some already." But he added: "Public relations will take care of itself if we do an outstanding job [ for our customers] and that is what we are doing."Since Mr Barrett's arrival last year, Barclays has begun a reorganisation programme which the chief executive describes as "open heart surgery".Bad debt provisions were up by £56m to £376m as the bank set aside more money to cover the growth in consumer and credit card lending. Margins slumped from 3.5 per cent to 3.17 as Barclays stepped up efforts to win business from rivals.Analysts were also bemused about the way Barclays had changed the way it has presented its costs. Last year when it announced plans to cut 7,500 jobs the bank said it would hold costs at 1999 levels while growing revenue.Yesterday's numbers broke out business as usual costs which were flat at £2.099bn. Investment spending was up 14 per cent at £162m while "revenue related costs" doubled to £255m.At the full-year results presentation in February Mr Barrett charmed City analysts with a chat-show host style.Yesterday he appeared more downbeat. Having used the full year results as a platform for his view of the business "from 40,000 ft" he said that yesterday was about what was happening on the ground: "Ultimately .. strategic planning has to degenerate into work.".

Shares in Photo-Me International, the photo-booth operator, plunged by more than 30 per cent yesterday after the company issued a calamitous profit warning related to an accounting error. Shares in Photo-Me International, the photo-booth operator, plunged by more than 30 per cent yesterday after the company issued a calamitous profit warning related to an accounting error. The news comes just six months after the company's chief executive sold £28m of shares in the company. Serge Crasnianski sold 7 million shares at 400p per share in January. Daniel Amar, a non-executive director, netted £16m from selling shares at the same time.

Yesterday the shares closed down 56.5p at 112.5p.The cause of the accounting error relates to a deal in July last year in which Photo-Me bought out the minority shareholder in Japanese group Nippon Auto Photo.The deal was valued at £25.2m with £2.5m paid in cash. The remaining £22.7m was paid in "old technology" photo-booths which Photo-Me no longer wanted but the Japanese company was willing to have.There was a profit on book value of £10.4m on the booths which Photo-Me included in its profit and loss account as an exceptional item.However, the company's joint auditors, Ernst & Young and Menzies, a Surrey-based firm, discovered earlier this week that the sum should have been taken as a reduction of goodwill in the balance sheet.Contacted in France yesterday Mr Crasnianski said he had no plans to resign. "I don't think we are at fault but that is a matter for the board."Asked about the timing of his share sale he said: "It was a very small part of my total holding and 400p was a good price. We remain confident of the future."The impact of yesterday's revelations is that Photo-Me will now report full-year profits of £20m compared to market expectations of £32m.Photo-Me has been forced to delay its results which were due to be reported on Monday.The company also included £4.5m of the photo-booth profit in its operating profit figure for its half-year results for the six months to October..