Kodak on Sept. 28 requested a second extension of its exclusive right to file a reorganization plan and solicit votes for it, asserting the company has made significant progress during its bankruptcy and has achieved certain goals stated in its first motion for an exclusivity extension. Those realized goals include stabilizing its global operations, improving its profits, liquidity and expense management and collaborating with stakeholders.

A Sept. 28 statement said the debtor also has expanded its customer and vendor relationships and substantially reduced costs. Kodak said it plans to emerge from bankruptcy in the first half of 2013.

Kodak wants the sole right to file a Chapter 11 plan and solicit votes through Feb. 28 and April 30, respectively.

The extra time, the Rochester, N.Y., company said in court papers, is necessary because of an ongoing sale process and the need to assess nearly 6,000 filed proofs of claim against the bankruptcy estate.

Judge Allan L. Gropper of the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York in Manhattan is scheduled to consider the motion on Oct. 17.

Gropper previously granted Kodak an extension of its exclusivity periods on April 30, giving the debtor until Oct. 15 and Dec. 14, respectively, to file a plan and solicit votes.

Kodak on Sept. 28 also announced it will stop selling consumer inkjet printers in 2013. The debtor said cutting that business will significantly improve its cash flow. Kodak said, however, that it would remain committed to customers who have already purchased the printers. Those customers would still be provided with services and support.

The company previously had announced its intention to emerge from bankruptcy as a company focused on commercial, packaging and functional printing solutions and enterprise services. Under that strategy, Kodak announced on Aug. 23 it would sell its personalized imaging and document imaging businesses.

The personal-imaging business consists of 105,000 picture kiosks, photographic paper and film products and souvenir photo products for theme parks and other venues. The document-imaging business includes scanners, capture software and other services to customers.

"Kodak is making good progress toward emergence from Chapter 11, taking significant actions to reorganize our core ongoing businesses, reduce costs, sell assets and streamline our organizational structure," Kodak chairman and CEO Antonio M. Perez said in the statement. "Steps such as the sale of personalized imaging and document imaging, and the consumer inkjet decision, will substantially advance the transformation of our business to focus on commercial, packaging and functional printing solutions and enterprise services. As we complete the other key objectives of our restructuring in the weeks ahead, we will be well positioned to emerge successfully in 2013."

Founded in 1880 by George Eastman, Kodak was once the world's leading producer of film and cameras.

Since it filed for bankruptcy on Jan. 19, the company has been looking to reposition its business and sell its digital capture and imaging systems patent portfolios. The debtor, however, has failed to find an acceptable purchaser for the intellectual property and on Sept. 14 announced it was indefinitely postponing a sale. Kodak said it instead would begin negotiating licensing agreements for the patents.

In court papers Sept. 28, Kodak said it remained in negotiations with a consortium on a potential transaction.

Andrew G. Dietderich, John J. Jerome, Michael H. Torkin and Mark U. Schneiderman at Sullivan & Cromwell LLP and Pauline K. Morgan and Joseph M. Barry at Young Conaway Stargatt & Taylor LLP are debtor counsel.

James A. Mesterharm of AlixPartners LLP is Kodak's chief restructuring officer. David Descoteaux of Lazard is the company's investment banker.