The economic slowdown is not seen in the financial report for the third quarter of department store chain New Hamashbir Lazarchan Ltd. (TASE:MSZB) and its New Pharm Drugstores Ltd. chain subsidiary. Hamashbir's department stores posted NIS 154 million revenue for the third quarter, up 24.3% on the NIS 123.9 million for the corresponding quarter of 2007. Hamashbir, as a whole, posted NIS 688.4 million revenue for the third quarter, compared with NIS 598.2 million pro forma revenue for the corresponding quarter.
Hamashbir posted a net profit of NIS 11.1 million (NIS 0.09 per share) for the third quarter, down from NIS 14.8 million for the corresponding quarter.
The operating profit of Hamashbir's department stores rose more than 1,000% to NIS 8.9 million for the third quarter from NIS 800,000 for the corresponding quarter. The company's total operating profit rose to NIS 27.7 million for the third quarter from NIS 15.5 million for the corresponding quarter.
Hamashbir's cosmetics and drugstore sales, which includes New Pharm, rose 18.6% to NIS 255.2 million for the third quarter from NIS 215 million for the corresponding quarter. The operating profit from the cosmetics and drugstore business totaled NIS 4 million, 1.6% of sales, for the third quarter, compared with an operating loss of NIS 3.8 million, 1.8% of sales, for the corresponding quarter.
Hamashbir's financing expenses rose to 13.6 million for the third quarter from NIS 8.9 million for the corresponding quarter.
Hamashbir chairman and CEO Rami Shavit said, "We see the continued strengthening of Hamashbir Lazarchan's department stores as a leader in the Israeli retail industry, as well as the first fruits of the successful merger between Hamashbir and New Pharm."
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on December 1, 2008
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