Kodak
Kodak posts quarterly net profit
Photography company Eastman Kodak Co. on Thursday reported a quarterly profit versus a year-earlier loss, fueled by digital camera sales, and said its restructuring may cost less than it had anticipated.
The world's top maker of photographic film, which is undergoing a lengthy and expensive transformation into a maker of digital cameras and printing products and services, posted a net profit of $37 million, or 13 cents a share, compared with a loss of $37 million, or 13 cents a share, a year earlier.
Third-quarter revenue fell 1 percent to $2.58 billion from $2.60 billion.
Revenue from digital products and service rose 12 percent to $1.59 billion, nearly offsetting a 16 percent decline in revenue from traditional photography products such as film.
Since late 2003, Kodak has focused on the expanding market for digital devices, hoping to outpace the drop in demand for film, historically its main revenue source. At the same time, it has reduced costs by cutting jobs and trimming manufacturing.
It said on Thursday that as a results of manufacturing improvements, restructuring costs this year are likely to be in the range of $750 million to $850 million, lower than its previous estimate of $900 million to $1 billion.
In addition, it expects to spend less and cut fewer jobs than anticipated. It said the total restructuring plan will trim 27,000 to 28,000 positions and charges will be $3.4 billion to $3.6 billion, instead of job cuts of 28,000 to 30,000 and total charges to $3.6 billion to $3.8 billion.
Kodak shares closed on Wednesday at $28.66 on the New York Stock Exchange. The stock has risen about 11 percent so far this year, which Kodak says will be the last of this restructuring.
(Published by Reuters, November 1, 2007)
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