HARMAN technology Acquires Kentmere Photographic

Les McLean · Oct 16, 2007

Having worked as an accountant for companies that have been taken over I know what it feels like. The best scenario is that there is little change as has already been stated by Steve, that situation is dependant on the company taken over is a well run and successful organisation.

Having worked in the photographic industry for many years I know that Kentmere have always been a well managed company who produced a good range of products that in the main complimented what is available from it's competitors. The rejuvenated Harman/Ilford company are owned by a group of people who I'm privileged to count as very good friends and excellent businessmen who are committed to silver photography simply because they are passionate about it. Yes they will grow their digital business because they have the facilities to do that and make the all important profit. However,that growth will not be at the expense of silver, they will grow side by side.

Just three short years ago many here on APUG welcomed and supported the action of the people who saved Ilford from extinction, so lets get behind them again and trust their judgement in setting out to further stabilise and grow two companies who will provide traditional darkroom products for many years to come.

catem · Oct 16, 2007

Some positive points here, and I do hope this is the kind of take-over that is a continuing partnership. It sounds like it should be.

I will certainly be backing both by continuing to buy both llford and Kentmere products (once I've got over the shock of finding my favourite developer for the past 18 months has been withdrawn, that is!!).

Gary Holliday · Oct 16, 2007

Thanks for the pm Simon explaining the Cooltone dev situation and I hope as you suggest will be available for a good while yet until stocks are depleted. Time to start a fashion for split warmtone/ cooltone dev techniques to revive the interest!

Steve Smith · Oct 16, 2007

Matt5791 said:
On a really positive note, it means that I can now admit to Simon that I prefer Kentmere VC Select RC to Ilford MG IV as my everyday standard RC paper!

Me too!

Steve.

JBrunner · Oct 16, 2007

Ilford+Kentmere= 2 stronger companies, with better market access for Kentmere. This kind of activity shows the paper market still has a pulse.

david b · Oct 16, 2007

So Ilford, excuse me, Harman, now owns Ilford, Kentmere and Forte ?

PHOTOTONE · Oct 16, 2007

david b said:
So Ilford, excuse me, Harman, now owns Ilford, Kentmere and Forte ?

No, no-one "owns" Forte, it went out-of-business.

Bergger, a French company, used Forte for the manufacture of its products marketed under the Bergger name (paper and film), with Forte out-of-business, Bergger has now secured a deal with Ilford/Harmon to make their products. It is my understanding these will be as close to the Forte produced Bergger products as possible. But Ilford/Harmon did NOT purchase Forte.

david b · Oct 16, 2007

thanks for clarifying that.

Fintan · Oct 16, 2007

Best wishes to Ilford Harman on this aquisition of Kentmere who have some seriously superb products. I do hope you will continue with all of them.

Fintan

Black Dog · Oct 16, 2007

Fintan said:
Best wishes to Ilford Harman on this aquisition of Kentmere who have some seriously superb products. I do hope you will continue with all of them.

Fintan

Same here-an Azo like paper would be great too (and the return of Art Classic).

patrickjames · Oct 16, 2007

They say the only thing constant is change so I guess we will have to get used to it. This could be a good thing, I just hope Harmon doesn't get too large and bloated. Maybe in the long run we will see some interesting stuff. I am just happy someone is still making paper.

Right now I am using Kentmere almost exclusively. I hope they don't change it, but if they do I'll move on. My biggest concern is the price. In the US the price of paper has gone higher and higher. Kentmere is still reasonable.

Patrick

aldevo · Oct 16, 2007

PHOTOTONE said:
No, no-one "owns" Forte, it went out-of-business.

Bergger, a French company, used Forte for the manufacture of its products marketed under the Bergger name (paper and film), with Forte out-of-business, Bergger has now secured a deal with Ilford/Harmon to make their products. It is my understanding these will be as close to the Forte produced Bergger products as possible. But Ilford/Harmon did NOT purchase Forte.

No, there is a group very much in possession of Forte. The new owners have simply ceased operations since they are more interested in redeveloping the factory site than producing B&W film and paper.

Any judgements on the "Forte-worthiness" of Ilford-produced Bergger products will simply need to wait until those products appear and are tested. Bergger did little more than produce clones before and I suspect there track record will remain intact...perhaps I'll be proven wrong.

aldevo · Oct 16, 2007

bogeyes said:
Look on the bright side of life, Kentmere products have a chance of surviving instead of becoming extinct. POWER TO HARMAN! Support a winner use Ilford products, feed the business.

There is aboslutely no evidence available to anybody that Kentmere either did or did not need to sell their business to stay in operation. We will never know the true reasons for the acquisition; they are both privately held concerns and they have no obligations to report on the health of their finances to the general public.

I don't see it as a positive; and I'm no longer buying Kentmere. Maybe they will keep Fineprint in production and maybe they will not.

Since the Fotoimpex MCP and MCC is restarting production (and I liked the Agfa MCP/MCC more than Fineprint, anyhow) I think it has better prospects to stick around.

