FUJIFILM EXPANDS ETERNA FAMILY...

FUJIFILM EXPANDS ETERNA FAMILY WITH THE INTRODUCTION OF ETERNA 400, ETERNA 250

VALHALLA, NY, January 12, 2006 – Fuji Photo Film U.S.A., Inc., a pioneer in digital imaging products and services is pleased to announce the introduction of three new motion picture color negative films: ETERNA 400 E.I. 400 tungsten-type, ETERNA 250 E.I. 250 tungsten-type and ETERNA 250D daylight-type E.I. 250.

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http://www.fujifilm.com/JSP/fuji/epartners/PRNewsDetail.jsp?DBID=NEWS_841903

Great news!
Way to go.

Cheers

André

Ah, great news! Go Fuji!

That's great but I still wish they would sell neopan acros 100 in 4x5 sheets and not just quickloads in the US.

mike

msloane said:

That's great but I still wish they would sell neopan acros 100 in 4x5 sheets and not just quickloads in the US.

mike

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hooo, yeah. Me too.

So let me see if I understand. Everyone and their grandmother jumped ontot he digital bandwagon and started losing money hand over fist (Kodak - setting the standards)... Those who went the other way (Ilford) remains to be seen. In the land of the blind, the one-eyed is king?

Bloomberg:
"
Fuji Photo to Cut 5,000 Jobs; Slashes Profit Forecast (Update1)

Jan. 31 (Bloomberg) -- Fuji Photo Film Co., the world's fifth-biggest digital camera maker, slashed its full-year profit forecast by 77 percent and said it will cut 5,000 jobs as it reorganizes its photographic business.

Tokyo-based Fuji Photo said today in a statement released at the Tokyo Stock Exchange it now expects 20 billion yen ($170.2 million) net income this business year, compared with its previous forecast of 85 billion yen.

Net income fell 18 percent to 60.2 billion yen in the nine months ended Dec. 31, compared with 73.5 billion yen a year earlier, according to the statement. Sales rose 4.9 percent to 1.99 trillion yen from 1.89 trillion yen.

Fuji Photo, like many of its rivals, is being squeezed by falling prices and a shrinking domestic market for digital compact cameras. Konica Minolta Holdings Inc. earlier this month said it will exit a century-old camera business, and Olympus Corp. cut jobs at its camera unit to focus on health-care instruments.

Shares of Fuji Photo, which gained 4.3 percent last year, lagging behind the 40 percent rise in Japan's benchmark Nikkei 225 Stock Average, closed down 30 yen at 4,020 yen in Tokyo today."

Umm.... It is very hazardous to comment on the fiancials of companies - and the causes of such - having read just some news blurb. The place to go for the real information is Dead Link Removed . The sales of films are down 18% , frontier minilabs are down 32% and paper and chemicals are down 1% year on year for the first 9 months. So in a year, probably 25% of film market - the already considerably reduced film market of early 2004 - has dissapeared.

Dead Link Removed is a description of what they will do to get better, the important part of which *probably* is:

Summary of Structural Reforms
1.Optimizing business systems for color film and other photosensitive materials
1) Optimizing globally expanded production capacity of photosensitive materials while considering future market trends
-Reduce a part of production facilities for photosensitive materials
-Streamline personnel in accordance with above reforms
2) Pursue exhaustive prioritization and efficiency in entire process from R&D to sales/distribution
-Reorganize R&D system prioritizing photographic prints
-Greatly reduce sales expenditure and consolidate laboratories and distribution
-Streamline personnel in accordance with above reforms
2.Structural reform of digital camera business
1) Strengthen product lineups which contain distinctive features such as high-sensitivity
2) Scale down domestic production system and establish mass production system in China
3) Exhaustive reduction of expenditure and strengthen SCM to reduce total inventory

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