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Thread: Profits at HARMAN Technology / Ilford are on the rise

  1. #1

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    Profits at HARMAN Technology / Ilford are on the rise

    Some good news in the traditional photographic materials industry for a change!

    HARMAN technology Limited, manufacturer of the world famous ILFORD brand of black and white photographic products, has reported a significant growth in revenue and profits.

    Sales increased to £23.6m from £22.6m in the year to 31 December 2011, with operating profits up to £2.2m from £1.9m the previous year. [...]

    Full article here: http://www.harmantechnology.com/Blog...=60&EntryID=71

  2. #2
    Cooke, Heliar, Petzval...yeah
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    Re: Profits at HARMAN Technology / Ilford are on the rise

    Good news indeed. We live another day.
    Peter Hruby
    www.peterhruby.ca

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    Re: Profits at HARMAN Technology / Ilford are on the rise

    A perfect demonstration of why privately held corporations are vastly preferable to those that are publicly traded. "Wall Street" would have denigrated those results as "not enough growth" and punished HARMAN's stock price. Fortunately, it has no purview!

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    Re: Profits at HARMAN Technology / Ilford are on the rise

    Quote Originally Posted by Sal Santamaura View Post
    A perfect demonstration of why privately held corporations are vastly preferable to those that are publicly traded. "Wall Street" would have denigrated those results as "not enough growth" and punished HARMAN's stock price. Fortunately, it has no purview!
    In Ilford's case it is working out well and at this point in the product curve for film, private ownership may indeed be the best way to go. Film use is still shrinking and the market may no longer support large, publicly owned, film manufacturers. Of course, as you pointed out, investors would like to make money. Shame on them! To make money requires growth, the more the merrier. And we all know the film is not exactly a growth industry anymore. And even though Ilford is a privately owned company I will bet that they are thrilled with this growth in sales and profit.

    But there are huge disadvantages to private ownership as well. For one, we would not have had any of the magnificent products that Kodak provided (film, developers, etc.) if they had been a privately owned company. To grow as large as Kodak, as well as Fuji, takes investment, lots of investment. You can only get that with public ownership. And don't forget, even in a shrinking market, Kodak is still making profit with their film.

    The point is, there is nothing at all wrong with Wall Street. Capitalism around the world has provided 95% of the products that we use and depend on every day. But, since the film market continues to shrink, there may not be a lot of investment companies that want to continue to invest in film.
    The Viewfinder is the Soul of the Camera

    If you don't believe it, look into an 8x10 viewfinder!

    Dan

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    Re: Profits at HARMAN Technology / Ilford are on the rise

    They also make the very popular Gold Silk inkjet paper, among several others. They raised the price (by not offering larger quantity boxes) by 40% recently so I'm looking for alternatives (e.g. Canson), but I wouldn't be surprised if it is the top paper for serious photography.

    --Darin

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    Hack Pawlowski6132's Avatar
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    Re: Profits at HARMAN Technology / Ilford are on the rise

    I was a little surprised to see how small they are:

    Approximately 38M $USD/year revenue, 220 employees, 3.5M $USD DOP.

    Cute.

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    Re: Profits at HARMAN Technology / Ilford are on the rise

    Quote Originally Posted by AuditorOne View Post
    ...To make money requires growth, the more the merrier...
    More Wall Street BS. Making money does not require growth. Making more money requires growth. Being content with a stable level of corporate income is anathema to Wall Street, but can be just fine for a private entity.

    Quote Originally Posted by AuditorOne View Post
    ...there are huge disadvantages to private ownership as well. For one, we would not have had any of the magnificent products that Kodak provided (film, developers, etc.) if they had been a privately owned company. To grow as large as Kodak, as well as Fuji, takes investment, lots of investment...
    HARMAN provides all the top-tier products I need. I hope it never grows as large as Kodak or Fuji. As you say, that would require going public, something I don't wish on anyone.

    Quote Originally Posted by AuditorOne View Post
    ...Kodak is still making profit with their film...
    The inability to clearly tie Kodak's lines of business to its legacy liabilities makes me doubt that anyone can definitively say film is profitable for that company.

    Quote Originally Posted by AuditorOne View Post
    ...there is nothing at all wrong with Wall Street...
    There are plenty of things wrong with Wall Street. Its "next quarter" mentality is foremost among them. Does your "user name" reveal some connection to Wall Street that makes you particularly sensitive to criticism of it?

    Quote Originally Posted by AuditorOne View Post
    ...Capitalism around the world has provided 95% of the products that we use and depend on every day...
    Privately held companies are practicing capitalism just as much as publicly traded ones are; conflating "capitalism" with "public" is erroneous and misleading.

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    Re: Profits at HARMAN Technology / Ilford are on the rise

    Quote Originally Posted by Darin Boville View Post
    They also make the very popular Gold Silk inkjet paper, among several others. They raised the price (by not offering larger quantity boxes) by 40% recently so I'm looking for alternatives (e.g. Canson), but I wouldn't be surprised if it is the top paper for serious photography.

    --Darin
    I thougt the inkjet papers are made by the "other" Ilford, the other (Swiss?) company who also have rights on the name, the same ones who produced the ilfochrome materials nteil recently, i.e. not Harman.

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    Re: Profits at HARMAN Technology / Ilford are on the rise

    Quote Originally Posted by dave_whatever View Post
    I thougt the inkjet papers are made by the "other" Ilford, the other (Swiss?) company who also have rights on the name, the same ones who produced the ilfochrome materials nteil recently, i.e. not Harman.
    You may be right--you probably are. Although the press release cites Harman as being the manufacturer of a line of high end inkjet papers. I don't really follow the industry.

    --Darin

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    Drew Wiley
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    Re: Profits at HARMAN Technology / Ilford are on the rise

    Sal is correct. I am personally a professional buyer, currently dealing mostly in contractor
    machinery and equip from all over the world. Some privately-held companies are enormous
    as well as international in both mfg and distribution, and in every case I can think of they're doing far better than their publicly-traded competition. The reason is, they have to make money. On Wall Street, your primary product is BS - real goods and long-term growth are down the priority ladder by several rungs.

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