Agfa-photo bankrupt

[mcgrattan]

I gather that the Calbe/Adox products are the same formulae as the Agfa stuff.

So R09 = Rodinal (in a slightly different concentration) and A49/ATM49 = Atomal.

I've had very nice results with the A49.

Retrophotographic in the UK do them:

Dead Link Removed

As far as I know Calbe was once the former East German wing of Agfa/Orwo.

Their homepage is here:

Dead Link Removed

 

[Donald Qualls]

From *way* back up the thread -- if you stock up on Rodinal, dont' freeze it, just leave it on the shelf. It'll last decades in the sealed bottle. Heck, it'll last decades in a partially full, opened bottle.

 

[gareth harper]

Ilford may have come out of the other end of the insolvency process, but only just. I'd reckon Ilford is fine for just now, but in the long term they are still fighting to survive.

Once more it must have been a nightmare for the employees, many have lost their jobs, and I don't know what it means for their compnay pension etc.

I think at the end of the day, as traditional photographers we are going to have to get used to less choice as far as materials go. At some point though the decline in film and more importantly b&w film and paper sales should bottom out. I would have thought we were pretty much at that point by now.

The other thing is we have to get younger snappers interested in film based photography.

I do hope that Afga pulls through this process, both for the employees, and from a personal view point in that I'm rather excited by my second attempt at APX100 in rodinal. What a combination. Why did I not use this before?

 

[Ole]

I think this is my fault, guys. I bought my first bottle of Rodinal last weekend, and was planning on opening it tomorrow to try out

We'll split the blame - so did I!

And this morning (before I got the news) I ordered several packs of APX100 in 6.5x9cm and 13x18cm...

Come to think of it, it must all be my fault

 

[modafoto]

I can see Morten and Tony (TPPhotog) in a shopping cart battle over the last bottle of Rodinal.

I am training my shopping cart skills already!

 

[Eric Rose]

At least I have 8 bottles left...When they are gone I have to go the XTOL way...

I've already gone to the yellow side. XTOL is good stuff. Not Rodinal, but it does the job. I will probably buy a couple of bottles of Rodinal just to have for those special occasions when I really want the look Rodinal gives me.

Of course there is always HC-110....

 

[Flotsam]

Doesn't JandC and the Formulary both sell different 'flavors' of Rodinal?

I just started playing with that Xtol/Rodinal mix. Less grain than Rodinal, a little more pop than plain Xtol.

 

[arigram]

From the news service we subscribe to:

"The headquarters of AgfaPhoto, the former consumer imaging division of Belgian group Agfa-Gevaert in the western town of Leverkusen. AgfaPhoto based in Leverkusen with a worldwide workforce of 2,400 said 27 May it had filed for insolvency. 1,800 members of staff in Germany and 870 at the company's principal office are affected. In November 2004 the Belgian Agfa-Photo group had sold the areas of film and photo paper to German and American investors. With the boom in digital photography, sales of traditional photographic film and paper have slumped."

*sigh*

 

[psvensson]

Somebody should start making a knock-off of Sistan! All the other Agfa products I can replace.

 

[modafoto]

I wish the COR could take over...but we do not have any money...just faith and devotion

 

[John Koehrer]

Will Rodinal appear on Ebay as "rare" with a reserve of $50+? Same with the other Agfa products?

 

[Quinten]

Good news for Ilford! And the APX roles are good till at least 2011 if you buy new.

Maybe they should change company culture completely, no more money in development since it will be an impossible race against digital. But there will be enough buyers if you only invest in continuing the fine products. Grow a lot smaller etc. They have got a name and buyers all over the world... should work in case they don't have to pay back their debts since that probably means selling all factories....

Best of luck to them, I hope the money eaters at the banks have a hearth and see the long term solution. The common way they probably won't get all money anyway.

 

[Rlibersky]

From the news service we subscribe to:
In November 2004 the Belgian Agfa-Photo group had sold the areas of film and photo paper to German and American investors.

What group bought the film and paper product? Maybe they are going to continue selling it under a different name.

 

[arigram]

What group bought the film and paper product? Maybe they are going to continue selling it under a different name.

That's all I got, but I asume it is the present owners of Agfa that are going under. The sell was in 2004.

 

[Joe Symchyshyn]

Here's what I've just learned from a friend in the industry...

...His take right now is that it's a tactic by the purchaser to reduce the final price of the purchase agreement, which can be read between the lines in the news release I've provided below. He doesn't seem to be overly worried by what he knows and everyone was told it was business as usual. That's the short end of it right now. I'm sure that us small fries would never know the real story anyway, but the bottom line is right now is I still expect the product to be around. However, I have been expecting a price increase for a while now but it hasn't happened yet.

And an article he forwarded me as well...

AgfaPhoto insolvency filing reported in Germany; North American operations continue

AgfaPhoto GmbH, the photo/imaging spin-off from Agfa-Gevaert, has filed for insolvency. According to a report by Finance24.com, the move took employees by surprise.

