Polaroid shares halted as bankruptcy filing reported imminent
Edited highlights....
BOSTON, Oct 10, 2001 (The Canadian Press via COMTEX) -- Trading in shares of instant image company Polaroid Corp. was halted Wednesday following a report that a filing for federal bankruptcy protection was imminent.
Such a filing, which would protect the company from creditors as it tries to restructure, is widely expected by analysts and investors. The Wall Street Journal, citing people familiar with the matter, reported that a Chapter 11 filing could come within days.
In July, the company said it would miss payments to bondholders and explore strategic options, including a sale of the company. Because of the missed payments, bondholders could force the company into involuntary bankruptcy.
Polaroid has seen its core instant film business slip dramatically in recent years. It is rushing to develop new instant printing technology, but analysts have expressed doubts it would be ready in time to save the company from reorganization.
Polaroid isn't the only imaging company hit hard by the economic slowdown, but it is the most vulnerable. Eastman Kodak Co. recently cut its third-quarter profit outlook by 38 per cent and is also cutting an unspecified number of jobs.
Shares of Polaroid, once an investor darling as a member of the "Nifty Fifty" in the late 1960s and early 1970s, hit $60 a share in 1997 before sinking to almost nothing as the company's core instant film business became less profitable and it fell behind in digital technology. |
