Harman Technology Purchased

[AuditorOne]

Well, it is kind of hard to say how this will affect Ilford and their film business at this point. If you read the official notice on the Ilford site they still insist that they are still fully committed to all aspects of the monochrome film and paper business.

The only thing you can say for certain is that the people who did own the business a week ago do not own it now. It is possible that Ilford needed more capital to grow their business and Pemberstone was the best way to get that capital and additional business support. It is also possible that Pemberstone made a very good offer to the employee group who had purchased Ilford and they decided it was time to cash in on their investment.

The goal of all good businesses is to make money and that is a good thing. Pemberstone is a private investment group whose stated purpose is to provide support in order to earn a return on their investments. In my humble opinion, that means that as long as Ilford remains profitable, and provides adequate return on their investment, then Pembroke will likely be happy. However, if it turns out that Ilford is more profitable to them by breaking up the business and reselling it, then that is what they will do. Since they are a private firm it is not clear what their normal process with purchased corporate business is. Based merely on their current holdings it seems that they purchase good, profitable businesses and then hold them. But I really don't have enough information about the company to know for certain.

Personally I hope that the film business remains profitable for Ilford...and Pemberstone.

[Pierre 2]

Hum... Film business in photography application may not be growing but "non-photography" film business may see a growing market for various applications such as battery manufacturing, solar cell etc... Experience of Harman Technology could prove to be quite valuable in this "more modern" perspective.

[HMG]

These companies typically make money by selling off assets, increasing ROI, "flipping" the company, or going public. In any case, they may not want to be long-term owners.

In the first case, there's probably not much they could do as Harman is overwhelmingly analog film and paper. AFAIK, the only exception is their high-end ink jet paper. They might feel that the production capability and intellectual property could be sold to another film firm (Foma? Lucky?), but doubtful. But maybe license some of their film technology (for example, prior "non + versions of FP4 and HP5).

In the second case, options could run the gamut:

• reducing costs through operational efficiency (lay-offs) or cutting back R&D
• increasing utilization by producing other companies film
• increasing prices

One thing these firms generally do not do is pour more money into their investment. As to this news, while not necessarily bad, it probably is.

[Sal Santamaura]

In a bit of coincidentally timed good news, Adox announced today that it has purchased its own coating line and no longer needs to rely on Inoviscoat to make film/paper:

http://www.adox.de/Photo/adox-acquir...-coating-line/

[JChrome]

In the second case, options could run the gamut:

• reducing costs through operational efficiency (lay-offs) or cutting back R&D
• increasing utilization by producing other companies film
• increasing prices

I don't think Harmann has much of a budget for R&D. When was the last time they came out with a new film?

But the other items sound likely.

[koh303]

My gut tells me wait three years then stock up the moment the price is about to jump..

I have been worried about this for a very long time, the five guys running it were old school, now the reins may change.

As my last post was deleted, i will re comment on this with different wording in hopes this one is not liable to get struck down.

The photo industry is littered with "old school" type people. They are for the most part inflexible, arrogant and ignorant. Phasing them out with people who are more aware of google cannot be a bad thing, the sooner the better.

Younger blood has little or no chance to start up or grow in the current environment, unless they behave exactly like the above mentioned and completely ignore the information highway (how dated is that term...). This is sad because it ultimately leads to demise of many a company who knew it all better since forever, because "trust me son, i have been in this business for more then 35 years" type of rhetoric.

in a minorly related way, this is also true about the higher education world, especially as it is related to photography departments.

Diversity cannot be a bad thing in either of these highly homogeneous fields.

[jp]

In a bit of coincidentally timed good news, Adox announced today that it has purchased its own coating line and no longer needs to rely on Inoviscoat to make film/paper:

http://www.adox.de/Photo/adox-acquir...-coating-line/

An Ilford coating line none the less!

I'd anticipate a blend of "operational efficiency", producing other products, and adjusting prices. They may think they can charge as much as Kodak for LF film, let's hope not.

[Oren Grad]

An Ilford coating line none the less!

The other Ilford, it would appear - the Adox item says Marly, Switzerland, not Mobberley.

[Tin Can]

As my last post was deleted, i will re comment on this with different wording in hopes this one is not liable to get struck down.

The photo industry is littered with "old school" type people. They are for the most part inflexible, arrogant and ignorant. Phasing them out with people who are more aware of google cannot be a bad thing, the sooner the better.

Younger blood has little or no chance to start up or grow in the current environment, unless they behave exactly like the above mentioned and completely ignore the information highway (how dated is that term...). This is sad because it ultimately leads to demise of many a company who knew it all better since forever, because "trust me son, i have been in this business for more then 35 years" type of rhetoric.

in a minorly related way, this is also true about the higher education world, especially as it is related to photography departments.

Diversity cannot be a bad thing in either of these highly homogeneous fields.

The only people who are fully immersed in Internet technology are just getting out of High School, everybody else is playing catchup and never will.

These HS grads will show us all new tricks in the next 40 years.

Things will get interesting.

[Roger Cole]

An Ilford coating line none the less!

I'd anticipate a blend of "operational efficiency", producing other products, and adjusting prices. They may think they can charge as much as Kodak for LF film, let's hope not.

If they think that they will be wrong, at lest for me.