Eastman Kodak is reporting earnings for the 4th quarter and all of 2017.
The company is reporting profits of $129 million for the quarter and $94 million for the year overall. But as George Conboy of Brighton Securities points out, that profit is mainly due to the fact the company had a one-time tax benefit of $101 million.
“Sales were down, about $100 million to ( $1.5 billion). The decline seems to be slowing; also, Kodak provided a profit for the year but only because of an accounting move in the 4th quarter. On actual operations Kodak lost $7 million. If there’s a silver lining, it’s that they didn’t lose more.”
Kodak did report a decline in sales in its largest division, its print systems division. But CEO Jeff Clarke says the company has been working on investing in growth areas, and has also worked to reduce costs.
2017 was a year of investment in our strategic growth priorities which bodes well for the future,” said Clarke. “We also eliminated several business initiatives while continuing to reduce cost and drive greater efficiency in the company. We enter 2018 with a stronger growth profile and more productive operations.”
Kodak also updated the status of layoffs it originally announced last years, with the third quarter earnings.
At that time, the company said it would be cutting about 425 jobs worldwide, with about 100 of those layoffs happening in Rochester.
Company officials say that as of February, 260 positions among all its operations have been eliminated, and actions have been taken to eliminate an additional 155 positions this year. Remaining cuts will happen in the first half of this year.
A spokesman tells WXXI News that Kodak is not talking about any new layoff programs for Rochester at this time, beyond what was previously announced.
The company now focuses mainly on commercial printing and packaging.
