Kodak Warning + Later Clarification

[BrianShaw]

Why would they still (agan?) release financial reports to public?

Last such report that they were required to publish was on fiscal year ending March 2023.

In all politeness and curiousity... why wouldn't they? Do you have information verifying that they are no longer intending to publish an Annual Report, whether "required" or not?

 

[koraks]

whether "required" or not?

Why would a business publish financial details if they're not required to? Doing so involves a lot of effort, it costs money, it provides information to competitors you'd prefer them not to have, etc. It's ultimately the same set of reasons why you don't annually report how much you've earned in the past year, how much you spent on gas, how your overall relationship with your spouse has been, etc. It's just none of anyone's beeswax, so you don't spill the beans.

 

[brbo]

Do you have information verifying that they are no longer intending to publish an Annual Report, whether "required" or not?

Other than the fact that they’ve decided NOT to publish them for the past two years? No.

 

[BrianShaw]

Why would a business publish financial details if they're not required to? Doing so involves a lot of effort, it costs money, it provides information to competitors you'd prefer them not to have, etc. It's ultimately the same set of reasons why you don't annually report how much you've earned in the past year, how much you spent on gas, how your overall relationship with your spouse has been, etc. It's just none of anyone's beeswax, so you don't spill the beans.

Well... they've published an Annual Report for 8 years. I guess to really know why or why not, you should ask them why they did in the past and if they intend to continue in the future. I wouldn't know that much about their inner workings.

 

[BrianShaw]

Other than the fact that they’ve decided NOT to publish them for the past two years? No.

I believe they still are a Private Limited Company in England and are required to submit an annual accounting (to the government, not necessarily the public).

Looking a this link, it appears that they submitted their annual account for 2024. As we both know, they have not released it on the company website. I guess we'll have to wait and see if they plan to continue releasing it.

KODAK ALARIS LIMITED overview - Find and update company information - GOV.UK

KODAK ALARIS LIMITED - Free company information from Companies House including registered office address, filing history, accounts, annual return, officers, charges, business activity

find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk

 

[Alan Edward Klein]

I imagine they produce annual financial reports (certified) for banks if they're borrowing money for example. But those reports are kept confidential. No need for Annual Reports. Is there a requirement in England for public exposure?

 

[MattKing]

I imagine they produce annual financial reports (certified) for banks if they're borrowing money for example. But those reports are kept confidential. No need for Annual Reports. Is there a requirement in England for public exposure?

In the UK and in much of the rest of the common law world, the privilege of being able to set up a corporate entity, usually with limited liability, is accompanied by a corresponding legal obligation.
Corporate entities created under statutory provisions are required to keep financial records and publish publicly those records in a form required under those statutory provisions.
The major exceptions to that otherwise general rule are, AFAIK, the USA and Canada.
In the UK and other similar parts of the world, if you want to keep things private, you use a private business structure such as a sole proprietorship or a partnership between individuals.
In the UK and other similar parts of the world, if you want the benefits of the artificial construct that is an incorporated entity, you need to be willing to share more with the world.

 

[dcy]

Why would a business publish financial details if they're not required to? Doing so involves a lot of effort, it costs money, it provides information to competitors you'd prefer them not to have, etc.

Who exactly are the competitors of Kodak Alaris?

 

[BrianShaw]

Who exactly are the competitors of Kodak Alaris?

Probably many… in the non-film parts of their business.

 

[koraks]

Who exactly are the competitors of Kodak Alaris?

Plenty. Film is only a small part of what they do. I'd have to look it up, but I think photographic film was something like <20% of Alaris' revenue. For EK, stills photographic film is <10%.

 

[Agulliver]

As an example, in the UK the data for Kodak Alaris is available, along with data for all limited companies (including Harman, if you wish to look) at Companies House. Note there's Kodak Alaris Ltd and Kodak Alaris Holdings Ltd. If you really want, you can go down the rabbit hole of looking up all the directors and seeing which (if any) other companies they are directors of.

KODAK ALARIS LIMITED overview - Find and update company information - GOV.UK

KODAK ALARIS LIMITED - Free company information from Companies House including registered office address, filing history, accounts, annual return, officers, charges, business activity

find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk

KODAK ALARIS HOLDINGS LIMITED overview - Find and update company information - GOV.UK

KODAK ALARIS HOLDINGS LIMITED - Free company information from Companies House including registered office address, filing history, accounts, annual return, officers, charges, business activity

find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk

For instance, just a cursory look shows that Kodak Alaris Ltd had revenue of 164m euros in 2024, up 12% on 2023. Gross profit was 53.8m representing 33% of revenue, both up from 2023. Also "the directors are satisfied that the company has adequate resources to continue in operational existence for the foreseeable future." This is all normal for annual reporting in most of the developed world. It allows customers, suppliers and potential investors to see the basic health of the company.

Delve further and you discover more about their business divisions and what each does. Eg, "Alaris is a leading provider of information capture with a uniquely differentiated portfolio of scanning software, capture software and associated services". This division accounted for 46m euros of the total revenue for 2024. There's lots more info the further you delve. Nothing to suggest that Kodak Alaris is remotely in any danger. Though of course this doesn't directly refer to Eastman Kodak, it's an indicator of how one silly clickbait headline has so much more behind it.

 

[Alan Edward Klein]

In the UK and in much of the rest of the common law world, the privilege of being able to set up a corporate entity, usually with limited liability, is accompanied by a corresponding legal obligation.
Corporate entities created under statutory provisions are required to keep financial records and publish publicly those records in a form required under those statutory provisions.
The major exceptions to that otherwise general rule are, AFAIK, the USA and Canada.
In the UK and other similar parts of the world, if you want to keep things private, you use a private business structure such as a sole proprietorship or a partnership between individuals.
In the UK and other similar parts of the world, if you want the benefits of the artificial construct that is an incorporated entity, you need to be willing to share more with the world.

