Fears have swirled that Kodak, one of many final massive movie corporations on this planet, could quickly be shutting its doorways. These fears had been spurred by a regulatory submitting launched Monday, through which the corporate spoke of its debt load and a scarcity of liquidity to pay it off. Nonetheless, the corporate has since emerged to disclaim that it will likely be shutting down anytime quickly. “Media reviews 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 not too long ago filed second quarter earnings report,” the corporate mentioned in a press launch printed Thursday. “These articles are deceptive and lacking important context, and we’d wish to set the document straight.” Monday’s disclosure mentioned 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 well-liked inventory excellent, the corporate mentioned.
The corporate’s plan to repay that debt partially entails promoting off its workers’ pension plans. Democrat and Chronicle reviews that, final November, the corporate introduced a plan to promote $764.4 million in belongings from its pension system. Some 35,000 workers obtain a pension from the corporate, the Wall Avenue Journal reviews. The sale may result in a “money acquire of as a lot as $585 million that Kodak would use to cut back debt and spend money on its enterprise,” in response to the Journal. In its replace on Thursday, the corporate mentioned: “Kodak has been getting ready for the pension plan termination for a while and expects to obtain roughly $500 million of belongings – after assembly our obligations to all pension fund individuals – 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 belongings that will probably 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 acquired in December to repay time period debt. Kodak can then tackle the remaining $177 million of time period debt and $100 million of most well-liked inventory.”
Kodak now says that it’s “assured it can repay, lengthen, or refinance its debt and most well-liked inventory on, or earlier than, its due date.” It additionally referred to as the current regulatory submitting a “technical report that’s required by accounting guidelines,” and mentioned 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 issues over Kodak’s struggles, for the reason that firm is among the largest modern suppliers of movie inventory to the movement image business. The corporate additionally nonetheless sells an assortment of cameras and supplies providers for digital, as properly.