Others can do as they wish, naturally.

aldevo · Oct 16, 2007

PHOTOTONE said:
Ilford "could" now have a venue to market lower-cost film (not paper) products under the Kentmere brand without diluting the market for Ilford films. Kentmere is still in the private label business, along with the Kentmere brand of papers.

We can speculate all we want but Ilford is certainly out of the private label business. It certainly wouldn't surprise me in the least to see Arista II (rebranded Kentmere Fineprint from Freestyle Photographic) disappear.

Uncle Bill · Oct 17, 2007

I am not worried in fact this could work well for Ilford and Kentmere. They can get better deals on raw materials, save money in the back office and leverage logsitics. The smart thing to do is to continue running seperate manufacturing facilities for the reason pointed out just in case there is trouble with one line, you can rely on the other.

Matt5791 · Oct 18, 2007

aldevo said:
There is aboslutely no evidence available to anybody that Kentmere either did or did not need to sell their business to stay in operation. We will never know the true reasons for the acquisition; they are both privately held concerns and they have no obligations to report on the health of their finances to the general public.

There is an absolute obligation for a private comapny to divulge the health of their finances in the UK (and I'm sure other countries too)

Every year a private limited company must file their annual accounts and an Annual return detailing the names and addresses of directors and shareholders, to Companies house.

You can check out Kentmere if you like and download a PDF of their accounts and / or annual return (for £1 each), it's all public information:

http://wck2.companieshouse.gov.uk/ba62daf31e59cf5844dd6154f72c02a8/wcframe?name=accessCompanyInfo

(bear in mind of course that a company like Kentmere may have a corporate structure of more than one company and holding companies etc. which together form the company we know)

Matt

jim appleyard · Oct 18, 2007

Travis Nunn said:
Simon, any chance that the Art Classic and Art Document papers will be resurrected? I know they wouldn't be exactly the same as the old papers, but a similar replacement would be wonderful.

I second the motion!

Simon R Galley · Oct 18, 2007

Dear Travis and Jim,

As I sure you realise I cannot possibly comment at this time about products that had been delisted by KENTMERE.

All I can confirm is what was said in the press release that all current products will remain in the range.

Simon ILFORD Photo / HARMAN technology Limited :

Schlapp · Oct 18, 2007

Great stuff Mr Galley, would hate to lose POP and Fineprint.

Richard Jepsen · Oct 21, 2007

I hope the buyout is a positive move for Harmon/Ilford. They produce top quality products and I hope they avoid sapping their financial strength by this purchase. Surely product duplication will be sorted out such as marketing rebranded Kodak chemicals.

Kentmere offers quality, innovative papers. My hope is that Ilford's production costs fall and the team's emulsion chemists offer photographers additional quality choices in paper. I suggest a warm toned paper with a contrast curve tuned to separate low and middle tones vs the current MGIV curves.

I appreciate the British for their traditional ways. We in the states are thankful.

Jon Shiu · Oct 21, 2007

Freestyle to remain exclusive Kentmere USA distributor:
http://www.ilfordphoto.com/pressroom/latest.asp

Jon

jleeper · Oct 22, 2007

Jon Shiu said:
Freestyle to remain exclusive Kentmere USA distributor:
http://www.ilfordphoto.com/pressroom/latest.asp

Jon

Interesting...I'm a bit suprised...I would have thought there was value in combining US distrubtion of Kentmere with Ilford...

Since we're talking about Kentmere and Freestyle...will Ilford allow any Kentmere product to be private labeled?

Jerry

PHOTOTONE · Oct 22, 2007

jleeper said:
Interesting...I'm a bit suprised...I would have thought there was value in combining US distrubtion of Kentmere with Ilford...

Since we're talking about Kentmere and Freestyle...will Ilford allow any Kentmere product to be private labeled?

Jerry

If everything is to proceed as it exists, then YES Harman will allow Kentmere paper to be private labeled. Harman has only stated that no ILFORD branded film will be private labeled.

Freestyle is a wholesale distributor, one of the largest for traditional film and paper materials, as well as a large Retail and mail order store operation. I believe they will have greater market penetration by keeping Kentmere at Freestyle distribution.

jleeper · Oct 23, 2007

PHOTOTONE said:
Harman has only stated that no ILFORD branded film will be private labeled.

And I bet it stays that way, with Freestyle selling a good bit of private labeld Kentmere. I would guess that a much larger percentage of Kentmere gets sold under a Arista label than was ever the case for Ilford paper.

Jerry

Marco B · Nov 18, 2007

Harman / Ilford Photo acquires Kentmere Photographic

Maybe it was already mentioned here before, but I just noticed on the Ilford Photo website:

http://www.ilfordphoto.com/pressroom/article.asp?n=87

that Kentmere has been taken over by Harman / Ilford Photo...

Thought it might be intersting for those of you printing on Kentmere paper

HARMAN technology Acquires Kentmere Photographic

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