New York: Eastman Kodak Co on Tuesday posted a wider second-quarter net loss and cut its full-year revenue outlook, sending its shares down 7.5 per cent, as the top maker of photographic film found its shift to digital products more difficult than expected.
The company also said Flextronics International Ltd would manufacture its consumer digital cameras.
Citing an ongoing push to increase sales of its more-profitable digital cameras and other products, Kodak said it expected revenue to decline by about 3 per cent this year.
In January, it had said full-year sales would show anywhere from a decrease of 2 per cent to a rise of 4 per cent. "They are finding that it is very hard to find profitability in digital, so they are having to be more selective of the market opportunities that they pursue," said analyst Shannon Cross of Cross Research.
"It indicates overall that the digital part of their business is going to be perhaps more challenging than they expected." Since late 2003, Kodak has been beefing up its digital products, hoping to outpace the decline in demand for film, historically its main revenue source.
At the same time, it is shrinking its costs by cutting up to 25,000 jobs and trimming manufacturing assets. The second-quarter net loss widened to $282 million, or 98 cents a share, from $155 million, or 54 cents a share, a year earlier.
Excluding one-time costs from restructuring, inventory and other special items, the loss was 19 cents a share. Analysts were expecting a profit of 22 cents a share, according to Reuters Estimates.
Analysts have found it difficult to measure Kodak's overall health due to constant restructuring over the past three years. In that time, some units have grown and added workers, while others have been cutting operations and jobs.
In a statement, Kodak Chief Executive Antonio Perez said the company was "coming into the final stages of (its) digital transformation.
"By the end of next year the majority of the restructuring costs will be behind us and Kodak will be positioned for sustained success in digital markets," he said.
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