Kodak Says Experiences of Its Eminent Demise Are Significantly Exaggerated

Fears have swirled that Kodak, one of many final giant movie firms on the earth, might quickly be shutting its doorways. These fears had been spurred by a regulatory filing launched Monday, wherein the corporate spoke of its debt load and a scarcity of liquidity to pay it off. Nevertheless, the corporate has since emerged to disclaim that it is going to be shutting down anytime quickly.

“Media stories that Kodak is ceasing operations, going out of enterprise, or submitting for chapter are inaccurate and mirror a elementary misunderstanding of a current technical disclosure the Firm made to the SEC in its just lately filed second quarter earnings report,” the corporate stated in a press release printed Thursday. “These articles are deceptive and lacking essential context, and we’d wish to set the file straight.”

Monday’s disclosure stated that the corporate had “debt coming due inside twelve months” and that it didn’t “have dedicated financing or obtainable liquidity to satisfy such debt obligations in the event that they had been to change into due in accordance with their present phrases.” That debt payoff consists of some $477 million in time period debt, in addition to $100 million of most popular inventory excellent, the corporate stated.

The corporate’s plan to repay that debt partially entails promoting off its workers’ pension plans. Democrat and Chronicle reports that, final November, the corporate introduced a plan to promote $764.4 million in property from its pension system. Some 35,000 workers obtain a pension from the corporate, the Wall Avenue Journal reports. The sale might result in a “money acquire of as a lot as $585 million that Kodak would use to scale back debt and spend money on its enterprise,” in line with the Journal.

In its replace on Thursday, the corporate stated: “Kodak has been making ready for the pension plan termination for a while and expects to obtain roughly $500 million of property – after assembly our obligations to all pension fund members – in December 2025 when the transaction closes. Roughly $300 million of the funds are anticipated to be money, and roughly $200 million are anticipated to be funding property that shall be transformed into money.”

The corporate additional defined its plans thusly: “Kodak is required by its mortgage paperwork to make use of the $300 million of money anticipated to be obtained in December to repay time period debt. Kodak can then deal with the remaining $177 million of time period debt and $100 million of most popular inventory.”

Kodak now says that it’s “assured it should repay, lengthen, or refinance its debt and most popular inventory on, or earlier than, its due date.” It additionally known as the current regulatory submitting a “technical report that’s required by accounting guidelines,” and stated it has “no plans to stop operations, exit of enterprise, or file for chapter safety.” Gizmodo reached out to Kodak for extra info.

Movie buffs have expressed considerations over Kodak’s struggles, because the firm is likely one of the largest contemporary providers of film stock to the movement image business. The corporate additionally nonetheless sells an assortment of cameras and supplies providers for digital, as nicely.