Despite Fourth Straight Loss, Kodak Optimistic

ROCHESTER, NY—While suffering a loss for the fourth consecutive quarter, Eastman Kodak's chief executive expressed optimism for a strong rebound for both the photography and printing businesses. Kodak recorded a loss of $111 million in the third quarter after successive losses of $353 million and $189 million.

Still, Kodak CEO Antonio Perez told analysts "In the third quarter, we began to see real evidence that the market trends are positive," he said, adding the firm is on track for a much improved fourth quarter. Perez said that customer commitments for the Prosper ink-jet product family continue to grow rapidly.

Kodak's sales worldwide totaled $1.781 billion, a decrease of 26% from $2.405 billion in the third quarter of 2008. Revenue from digital businesses totaled $1.209 billion, a 26% decline from $1.641 billion in the prior-year quarter, primarily as a result of the global recession and continued restrictions in the credit markets that are dampening commercial printing purchases.

Graphic Communications Group third-quarter 2009 sales were $674 million, an 18% decline from the third quarter of 2008. This revenue decrease was primarily driven by a market-related decline of 16% in prepress solutions, as well as associated declines in workflow. Third-quarter earnings from operations for the segment totaled $10 million, compared with earnings of $22 million in the year-ago quarter.