Kodak CEO Jim Continenza says Kodak is positioning the Prosper Ultra 520 continuous feed inkjet press as the press with which commercial printers can move away from traditional offset print. During a conference call to discuss the company’s second quarter results, Continenza said: “The Prosper Ultra 520 offers our customers the ability to mitigate the supply chain risk of aluminium plates.”
That risk relates to possible shortages of the metal as a result of the ongoing conflict in Ukraine and sanctions applied to Russia and from sharply rising costs.
However, those aluminium plates are part of the company’s largest division: traditional printing, and a major driver of its revenues.
In the second quarter of the year this business generated revenues of $194 million, up from $169 million in 2021. Overall revenues for Kodak reached $321 million ($291 million) with an Ebitda profit of $11 million ($10 million) not rising as fast.
Digital print revenues from the annuity Prosper business slipped to $58 million ($62 million) with advanced materials rising to $61 million ($54 million).
The booked revenues for Prosper were hit by a foreign currency effect, otherwise the figures would have been close to parity with the 2021 figures. Continenza’s hope is that Prosper and digital print sales will rise thanks to the impact of new presses and because of the uncertainty over the supply of printing plates. However, sales of Sonora process-free plates are rising. In a quarter by quarter comparison, sales volumes for Sonora were up 8% and 15% higher in Q2 compared to Q1 this year.
The company’s response to the supply chain challenges as a consequence of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, has been to increase materials held in stock. The value rose to £262 million ($219 million) for the six months ending in June compared to the holding at the end of 2021. The cash in hand slipped to $289 million ($362 million) after the first six months of the year.
The company has faced higher costs through supply chain difficulties, including a rise in its wage bill. This will not deflect Kodak from the strategy of transitioning traditional customers into digitally active printers. The company has launched four new products, all of which are digital presses, Continenza pointed out.
These comprise the Prosper 520, the ultra high quality continues feed offset replacement press; There is the Prosper 70000, the fastest inkjet press on the market, the Ascend toner press for carton printing and the Sapphire Evo Wide, the press developed with Uteco for flexible packaging applications. These Kodak hopes will be the engine of growth for the continuing transition to digital printing.
