The Makhteshim group ended the fourth quarter of 1997 with a net profit of NIS 44 million, compared to a net profit of NIS 18 million in the corresponding quarter of the preceding year, a 144% increase. The group’s net profit for the whole of 1997 amounted to NIS 153 million, compared to NIS 108 million in 1996, up 41.6%.
According to the group’s general manager, Shlomo Yonas, Makhteshim continues to record an annual growth rate of 35% and more. This growth rate is particularly outstanding in view of the fact that the world market for plant protection chemicals is enjoying its fourth successive year of 1.5%-2% average real annual growth. According to Yonas, the increase in Makhteshim’s sales and profitability derives from the company’s natural growth and from the group’s continuing to apply its strategy of acquiring companies in other parts of the world.
Yonas said that Makhteshim is presently facing a "window of opportunity" in the business sense, with the expiry of the patent period of a broad range of products in the insecticides and weed-killers field, and in the treatment of fungal ailments in various countries.
The group’s 1997 revenues amounted to NIS 2.6 billion, compared to NIS 1.9 billion in 1996, a 36.8% increase. In the fourth quarter, the group’s sales amounted to NIS 738 million, compared to NIS 463 million in the corresponding quarter of the preceding year, a 59.3% increase.
Shlomo Yonas reported that the breakdown of sales by target markets world-wide, indicates that sales in Latin America, which amounted to NIS 914 million, increased by 137%, compared with the corresponding period of 1996. Sales to Europe amounted to NIS 767.9 million, accounting for 33% of sales. Sales to North America amounted to NIS 367.2 million, while sales to the Far East totalled NIS 156.6 million and sales to Africa and Australia amounted to NIS 144.7 million.
Published by Israel's Business Arena February 15, 1998