Speaking as the group announced its results for the full-year ended 31 December 2021 on 15 March, Kodak executive chairman and CEO Jim Continenza said the business had continued to navigate through “an unusually challenging business environment” in 2021 and delivered revenue growth in all of its segments “for the first time in years”.

“We also saw increases in customer satisfaction and market share in our key print business, achievements which reflect the success of our ongoing strategy: focus on our core businesses in commercial print and advanced materials and chemicals, invest in product innovation and put our customers at the centre of everything we do.”

The US-headquartered manufacturer reported consolidated revenues for the period of USD 1.15-bn, up 11.8% on the USD 1.029-bn it achieved in 2020.

The business also ended 2021 with a cash balance of USD 362-m, compared with USD 196-m at the end of 2020.

Chief financial officer David Bullwinkle said, “The company’s balance sheet is the strongest it has been in years due to the execution of our strategy. We continue to execute on our plan by driving increases in cost efficiency through automation and process innovation and redesign.”

Kodak’s operational EBITDA for 2021 was USD 11-m, compared with a USD 1-m loss in 2020. It said this increase was primarily the result of improvement in revenue and manufacturing costs from increases in volume partially offset by ongoing global cost increases in 2021.

Kodak added the current year operational EBITDA results did not benefit from USD 25-m in savings from temporary pay cuts and furloughs that largely ended in January 2021.

The company’s net income was USD 24-m, compared with a net loss of USD 541-m in 2020. The business said the prior year’s figure had included a charge of USD 416-m “to reflect the increased value of the derivative liability embedded in the convertible notes immediately prior to conversion and expense of USD 167-m related to the increase in deferred tax valuation allowances for locations outside the US.”

Sales at the traditional printing division, Kodak’s biggest business unit, were up from USD 592-m in 2020 to USD 659-m. Digital printing sales climbed from USD 241-m a year ago to USD 249-m, while Advanced Materials & Chemicals sales jumped from USD 172-m in 2020 to USD 212-m.

The manufacturer said it had continued to see growth in key product areas such as Sonora process-free plates and Propser annuities.

(Courtesy: PrintWeek.com)