Kodak Prosper 6000C
After more than a year of seeking a buyer, Kodak has announced that it will retain its Prosper inkjet business and will pursue an OEM route to market for its Ultrastream technology.
Citing increased profitability in the existing Prosper business with ink revenues growing strongly, Kodak says its felt that offers from potential buyers – many of whom would have had their own competing inkjet technologies – were not good enough and so has decided to retain both it and the Ultrastream technology that is still in development, with a view to reaching OEM agreements for the latter.
Kodak’s CEO Jeff Clarke said, ‘This is a pragmatic decision given the improvements in the business and the offers received. Prosper performed well in 2016 with a 40% increase in annuity sales for the full year. We expect our Enterprise Inkjet Systems Division (EISD) to be profitable this year, including our next-generation Ultrastream investment.’
The company has entered into letters of intent with a number of prospective OEM partners for Ultrastream and will deliver evaluation kits for the high-speed high-quality volume inkjet technology to 17 companies, including Fuji Kikai, Goss Chine, Matti, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Printing & Packaging Machinery and Uteco.
Defending the decision to attempt the sale, David Bullwinkle, Kodak’s CFO, said, ‘The sale process for Prosper which we conducted over the past year was robust. Strong interest in the business and technology existed throughout the process. While we had multiple offers, the range of consideration did not reflect the value of the business today.’
Rudy Vandagriff, who has been involved in the development of Kodak’s digital print business since 2004, becomes president of EISD, while his predecessor Philip Cullimore is leaving to take a career sabbatical.
