According to a TASE survey, Israeli companies distributed NIS 6.5 billion in dividends in 2000, compared with NIS 10.5 billion in 1999, a drop of 40%. The number of companies distributing dividends dropped from 228 in 1999 to 196 last year.
Lehman Brothers has raised its rating on Terayon Communication (Nasdaq: TERN) from "Market Perform" to "Buy" and issued a $10 price target, compared with Terayon's closing price of $4.17 on Friday.
Lehman Brothers has reiterated its “Buy” rating for Israel Chemicals and NIS 5.60 price target, but reduced profit and revenue estimates for 2001 and 2002. For 2001, Lehman Brothers now predicts net profits of $88.2 million, or $0.07 per share, on revenue of $1.716 billion, compared with previous forecasts for profits of $98.5 million, or $0.08 per share, on revenue of $1.808 billion.
Meta Group Israel: The merger of HP and Compaq will create the largest IT company in the country with Israel sales of over $500 million. 100 workers in Israel are likely to lose their jobs as a result of the merger.
TTI Telecom(Nasdaq: TTIL) has acquired the 7-VIEW network quality assessment product line and complementary signaling technology from INRANGE, Inc. (Nasdaq: INRG), a subsidiary of SPX Corporation. TTI Telecom will pay royalties to INRANGE for the next 3 years for every order placed for the product line.
Optibase (Nasdaq: OBAS): Effective August 31, 2001, Ran Eisenberg has stepped down as CEO. Zvi Halperin will become interim CEO. Robert DeFeo has resigned as president of Optibase Inc., the company's wholly owned subsidiary. Yair Seroussi and Eli Ayalon have resigned from the board of directors. Tom Wyler was elected chairman of the board.
NICE Systems (Nasdaq:NICE) has opened an Asia Pacific regional office in Hong Kong.
Published by Israel's Business Arena on 4 September, 2001