Just to clarify, US corporations that are publicly traded have public stock are therefore required to provide financial information regularly. However, private US corporations don;t have to provide public information. For example, I owned 100% of the stock in my corporation. I never created an annual report. I only created a financial statment when required by my bank to support my company's line of credit. But that was confidential and between me and my bank unless subpoenaed in a lawsuit during discovery. I also had my accountant provide profit and loss statements annually so I could see how the corporation was doing, but that too was private and confidential.

The question about current British Alaris is will the new American private equity firm who owns it change the company to a US corporation? Then they wouldn't have to publish anything about the company. They also would only have to deal with one government's rules.

 

[Alan Edward Klein]

Who exactly are the competitors of Kodak Alaris?

Probably many… in the non-film parts of their business.

Other film manufacturers are also competitors. Aftyer all, if you're Ilford, you;d like to know the markups, costs and proftis Alaris is making on each roll of film. That would help you set your prices for Ilford film to be more competitive and get more of the film market.

 

[pbromaghin]

I told you so - a whole lot of hand-wringing for nothing.
That said, shame on CNN for that piece of misleading, sensationalist garbage.

Forgive me for linking to the Clown News Network to start the thread. I should have known better.

 

[warden]

Forgive me for linking to the Clown News Network to start the thread. I should have known better.

Not your fault. It was also bad reporting from Fox Business, Axios, Fast Company, USA Today, and many others. It would be interesting though to learn who was the first to break the clickbait, and who the followers were. At least the record has been corrected By Kodak, and they do sound fundamentally fit.

 

[MattKing]

Discussions about the quality of journalism in general are off topic and trending toward the political, so have been deleted.
The posts about how poor the journalism is behind the specific link plus those who seem to have parroted it have been left in place, but can we leave that subject here please.
And just a note of some comfort (I hope): sometimes it is the responses a slightly off topic post engenders that result in that slightly off topic post being deleted.

 

[chuckroast]

I imagine they produce annual financial reports (certified) for banks if they're borrowing money for example. But those reports are kept confidential. No need for Annual Reports. Is there a requirement in England for public exposure?

This is how I understand the topic:

A publicly traded company in the US must file a 10K annual report of its financials. So do most non-profits, though I'm unclear on exactly how they report. Some very large privately held companies must also do this if they have a big shareholder base (so I am told).

There is no requirement that any of the above issue an annual report. This is done usually for shareholder goodwill or to generate interest for the company and its stock.

Moreover, most companies actually have at least three different views of their financials (legally and legitimately) based on the same data: A view of the data required for the SEC 10K filings, a view of the data to try to minimize taxation (legally and properly), and a cash flow view that realistically shows how the company is doing.

There may be other views attached to this. For example, say Kodak wants to blow a $100 million hole in the ground to build out a new film manufacturing capability. Instead of writing off the entire amount in the year it is spent (before the film even start being available for sale), the law permits them to spread out the write down of some portion of the spend over some number of following years. This is done to offset profits generated by the new manufacturing system and the resulting film sales.

For example, say this "capitalization period" is 3 years and "capitalization amount" is $90 million. Kodak would be able to take a tax write down (not credit) of $30M/yr for 3 years. In year 2, if they sold $28M of the new film, they'd pay no taxes on it. In the 3rd year, if they sold $40M worth of that film, they'd be taxed on $10M of it.

This is not a scam. It's intended to improve fairness of taxation so that the company can recoup its investment before having to pay taxes on the goods that investment produces.

 

[BrianShaw]

Not-for-profit report via Form 990 in the US, sometimes together with an annual report. Although that is not applicable in the context of this thread.

https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/f990.pdf

Alan should invest a few minutes and Google British PLC and LLC reporting requirements.

 

[Alan Edward Klein]

Discussions about the quality of journalism in general are off topic and trending toward the political, so have been deleted.
The posts about how poor the journalism is behind the specific link plus those who seem to have parroted it have been left in place, but can we leave that subject here please.
And just a note of some comfort (I hope): sometimes it is the responses a slightly off topic post engenders that result in that slightly off topic post being deleted.

But it was poor journalism that created 11 pages of wasted posts. You're cutting the lines too close and we the posters never know if we;re going over them or not. That wastes our time and yours. A little flexibility would be helpful. Please consider.

 

[chuckroast]

But it was poor journalism that created 11 pages of wasted posts. You're cutting the lines too close and we the posters never know if we;re going over them or not. That wastes our time and yours. A little flexibility would be helpful. Please consider.

Without commenting on your larger point, I'd suggest that it was not "11 pages of wasted posts". There were some pearls in there about the relationship between Kodak and Alaris, film sales, and the financial health of the company.

 

[MattKing]

But it was poor journalism that created 11 pages of wasted posts. You're cutting the lines too close and we the posters never know if we;re going over them or not. That wastes our time and yours. A little flexibility would be helpful. Please consider.

Alan,
Read the "note of comfort" in that post you quoted, and consider if it might just apply to you!

 

[mshchem]

Glory days, making Paper in Rochester NY

 

[bluechromis]

Well, the tariffs seem to be giving U.S. manufacturers a shot in the arm.

 

[mshchem]

Well, the tariffs seem to be giving U.S. manufacturers a shot in the arm.

Tariffs

I'm trying to not let this stuff change my habits. I am extremely fond of imports

 

[Alan Edward Klein]

Without commenting on your larger point, I'd suggest that it was not "11 pages of wasted posts". There were some pearls in there about the relationship between Kodak and Alaris, film sales, and the financial health of the company.

That's true. We did learn a lot about Kodak's apparent health, which seems a lot better than I thought. That bodes well for the future of Kodak film.