Kodak is making money, but apparently it’s not enough. Sales shrunk by 5%, but the Rochester-based imaging giant raised profits almost three times to $96 million this quarter. (I’d take that.) However, Kodak also warned that it’s year-end profits would be in the $200-250 million dollar range, after last quarter projecting the profit to be $400 million. I hope no one received bonuses based on those projections, which probablyl inflated the stock at the time.
Same story regarding digital vs. film. Revenue from digital business grew 2%, while film-based revenue dropped 18%. Kodak’s digital sales are how more than twice as great as its film-based sales – $1.64 billion to $764 million.
Directly related to our industry, “Graphic communications sales fell 2 percent to $821 million and operating earnings fell from $36 million to $23 million, hurt mainly by a softer commercial printing market in the United States as well as higher raw materials costs than a year ago.” – Nothing negative about the document scanner business, which is good.
