Kodak Q4 Earnings

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bmasonoh

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Anyone else see their earnings announcement?

I was under the impression that film sales had begun to stabilize. However, after looking at the release I'm beginning to wonder if they're still on the decline.

Film, Photofinishing and Entertainment Group sales dropped 25% to $439 million, and the unit swung to a loss of $3 million. The results were primarily driven by industry-related declines in volumes and higher raw-material costs, partially offset by cost reductions across the segment, Kodak said.
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So what I'm reading is that Kodak's net income is down 95%, it lost a patent suit and thus its only cash cow is suddenly in jeopardy. Kodak makes digital cameras that no one wants, and its film sales are consistently stagnant. Yeesh. What a mess.
 
Quarter after quarter, year after year, Kodak film sales drop like a rock. But every quarter, the "defenders of film's future" come out and proclaim that film is doing just fine and will be around forever. The king is dead, long live the king. :)
 
Make hay while the sun shines.

There is no point in stopping using film just because it might die sometime in the future. Shoot film as long as you can so you won't have any regrets when its not there.

Lets cross the bridge when we get there, until then there is plenty of cheap film around.
 
I don't know if film sales have stabilized or not. But if they have doesn't mean profit can't drop at the same time. The price of silver has gone through the roof for one thing.
 
Oh, well, you're right... I remember I had seen 1 1/2 yr ago but I didn't think at it at all... I found the X100 much more groundbreaking than the GF670...
 
I've never needed to add anyone on RFF to my ignore list before - like ever. Wasn't even sure how to do it on this forum. One of the posts earlier in the thread earned a five-star ban.
 
PKR said:
The cost of Silver is up.. so the cost of making film has gone up. Kodak is not a well run company. It once was one of the Dow Jones Industrials and was on the decline long before loosing it's standing, and long before digital cameras were big on the consumer market. I wouldn't predict the future of film solely on how Kodak is doing. Ilford was in serious trouble several years ago. Once they were purchased by their German parent, they were back in the black in a matter of months. Adox is buying the old Agfa coating gear and rehiring the former employees who ran the paper operation. These other companies wouldn't be spending their money if they didn't see a profit in their future. Fuji just released a new Film camera.. Deardorff is still making camera parts and I understand, plans to begin selling cameras again.. so, Kodak may go away or get smaller.. I can mix D76 from scratch or buy some Ilford chemistry.

Wiki:
Eastman Kodak Company is removed from the Dow Jones Industrial Average index on April 8, 2004; having been listed for the past 74 years.[25]
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eastman_Kodak

http://money.cnn.com/2011/01/26/news/companies/kodak/
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And are just about to release a camera that looks like a film camera but records it's images digitally ... there's a messaage in that action IMO and the message is not good for film users!
 
Pickett Wilson said:
Quarter after quarter, year after year, Kodak film sales drop like a rock. But every quarter, the "defenders of film's future" come out and proclaim that film is doing just fine and will be around forever. The king is dead, long live the king. :)
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And quarter after quarter, year after year, there are those who proclaim the death of film, often with malevolent glee and absurd hyperbole ('like a rock'). But with zero accuracy so far.

Cheers,

R.
 
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I am probably wrong, but if sales in dollars have gone down 25% it is due to (a) less film is sold, (b) film is sold cheaper, (c) the us dollars is stronger than last period.

Price of silver, high cost of other raw materials, cost of workers etc does not affect the decline in sales. It will affect the earnings but not the sales in dollars.
 
PKR said:
The message I get is that there is a profit to be made in both markets. If there were no profit.. making the cameras and any film would be foolish.. and Fuji would have unhappy stock holders. I think they are in good shape as a company. I don't think Fuji would task their engineering staff and marketing people to produce products that are going to lead to their demise.. do you? It's not complicated .. it money. I use both digital and film camera equipment and find both useful. The film vs digital argument is getting a bit old. If film goes away.. it goes away.. If earth suffers another Carrington Event.. the digital users won't be taking pictures..
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But if what we read about Fuji, (ie) film being a couple of percent of their total turnover is true, then axing that small part of their output is hardly going to send them to the wall.

Didn't they make a big push into pharmaceuticals a while ago ... that industry is enormous with some very big players.
 
If Kodak has $439M in revenue, what would fuji and ilford add to total industry sales?

It's still a $billion industry.

.
 
To have lost "only" $3 million in the 2010 economy is not such a bad thing, many manufacturers of other products fared far worse. Kodak's main problem (and that of other manufacturers) is the weak dollar, which has increased the cost of commodities and materials, particuarly those which are imported from outside the US.
 
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PKR said:
Well if what you say is correct.. maybe they should have done this long ago.. have you considered running their business? Maybe you should write to them and point out the err in their ways.. Buy some stock and attend the next Board Meeting and speak to their poor management of funds.
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I don't understand your sarcasm here? ... I'm just saying that Fujifilm is a big company who will diversify as they see fit to keep the bottom line where they want it. They've already removed several films from their lineup and may continue this trend as their push into digital with the X100 gathers momentum.

Who really knows?
 
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