Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2005/06/01

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Subject: [Leica] GOOD NEWS FROM LEICA
From: tim at KairosPhoto.com (Timothy Atherton)
Date: Wed Jun 1 06:31:09 2005

More following:

> Leica announced the following today [June 1,2005]
>  
>  
> "Dear ladies and gentlemen,
> 
> By agreeing to the capital measures  proposed by Leica 
> Camera AG's Board of Management and the Supervisory  
> Board, the company has taken a decisive step on the way 
> to overcoming  the financial crisis. A comprehensive report 
> will supply you with further  details.


All Associated Press News
FRANKFURT, Germany (AP) - Shareholders of Germany's struggling Leica 
Camera AG approved a plan Tuesday to raise 23 million euros ($28.4 
million) in a share sale aimed at allowing the company to continue 
funding its operations.

Swiss executive Josef Spichtig, who was named chief executive in April, 
proposed the plan after the Solms-based company's banks cut off lines of 
credit earlier this year. He predicted the company won't break even 
before 2006 at the earliest.

"We know that no short-term miracles are to be expected," he told the 
shareholders, who included representatives of luxury retailer Hermes and 
Austrian Capital Management, which hold some 60 percent of the company's 
shares between them.

Spichtig said the company would seek to offer more digital products, 
including the Digital Modul-R, a back that gives Leica's analog models 
the capability to become digital. Leica is also expected to partner with 
a yet as unnamed company to make compact cameras, and continue 
production of its upscale M- and R-series.

"Leica is not meant to become a small shop for the nostalgic, but a way 
to connect tradition with innovation in a meaningful way and grow 
again," he said.

Leica shares were down 4.3 percent to 2.44 euros ($3.01) in late 
afternoon trading in Frankfurt.

Spichtig became CEO after Ralf Coenen agreed to step down, the second 
such move in 10 months. Coenen was named CEO in January and replaced 
Hanns-Peter Cohn, who left to be the head of Vitra AG, a Swiss furniture 
maker. Cohn had been CEO since 1999.

The company posted a fiscal year 2004-2005 net loss of 15.5 million 
euros ($19.1 million), more than 14 million euros ($17.3 million) it had 
forecast.

Founded in 1849 as a maker of microscopes, Leica became a brand of 
choice for photographers seeking high-end, handmade 35mm cameras. Its 
first model was invented in 1914 by Oskar Barnack, but not sold until 
1925. The company has nearly 1,300 workers in Germany.

___

On the Net:

http://www.leica-camera.com


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