Kodak posts $114 million loss

But inkjet business enjoying increasing sales

2 May 2008 10:45 GMT / By Katie Scott

Kodak's shares took a tumble after the company admitted that it had lost even more money in the first quarter of 2008 than it had predicted.

Shares dropped over 5% with the revelation of a $114 million loss for Q1 2008, but this is actually an improvement as last year, when the company suffered a loss of $175 million for the same time period.

Kodak blamed rising silver and aluminum costs (which have stabilised in recent weeks) but also increased spending on expanding and marketing its inkjet printer products.

The company's commercial printing unit reported an operating loss of $1 million despite a sales increase of 4%.

Analyst Shannon Cross told Reuters: "Kodak's commercial print business ... has never had a loss - that was supposed to be one of the crown jewels".

"Its commodities (that hurt it) and investment in their new inkjet business, and they weren't able to offset it."

Full tags

Cameras, Biz, Kodak, Digital cameras