Kodak to cut up to 4,000 more jobs

Eastman Kodak is cutting between 3,500 and 4,000 more jobs - that's up to 5.1% of its workforce.

Kodak announced the new job cutting plans as it reported that third-quarter profits fell by 77% to $96m, from $418m last year.

Sales dropped by 8% to $3.3bn, from $3.6bn.

Excluding $95m in restructuring and other one-off charges and an $11m tax credit, earnings totalled $152m, down from $430m a year ago.

That matched reduced forecasts on Wall Street, according to analysts surveyed by Thomson Financial/First Call.

Kodak had already targeted 3,500 job cuts in April, and is warning that the deepening economic downturn is likely to drag down fourth-quarter profits.

Kodak did not say where the new cutbacks would be made.

In recent years, it has avoided across-the-board cuts in favour of eliminating jobs unit-by-unit.

In the consumer imaging market, which includes cameras, film and photographic paper, its US sales fell by 8% from a year ago, and earnings from operations fell by 45% to $210m.

Health imaging sales were little changed at $545m but heightened competition pushed profits excluding one-time items down 64% to $51m.