Kodak sees revenue drop 27 percent in Q1 2012, reports $366 million net loss

After filing for bankruptcy in January, Kodak has released its financial report for the first quarter of 2012. Kodak’s total revenue was $965 million, a decline of 27 percent from Q1 2011. Among other things, the company ties this decline to its decision to stop producing digital cameras in February. Despite that, it’s actually losing slightly less money now. Kodak’s consumer branch lost $164 million in the first quarter of this year, compared to $187 million lost in the same period last year, and the commercial branch lost $64 million, about $3 million less than in Q1 2011. A solid chunk of that seems due to cost-cutting: Kodak has reduced its operating costs by $84 million compared to Q1 of 2011.

Despite this cost-cutting and a focus on the more profitable printing industry, where Kodak recently joined forces with Samsung, we’d hesitate to say things are looking up. The company reported a $366 million net loss this quarter, compared to $246 million at the same time in 2011. Kodak says this largely reflects the costs of restructuring and the lack of major asset sales, but it’s still carrying a lot of debt that it has yet to make up in revenue. On the bright side, it increased its liquid assets from $500 million at the end of 2011 to $1.4 billion presently, largely as a result of new financing and the bankruptcy proceedings. It also saw a 34 percent increase in “consumer inkjet ink revenues,” so at least its new chosen industry is doing well.