Kodak takes axe to 15,000 jobs

THE rise of the digital camera looks set to see hundreds of UK jobs go at Kodak after the photography giant ordered a cull of 15,000 workers worldwide.

Eastman Kodak today reported plunging profits as it attempts to grapple with the new world of digital photography.

US bosses last week ordered the end of the production of conventional 35mm cameras and films because of the 'breathtaking' success of digital cameras.

The group today reported a 95% collapse in fourth-quarter earnings. Earnings in 2003 were $238m (£130m), down more than $550m or 70% on 2002.

The figures sparked an immediate and massive shake-up of the group 'to accelerate its transition to a profitable digital business'.

Chairman and chief executive Daniel Carp said: 'To implement these changes, the group will be reducing worldwide employment by about 20% or between 12,000 and 15,000 during the next three years. This reflects targeted reductions in global manufacturing, selected traditional businesses, corporate administrative staff and other areas.'

This is likely to be bad news for Kodak's manufacturing site at Harrow, Middlesex, which employs 1,500 and is Kodak's biggest production facility for photographic paper. That part of the industry is in decline as images are increasingly captured digitally and stored electronically.

There could also be large-scale redundancies at Kodak UK's headquarters at Hemel Hempstead in Hertfordshire, where 600 work.

Hundreds more are employed at plants on Merseyside and in Nottinghamshire, where production is tied to the conventional 35mm photographic industry.

The company declined to comment on where redundancies in the UK could take place. Carp said up to $900m is being set aside for redundancy payments with a further $800m provided for disposals.

Kodak UK has borne the brunt of previous restructurings with a 10,000 British workforce more than halving in the 1990s because of competition from the likes of Polaroid and Fuji.