Announcing Kodak’s Q3 results for the three months ending 30 September, chairman and CEO Continenza stated that the outcome – involving imports of plates made in China and Japan – was “an important win for the US printing industry and for Kodak”.

He said: “We are the last US manufacturer, the others have all left. We have invested in our plants, we bet on our American workers and we were able to get a favourable ruling.

“That means Kodak now has a level playing field and we can go out and compete and sell plates, and not have the disadvantage… it’s a big move for the US and a great move obviously for Kodak and our customers.”

Overall sales in the period slipped by 3% to $261m (£206m), while operational EBITDA fell by $11m to $1m.

Kodak said the decrease in EBITDA was “primarily driven by higher manufacturing costs driven by an increase in aluminium costs, changes in employee benefit reserves, inventory reserve adjustment, as well as an increase in costs associated with certain litigation matters”.

Sales at Kodak’s Print division, currently its biggest business, were down 7.1% at $182m and the unit made an operational EBITDA loss of $9m compared to a $4m positive figure the prior year.

Continenza said: “We continue to gain momentum with our groundbreaking continuous inkjet press portfolio.”

Sales at Kodak's growing Advanced Materials & Chemicals wing, where it is investing heavily, were up nearly 11% at $71m and it pushed up operational EBITDA to $6m from $4m.

“We continue to be committed to executing our long-term plan, continuing to invest in innovation, increase operational innovation and focus on smart revenue,” Continenza added.

Kodak’s share price fell by 16.6% to $4.59 following the results announcement. (52-week high: $6.18, low: $3.33.)