"The West German Broadcasting (WDR) channel said the company management informed employees of the move earlier in the week," the report said. "The head of the workers council, Bernhard Dykstra, told WDR that the council was totally surprised by the decision. Some 1,800 Agfa employees in Germany would be affected by the insolvency, including 870 at Agfa headquarters in Leverkusen."

According to an AgfaPhoto spokesperson for North America, operations will be "business as usual."

"Our parent company filed for a petition for insolvency, but it has not been accepted yet," said the spokesperson. "Our intent is to emerge from a restructuring as a stronger organization. We will have more information by the middle of the next week.

In November, 2004, Agfa-Gevaert sold its consumer imaging business to a group of investors in a management buy out/in. Since then the consumer imaging business have operated through a group of companies under the name of AgfaPhoto, owned by management, NannO Beteiligungsholding and a small number of financial investors.

Agfa-Gevaert provides AgfaPhoto group companies with distribution, order fulfillment, after sales and other services until the end of 2005. In addition, at the time of the management buy out/in on Nov. 2, 2004, Agfa-Gevaert granted a secured vendor loan for the full purchase price. Based on Agfa Gevaert's audited financial statement, the purchase price was set at 112 million euro, which is still subject to an audit of the closing financials by the purchaser. The vendor loan is fully secured by a lease portfolio held by AgfaPhoto Holding GmbH, the parent company of the AgfaPhoto group. AgfaPhoto Holding GmbH is not implicated in the insolvency filing of AgfaPhoto GmbH, according to Agfa-Gevaert.

So far... No need to panic, just buy what you use as normal.

joe

 

[Gary Grenell]

MCC users, lets not leap from the bridge yet. Companies get bought and sold, reorganize, etc.

 

[k_jupiter]

We'll split the blame - so did I!

And this morning (before I got the news) I ordered several packs of APX100 in 6.5x9cm and 13x18cm...

Come to think of it, it must all be my fault

Wait, wait. You got APX100 Sheet film? It was my understanding that all B&W negative sheet films were discontinued two years ago. Hence my stash of 400 sheets of 4x5 APX100 in the fridge.

I might be interested in a source (however temporary) of 9x12 sheet film for my ZI Trona.


tim in san jose

 

[Ole]

Wait, wait. You got APX100 Sheet film? It was my understanding that all B&W negative sheet films were discontinued two years ago. Hence my stash of 400 sheets of 4x5 APX100 in the fridge.

I might be interested in a source (however temporary) of 9x12 sheet film for my ZI Trona.


tim in san jose

I ordered from Nordfoto - but there is no 9x12cm left. Only 6.5x9 and 13x18. You could of course use this as an excuse for another camera, even my wife likes the little 6.5x9 Voigtländer VAG!

 

[arigram]

What ever happens, I did go to my local photo storage and got the last two 500ml bottles of Rodinal he had (from a box that I had myself ordered some time ago). Oh and a couple Microphen packs and a Multigrade bottle. For one thing, buying photo stuff is my shopping therapy. Everything else I spend money on, I always get a bit of regret and shame! Photo stuff I enjoy giving a fortune to!

 

[gr82bart]

Aw c**p!! This means my Scala is no more!!!

Art.

 

[gareth harper]

Aw c**p!! This means my Scala is no more!!!

Art.

How do you figure that?
The company has filed for insolvency. I don't know quite how things work, but I guess it's something like this. If it's accepted the company is insolvent, the receivers will be called in. They will do a full audit of the company. One of the things they will be looking at is, is it possible or viable for the company or parts of it to trade again. Part of that will be looking at what sells and what doesn't.
Frankly it's too early to say what will happen, and as hinted by some other posters there may be just a little bit of business brinkmanship or shanigans being played out.
Who knows what will happen, sadly the employees have no idea either.

 

[TPPhotog]

I am training my shopping cart skills already!

Having a turbo charger fitted to my cart as we speak (eeeerm type)

 

[jjstafford]

How do you figure that?
The company has filed for insolvency. I don't know quite how things work, but I guess it's something like this. If it's accepted the company is insolvent, the receivers will be called in. [...]

The report I read said that they could not even make payroll. Will they get an emergency loan to keep the workers on the job? Will the employees work for free?

 

[gareth harper]

The report I read said that they could not even make payroll. Will they get an emergency loan to keep the workers on the job? Will the employees work for free?

And that's why they are insolvent, cos they are bust, or claiming to be.
Everything right now is pure speculation.
The banks, or the government may well make an emergency loan to Agfaphoto, based on intial reports from the company/appointed reciever/trade and industry secetary.
Re-structuring will then take place, either that ot the whole thing will be asset stripped and shut-down.

 

[jandc]

They have been dumping film all across Europe and the USA at insanely low prices since they became Agfa Photo to get cash flow. They produce their products in Germany, one of the most expensive places on earth to make anything yet sell their products at almost Chinese prices. The collapse was inevitable. Their business model makes no sense for film and their sales of processing equipment can't make up the difference.