Leica Extraordinary Gen Meet meeting next month -

Next month is the Leica Extraordinary GM.

In 2003/2004 the company lost 3.4 M Euro on 120 M Euro sales.

1st 9 months of 04/05, 70.6 M Euro in sales (16% down from same period
in prev. year, net loss around 5 M Eur). Net income loss forecast is
10M Euro (04/05).

See the table on page 4 (sheet 7) of the 2004 AR as an indication of
their problems: all segements are seeing sales declines. All markets
(except "other" (eg 'poor') are seeing declines.

http://www.leica-camera.com/imperia/...tfy0304/21.pdf

What will happen to Leica?


--
-- r.p.e.35mm user resource: http://www.aliasimages.com/rpe35mmur.htm
-- r.p.d.slr-systems: http://www.aliasimages.com/rpdslrsysur.htm
-- slr-systems FAQ project: http://tinyurl.com/6m9aw
-- [SI] gallery & rulz: http://www.pbase.com/shootin
-- e-meil: Remove FreeLunch.

"Alan Browne" wrote in message
.. .

Next month is the Leica Extraordinary GM.

In 2003/2004 the company lost 3.4 M Euro on 120 M Euro sales.

1st 9 months of 04/05, 70.6 M Euro in sales (16% down from same period in
prev. year, net loss around 5 M Eur). Net income loss forecast is 10M
Euro (04/05).

See the table on page 4 (sheet 7) of the 2004 AR as an indication of their
problems: all segements are seeing sales declines. All markets (except
"other" (eg 'poor') are seeing declines.

http://www.leica-camera.com/imperia/...tfy0304/21.pdf

What will happen to Leica?

They'll become the "Noblex" of 35mm film cameras. Unless they act quickly,
and introduce something digital that can use the M lenses, they're done.
They'll still exist, but only as a very low volume very high price niche
camera maker. I believe either major shrinkage is on the way, or they will
be acquired by some company who believes that the company is worth more
split up than together (a corporate raider).

Then again, the worst case scenario is that the M lenses simply aren't
suited for digital, and if that's the case they're toast.



--
-- r.p.e.35mm user resource: http://www.aliasimages.com/rpe35mmur.htm
-- r.p.d.slr-systems: http://www.aliasimages.com/rpdslrsysur.htm
-- slr-systems FAQ project: http://tinyurl.com/6m9aw
-- [SI] gallery & rulz: http://www.pbase.com/shootin
-- e-meil: Remove FreeLunch.

"TAFKAB" wrote in message
. com...


They'll become the "Noblex" of 35mm film cameras. Unless they act quickly,
and introduce something digital that can use the M lenses, they're done.
They'll still exist, but only as a very low volume very high price niche
camera maker.

As opposed to the current type of company they are now ;p

Alan Browne wrote:
Next month is the Leica Extraordinary GM.

In 2003/2004 the company lost 3.4 M Euro on 120 M Euro sales.

1st 9 months of 04/05, 70.6 M Euro in sales (16% down from same
period
in prev. year, net loss around 5 M Eur). Net income loss forecast is

10M Euro (04/05).

See the table on page 4 (sheet 7) of the 2004 AR as an indication of
their problems: all segements are seeing sales declines. All markets

(except "other" (eg 'poor') are seeing declines.


http://www.leica-camera.com/imperia/...tfy0304/21.pdf

What will happen to Leica?

It is not looking too good for them.

They clearly can not survive on film cameras and they have not shown
that they can bring a digital camera to market that uses will buy.
They clearly believe that they need to have digital options to survive
but they are coming to the party late and are unlikely to do well in
this market.

We are likely to see the same kind of thing that we have with PC
companies, margins get thin but a few companies manage to do very well
but having a good feel for the market as well as having good control on
costs. In the past Leica has been very successful at cashing in on
their name, getting very high margins, nobody is going to be getting
high margins in the digital market.

It might be best for them to not even try to compete in the camera
market and just do optics.

Scott

Alan Browne wrote:

Next month is the Leica Extraordinary GM.

