Sales for Kodak’s Graphic Communications Group for the third quarter were $821m, a two per cent decrease from the year-ago quarter. Earnings from operations for the segment totalled $23m, compared with earnings of $36m in the year-ago quarter.
The company says the earnings decline was primarily driven by US market softness for prepress solutions as well as unfavourable manufacturing costs related to higher year-over-year raw material costs for the quarter.
Total worldwide sales for the company totalled $2.4bn, a decrease of five per cent from $2.5bn in the third quarter of 2007. However revenue from digital businesses totalled $1.64bn, a two per cent increase from $1.6bn in the prior-year quarter.
The company also reported that revenue from the company’s traditional business decreased 18 per cent to $764m on continued declines in Film Capture and Traditional Photofinishing.
Antonio Perez, CEO of Eastman Kodak Company says despite the global economic weakness, Kodak maintained strong liquidity, and held or improved our market position in key businesses.
He says, “We remain confident that our strategy is sound, but given today’s challenging economic climate, we are taking a number of specific actions to strengthen our operations going forward. These include more tightly focusing our portfolio of investments, intensifying our emphasis on generating cash, and aligning our cost structure to the new economic realities.”
Perez adds, “These actions will better position Kodak to manage through this economic environment and to take full advantage of the recovery when it comes.”
