Some Leica Company Information

A number of people have wondered about Leica Camera AG's finances.

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As noted in another thread, I've <a href=http://www.photo.net/users/msitaraman/>posted</a> some information at my photo.net web page. Unfortunately, its in bitmap format, which may result in slow downloads, my apologies.

Well, I fixed that. The information is now available also as jpeg

files which can be viewed directly by your browser. Copyright is

Bloomberg L.P.

Their company report is freely available on their website and it is a

little depressing. M-Leicas are doing well. R-Leicas are stagnant

with less than half the revenue of the Ms. I think it said that point

and shoot Leicas had higher revenues than the R system. Projectors

sales down (as usual). The company as a whole did OK, but they really

are a small company.....No wonder they are trying to maximize their

profits with the Leica 0 etc. which must have an easy and predictable

(albeit small) sale.

<i>M-Leicas are doing well</i><p>

Robin, the data Mani posted doesn't show this. It shows a drop in M

sales, not a big drop, but a drop for the last two years. I wouldn't

be surprised to see all bodies made in Japan, and a new set of bodies

at that, within two years, a la Contax.

As Robin pointed out Leica AG is on the road to recovery, their

share prices have even gone up a little. The "R" line, on which so

much money has been spent lately, has performed poorly. It may

be the kiss of death for further reflex developments. Leica is

branching into designing lenses for high end digital video

equipment with Panasonic ( who makes Leica's P&S and Minilux

cameras) and working on continued improvements to the M line.

Look for a M6-AE before the next Photokina I hope.

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Cheers

I'm surprised that somebody like Panasonic just hasn't gobbled up the

company like what has happened to most older small companies today.

If Leica would pay more attention to feedback from their users and

dealers, they could have come out with a succesful selling SLR line.

I personally think they just priced themselves right out of the market

with the current series of ROM lenses. If someone wanted to buy a

wide angle, a short fast zoom, a portrait lens, and a telephoto zoom

for a fairly complete lens outfit:

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19mm $2845

35-70 f2.8 $3145

80 f1.4 $2845

80-200 f4.0 $1845 or 70-180 f2.8 $5245,

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If you went with the real Leica tele zoom, the above lens systen would

set you back over $14,000. I just bought a nice low miles Audi for my

wife for about that amount! Similar equipment from Nikon or Canon

would be closer to $3000. You'd have to need a big tax write off to

justify spending that kind of money on 35mm camera equipment.

My post and page are misleading as they represent year old

information. Leica Camera has indeed turned the corner and made a

small profit for the year 1999/2000 (not shown on my page). Good news

indeed, and my sincere apologies for misleading anyone. Up to date

corporatate information, as Robin correctly points out is available at

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www.leica-camera.de

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Notwithstanding which I agree with several of the comments in this

and the other related thread.