Kodak announces good fourth quarter results

Earnings from operations reached US-$ 430 million (Euro 308 million) in the fourth quarter, compared with a loss of US-$ 914 million (Euro 654.5 million) in the year-ago period.

Kodak’s Consumer Digital Imaging Group recorded fourth quarter sales of US-$ 1.212 billion (Euro 867.9 million), a 27-percent increase from the same quarter 2008. Fourth quarter earnings from operations for the segment were US-$ 380 million (Euro 272.1 million), compared with a loss of US-$ 41 million (Euro 29.4 million) in the prior year quarter. According to a press release, the year-over-year improvement was driven by a combination of higher non-recurring interlectual property licensing revenue, improved profitability in consumer inkjet systems, improved operating performance in Digital Capture & Devices and Retail Systems Solutions as well as reduced SG&A expenses. Excluding the impact of non-recurring interlectual property royalties, segment earnings improved by more than US-$ 100 million (Euro 71.6 million), the company said. Revenue from consumer inkjet, printers, hardware and ink increased by 81 percent in the fourth quarter.

Sales of Kodak’s Film, Photofinishing and Entertainment Group reached US-$ 589 million (Euro 421.8 million) in the fourth quarter, a 10-percent decline from the same period 2008 along with the market development. Fourth quarter earings from operations for the segment were US-$ 53 million (Euro 37 million), compared with earnings of US-$ 39 million (Euro 27.9 million) in the year-ago period. According to Kodak, the increase in earnings was driven by significant operational improvements in traditional photofinishing, cost reductions across the segment, favorable foreign exchange rates and improvement in raw material costs, partially offset by industry-related volume declines in film capture and negative price mix.

Antonio M. Perez, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Eastman Kodak Company, commented: “In the second half of 2009, we began to see some improvement in the economy, and that helped to highlight the true strength of our digital portfolio. During 2009, we doubled the installed base for our consumer inkjet printers while maintaining our price premium.”

For the full year 2009, Eastman Kodak reported a loss from continuing operations of US-$ 232 million (Euro 166.1 million), compared with a loss of US-$ 727 million (Euro 520.6 million) in 2008. Total sales declined 19 percent to US-$ 7.606 billion (Euro 5.45 billion), reflecting the recession’s impact on demand, especially in the first half of 2009. The company expects that customer demand for its digital products will continue to grow as the economy recovers.