Thank you, John. That was very informative. YW
On 2/13/06, John Forbes <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > Last week I had a good look at Pentax's results for the first nine months > of the present financial year. The company as a whole made money, as it > always does, though it lost money on the imaging division. However, > looking forward, even if the other divisions contribute nothing at all, > the company has enough cash IN THE BANK today to finance TEN YEARS of > imaging division losses. They are a conservatively-run company, and a > very long way indeed from demise. > > Since the imaging division accounts for approximately half the company, it > would be extremely difficult to close it down (from all sorts of points of > view) so I think that that just isn't going to happen, even if they wanted > to. Instead, as we have seen, management is (belatedly) taking steps to > bring it back into profitability. There have been massive changes in the > past eighteen months, including closing operations, selling some companies > and buying others, closing its pension fund, making new distribution > arrangements in Europe, partnering with Samsung, totally re-vamping its > lens line, building a new lens factory, etc., etc.. > > Given all these changes, it is perhaps not surprising if management's eye > has seemed to be off the ball at times, especially as regards lens > availability. > > It's also worth noting that the loss on the Imaging Division amounted to > less than 2% of net sales (for that division). Had it been 20%, there > might have been cause for concern, but 2% is close to break-even. > > They're going to be under pressure for a while yet, and until the new lens > factory comes on stream I imagine that lens shortages will continue. > However, I confidently look forward to buying the D replacement when it > comes out (assuming my finances are up to it - there is no need to worry > about Pentax's). > > John > > > > > > > -- > Using Opera's revolutionary e-mail client: http://www.opera.com/m2/ > >
