Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 1996/04/07
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]As reported by the Financial Times on Thursday, April 4, Leica is about to go public. There will be a floatation of its shares on the Frankfurt stock exchange sometime this autumn. The initial public offering (IPO) is expected to value Leica at about DM200m-DM300m, which, according to the article, they plan to use to "develop new technology and the existing product range". I hope the FT will forgive me if I quote a few bits of the article, entitled "Leica Zooms in on Autumn Float" (groan), verbatim: "Leica Camera became independent in 1988 when it moved its offices to Solms, near Frankfurt. About 91 per cent of the stock is currently held by its parent, Leica, the Swiss industrial group owned by Mr Stephan Schmidheiny. The rest is held by three directors of Leica Camera, including Mr Klaus-Dieter Hofmann, chairman. After the floatation, about 65 per cent of the company will be held by the public, and 20-25 per cent by Leica. Cameras account for more than 50 per cent of its sales..." [...sections omitted....] "Leica's camera business is now highly profitable, having made losses in the 1970s. Operating profits are around 10 per cent of sales, which in the financial year to March 1995 amounted to DM236m." [...sections omitted....] "Leica Camera is struggling to meet demand and is one of the few German companies to have increased employment recently. At its main factory in Solms it employs 630 people, 36 per cent more than in 1988, out of a total of 1,600 worldwide." [The FT reporter was Wolfgang Munchau in Franfurt.] As with any IPO, stock analysts' reports will be forthcoming as the floatation approaches. As I see these on the financial wire services here, I could forward them to LUG if there's any interest. Hmmm.... I wonder if shareholders will get any preferential treatment.... Regards, Adrian Tanovic Tokyo