A letter to suppliers seen by PrintWeek stated that Kodak will be moving its European headquarters from Switzerland to the UK “effective 1 January 2017”.
The announcement comes almost a year after Kodak announced plans to form a ‘southern Europe’ cluster, combining the UK, France, Spain and Italy into one region. Three months later, its UK cluster director Martin Mayo announced he was leaving the business. He joined EFI as sales director, inkjet, covering the UK, Ireland and Nordics in October.
A statement from Kodak's European headquarters said: “We continue to review our operations and structure to ensure our business model is sustainable and facilitates future growth for the company. To remain competitive, Kodak needs to respond quickly to market conditions as they evolve and to meet the needs of our customers.
“As a result of this review, Kodak will relocate its European headquarters from Eysins, Switzerland to Watford, UK in 2017.”
The Swiss legal entity will still exist but will now only sell within Switzerland. UK Kodak chairman Helen Isaacs said Kodak had been looking at relocating its headquarters to the UK since 2015, with the process taking around 18 months. She said the majority of the work had been implemented in-house.
Isaacs said: “This move allows Kodak to continue to simplify its operating structure to reflect a faster-moving, more competitive and more entrepreneurial organisation. The UK already hosts key European operations for Kodak, so this relocation is a natural transition for us.”
She added that things were so far on track with the move.
The relocation should tie-in with a further announcement on the progress of the sale of Kodak’s Prosper inkjet business.
After revealing Kodak’s Q3 results last Wednesday (9 November), chief executive Jeff Clarke said that progress continues with the sale, which was first announced in March 2016, and close target is still set for the first half of 2017.
“We hope to have a significant realisation in the sale,” said Clarke.
“We will continue to invest in the development of Prosper and Ultrastream during the sale process and Ultrastream will greatly expand the market reach of this technology.”
In its Q3 results, having returned to profitability in Q2, Kodak reported further progress with GAAP net earnings of $12m (£9.6m) in Q3, a huge improvement on last year’s Q3 loss of $21m.
However, sales declined 11% year-on-year, from $425m to $380m, which was also lower than Q2’s figure ($397m).
“In Q4 we expect to see less reduction in receivables. We need a little bit of improvement in the fourth quarter and we hope to see it,” added Clarke.
Kodak’s largest division, its Print Systems Division (PSD), saw a 10% decline in revenues to $250m compared to the same quarter last year and operational EBITDA for the quarter was down 7% to $27m. However, Sonora plate volumes increased by 9%.
EBITDA for Prosper in the period declined by $6m, which was in the main put down to costs related to underperforming presses and losses related to the placement of four Prosper presses in the quarter.
Kodak’s Enterprise Inkjet Systems Division (EISD), which comprises Kodak’s Versamark business due to the classification of Prosper as a discontinued operation, saw an increase in EBITDA of $2m to $4m on last year's figure. Sales were flat on $18m year-on-year, but down $1m from Q2.
Kodak’s Micro 3D Printing and Packaging Division (MPPD) saw revenues increase by $2m from Q3 2015 to $34m, a 6% rise, put down in the main to strong performance of the Kodak Flexcel NX Packaging business. However, operational EBITDA slipped by $2m.
In advance of the Q3 results last week, Kodak signed a deal with Southeastern Asset Management for investment in $200m (£161m) worth of its Series A Stock. The shares, which previously had a dividend of 10.7%, now have an annual dividend of 5.5%, which should lead to savings of $17m a year.
