Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 1998/11/29

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Subject: [Leica] Re: Leica as a business
From: Larry Kopitnik <kopitnil@marketingcomm.com>
Date: Sun, 29 Nov 1998 08:38:49 -0600

>>>>>>>>>>
Leica doesn't want to sell MORE lenses
and bodies. They know what they can make and maintain their quality level.
I think all this doom and gloom is going to do more damage than last
half-years statistics.
<<<<<<<<<<

The entire financial report doesn't show a company at death's door, but
neither does it show one thriving. I don't have it in front of me, so I'm
going by memory here; my appologies of any of these figures are a bit off.

But I believe it says Leica lost over 5 million DM the first half of the
year. Cash reserves have dropped from over 9 million DM a year ago to under
3 million today. They're eliminating about 100 positions to cut costs.
There's a reference to needing to cut inventories, which I (perhaps
mistakenly) took to mean unsold R equipment.

They do project they will break even for the entire year, but with a
different product mix than originally anticipated. In other words (as I
interpret it) the hot-selling point-n-shoots instead of R.

I think I it's safe to say Leica most definitely wants to sell more R
lenses and bodies.

Larry