Here We Cut Again

[Jeff Morfit]

Kodak has announced that it will be cutting an additonal 10,000 jobs this over what they had originally planned. Here we cut again.

[John Cook]

Oy!

[tim atherton]

Article here:

http://www.cbc.ca/story/business/na...dak-050720.html
Eastman Kodak raises target for job cuts to 25,000

couple of quotes:

Eastman Kodak Co. said Wednesday it will chop up to 25,000 jobs from its workforce, instead of the 15,000 layoffs it had originally announced.

The Rochester, N.Y., company also said it lost $146 million US (51 cents a share) in the second quarter, compared with a profit of $136 million US (46 cents a share) a year earlier....

"Sales of our consumer traditional products and services are declining faster than expected. While we are not in a position to control the rate at which traditional markets decline, there is a lot I can do about the cost structure of the traditional portfolio," he said.

Perez wants to speed up the company's transition to digital technology as its sales of consumer film decline....

Kodak plans to cut its traditional manufacturing infrastructure to approximately $1 billion US, compared with $2.9 billion US in January 2004. The cuts will be mostly complete by the middle of 2007....

[Tom Westbrook]

I wonder if this means black & white films will be next on the chopping block? Any idea how FujiFilm is doing? If TMX goes, there is only Acros in packets left, no? Well, except Type 55, but who knows what's going to happen to that? I wonder if Ilford will reconsider its previous position on a readyload system of some sort?

[Brian C. Miller]

I think that Ilford will happily make a packet film if both Fuji and Kodak discontinue theirs. I wonder if Ilford will start offering Pan-F in sheets. I suppose that Kodak will be discontinuing their B&W films next, within two years. They can't be making that much money on them.

[Antonio Corcuera]

From http://home.fujifilm.com/info/ir/message/

"However, revenue was negatively affected by a decrease in demand for color films in Japan, North America, and Europe; a rapid deceleration of growth in demand for digital cameras, particularly in Japan and North America; a drop in prices of recording media due to intensifying competition; the progressive appreciation of the yen against the U.S. dollar; and other factors. As a result, the Company's consolidated revenue declined 1.5%, to ¥2,527.3 billion ($23,620 million), compared with the previous fiscal year. Domestic revenue amounted to ¥1,311.8 billion ($12,261 million), down 1.8%, while overseas revenue totaled ¥1,215.5 billion ($11,359 million), down 1.2%.

The Company worked to reduce the cost of sales and operating expenses through such measures as those to improve manufacturing efficiency and to reevaluate and optimize procurement processes. However, a rise in raw materials costs boosted the cost of sales, while temporary expenses were incurred in connection with various structural reform measures. Reflecting these overall factors as well as a one-time gain on the transfer of the substitutional portion of Fuji Xerox's employee pension fund liabilities, operating income was restrained to ¥164.4 billion ($1,537 million), down 11.1%.

Income before income taxes amounted to ¥162.3 billion ($1,517 million), down 1.6%, reflecting a ¥17.9 billion improvement in the balance of nonoperating income and expenses due to such factors as a shift from negative to positive figures in foreign exchange gains (losses) recognized on the settlement and translation of foreign-currency-denominated receivables and a decrease in interest expense accompanying the Company's efforts to reduce external borrowings. A drop in the effective corporate income tax rate and other factors supported a rise in net income, which reached ¥84.5 billion ($790 million), up 2.7%."

[tim atherton]

If Kodak folded on film (or even just sheet film) why would Ilford bother making some form of readyload? They would have the lions share of the market then - there would be no need for them to invest in what would really be just a costly marketing tool to try and lock people into their product?

[John Kasaian]

Ominous, to say the least. My thoughts are with all those people getting axed---I hope some disgruntled former employees who know how to make film & paper (AZO) will decide to go into business for themselves.

[John Berry ( Roadkill )]

What percentage of the film market would Kodak have if they made Supper-XX, and Royal pan available again.

[John Berry ( Roadkill )]

I know it's a dead horse. I just like to go out and flog it every once in a while.