In 2003/2004 the company lost 3.4 M Euro on 120 M Euro sales.

1st 9 months of 04/05, 70.6 M Euro in sales (16% down from same period
in prev. year, net loss around 5 M Eur). Net income loss forecast is
10M Euro (04/05).

It does not help that there Capitol Expenditures are up nearly 80%. I suppose part of that
has been development of new digital products, and a small portion was restructuring.



See the table on page 4 (sheet 7) of the 2004 AR as an indication of
their problems: all segements are seeing sales declines. All markets
(except "other" (eg 'poor') are seeing declines.

http://www.leica-camera.com/imperia/...tfy0304/21.pdf

What will happen to Leica?

Reading a bit further, I noticed that the amount they have put towards restructuring is
slightly greater than their loss. That is an unfortunate consequence of restructuring.
However, I get the feeling that the Board was not happy with the pace of restructuring.
About 110 employees have been slated for termination, though my guess is that the board
will want much more than that.

At the recent PhotoImaging & Design Expo, I had a chance to speak with the Leica reps.
Their feeling was that since Hermes has nearly 1/3 of the company, they will not want to
lose out on that investment; I think that is a fair assumption. It was nice to see them
and their newest products at the Expo. They need to have more of a presence among active
photographers, especially professionals.

The M system seems to be steady in sales. However, the R system sales have fallen. If the
Digital R Module back is not a good seller, I could see them eventually kill off the R
system. There has probably been a higher amount of development funds put into that then
they could get in return. My guess is that they were hoping to increase R lens sales by
offering the digital back, since like most companies, the profits are in the optics.

Ciao!

Gordon Moat
A G Studio
http://www.allgstudio.com

P.S. - After a long delay (sorry), I have the articles nearly ready to post. I will let
you know soon. Thanks for your patience.

Alan Browne wrote:

Next month is the Leica Extraordinary GM.

In 2003/2004 the company lost 3.4 M Euro on 120 M Euro sales.

1st 9 months of 04/05, 70.6 M Euro in sales (16% down from same period
in prev. year, net loss around 5 M Eur). Net income loss forecast is
10M Euro (04/05).

See the table on page 4 (sheet 7) of the 2004 AR as an indication of
their problems: all segements are seeing sales declines. All markets
(except "other" (eg 'poor') are seeing declines.

http://www.leica-camera.com/imperia/...tfy0304/21.pdf

What will happen to Leica?

No word yet. I hope the new CEO will go some ways towards trying to get their cameras into
the hands of photographers, as opposed to in the hands of collectors.

Anyway, I sent you an e-mail already, but just to follow up on an old request, the
technology articles (opinions) are now posted:

http://www.allgstudio.com/technology.html

I had some trouble with the CSS, but hopefully it works in most browsers. Feel free to
pass on the link. Doug already sent me a message, and he seemed to be happy with the
article.

Ciao!

Gordon Moat
A G Studio
http://www.allgstudio.com

Alan Browne wrote:

Next month is the Leica Extraordinary GM.

In 2003/2004 the company lost 3.4 M Euro on 120 M Euro sales.

1st 9 months of 04/05, 70.6 M Euro in sales (16% down from same period
in prev. year, net loss around 5 M Eur). Net income loss forecast is
10M Euro (04/05).

See the table on page 4 (sheet 7) of the 2004 AR as an indication of
their problems: all segements are seeing sales declines. All markets
(except "other" (eg 'poor') are seeing declines.

http://www.leica-camera.com/imperia/...tfy0304/21.pdf

What will happen to Leica?

No word yet. I hope the new CEO will go some ways towards trying to get their cameras into
the hands of photographers, as opposed to in the hands of collectors.

Anyway, I sent you an e-mail already, but just to follow up on an old request, the
technology articles (opinions) are now posted:

http://www.allgstudio.com/technology.html

I had some trouble with the CSS, but hopefully it works in most browsers. Feel free to
pass on the link. Doug already sent me a message, and he seemed to be happy with the
article.

Ciao!

Gordon Moat
A G Studio
http://www.allgstudio.com