Gretag Imaging has priced its share rights issue at 20 per share (CHF50) in an attempt to raise 18.2m of equity to bolster itself against a fall in sales and an expected loss for the first half of the year.


For the first six months Gretag said it expected to make a loss of over 40m before adjustments for goodwill and intangible assets, after sales declined 52% to 105m.


The company said the fall was due to the "perceptibly negative economic trend particularly in the USA, and the fact that Gretag will not launch important digital products until the second half of the year".


A spokesman for Gretag said the shares were being offered to existing shareholders, and that any shares that werent taken up would be bought by the companys three founding shareholders, Edward Brunner, William Recker and Hans-Rudolf Zulliger.


The spokesman added: "At the moment the share price is around CHF20, so the price of CHF50 might not be too attractive for some investors. Whatever is left will be turned into equity by our founding shareholders."


Despite the fact that the company plans to cut 700 jobs in the second half of the year, it does not expect to return to profitability until 2002.