Update On Hermes Stake In Leica

[bob cole]

The Lug has unconfirmed report that Hermes has sold its stock in Leica to ACM of Austria, the other major Leica stockholder, because of poor Leica profits...You might not see it where I original posted this item...Repeat-- it's not confirmed at this point...


It's now confirmed; here's the official Hermes announcement:

Hermes sells its 36.2 pct stake in Leica to ACM for 15 mln eur
FRANKFURT (AFX) - Hermes International (Paris: FR0000052292 - news) said it has sold its 36.2 pct stake in Leica Camera AG (Xetra: LCA.DE - news) to majority stake holder ACM for 15 mln eur.
Leica has just under 1000 employees. Over the last three years, 400 employees were let go as the company faced difficulties.
During the 2005/06 business year, sales rose 16 pct to 106.7 mln eur, and the company halved its losses to 9.2 mln eur from a year earlier.
The camera company has a market capitalization of around 110 mln eur.
Tyler.Sitte@afxnews.com
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[Gabriel M.A.]

I read it somewhere too. It's sold the majority of its stock, not quite all of it. But I'm wondering if they're just trying to make a profit while they can.

It's all legalized gambling, in the end.

 

[specular]

Is this current news? What kind of timing is that? Wonder if they have insider info about the viability of the M8?