Economy
Rating company Fitch informed Minister of Finance Silvan Shalom that it would not downgrade Israel’s credit rating for the time being. The news helped to boost the shekel's value in the foreign currency market.
Full Story Responding to what it termed “recent hysteria over credit ratings”, UBS Warburg said a downgrade of Israel’s credit rating was not imminent. "We do not see a strong case for a downgrade," the investment bank said.
Full Story According to London-based central bankers organization CentralBankNet, a downgrade of Israel’s sovereign credit rating was averted, thanks to high foreign currency reserves at the Bank of Israel.
Full Story Ratings agency Standard & Poor's places great importance to Israel’s Knesset passing the 2003 budget, according to Minister of Finance Silvan Shalom, who recently met with S&P representatives.
Full Story First International Bank of Israel chief economist Hezi Gutman raised his forecast for the October CPI from a rise of 0.4% to 1%-1.5%, following a series of price rises for basic goods.
Full Story In an interview with "Globes", Minister of Finance Silvan Shalom said the government had already budgeted necessary resources for a confrontation with Iraq. "We won’t reopen the 2003 budget," he said.
Full Story The Central Bureau of Statistics published a mixed set of indicators on the Israeli economy last week. The average salary fell in June-July, and July-August imports were down, but industrial production meanwhile rose.
Full Story The Israeli government will offer 3.5 billion shekels of bonds at four auctions in October. Because of high yields on the bond market, unlinked bonds will be only 48.6% of the issue.
Full Story Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has decided to block the entry of new foreign workers. Minister of Labor and Social Affairs Shlomo Benizri warned the move would prevent the hiring of care-givers for the elderly and handicapped.
Full Story General business
Agrochemicals maker MA Industries signed a major agreement to buy a number of crop protection products from Germany's Bayer CropScience, for €131.5 million.
Full Story Alon Israel Fuel has completed raising NIS 240 million through GE Capital. The company plans to expand its presence in the US market through acquisitions of oil refineries and logistics systems.
Full Story Bank Hapoalim, Israel's largest bank, has agreed in principle to finance energy company Paz's bid to acquire supermarket chain Blue Square Israel.
Full Story The Ofer Brothers group is reorganizing its holdings. Sammy Ofer will get Israel Corporation, while Yuli Ofer will be the controlling shareholder of Ofer Brothers Properties.
Full Story The Ofer family renewed negotiations last month for the sale of its 26% stake in United Mizrahi Bank to Migdal Insurance. The parties described the negotiations between them as “initial exploration.”
Full Story Minister of Finance Silvan Shalom indicated last week he was against plans for Israel Discount Bank to sell its profitable New York subsidiary. "Discount New York is an asset that makes Discount Bank more attractive to potential buyers,” he said.
Full Story Bank Leumi will pay Swiss portfolio management company Allfinanz $12 million for compensation resulting from the embezzlement at Leumi's Switzerland branch.
Full Story Gmul Investments intends to compete with a bid made by Egged and Isramco president Jackob Maimon for control of Nitsba Settlement, a real estate holding company owned by Egged members and pensioners.
Full Story TASE-listed Lipman Electronic Engineering received a $5 million follow-on order to supply Nurit 3020 terminals to AK Bank of Turkey.
Full Story Israeli real estate investor CEE and TASE-listed Oz Atid will join forces to invest €55 million ($54 million) in seven residential and commercial projects in Budapest, Warsaw, and Belgrade.
Full Story Starwood Hotels & Resorts group's (NYSE:HOT) EMEA president said his company would continue making long-term investments in Israel's Sheraton hotels, despite the regional political and security situation.
Full Story Following a terrorist attempt to blow up the Pi Glilot fuel depot in north Tel Aviv, agreement has been reached to move the depot to existing terminals in Jerusalem, Ashdod and Beer Sheva within three months.
Full Story Moist towellete manufacturer Albaad Massuot Yitzhak has started marketing its products in North America. The US and Canadian moist towelettes retail market is estimated at $1.8 billion.
Venture capital investments
Israel Infinity Fund is about to close its second fund - Israel Infinity II. The fund will have an estimated $60-75 million. The investor is also taking over 25 portfolio companies from Clal Industries and Investments.
Full StoryDatabase aggregation engine company HyperRoll has completed a $12.5 million Series B financing round, which was led by Sequoia Capital and Greylock. Vertex Venture Capital, Microdent Ventures and Denali Ventures also participated.
Full StoryStart-up Cerel Ceramic Technologies has already raised $2.5 million out of a planned $5-10 million financing round. The company develops advanced ceramic laminates for the microelectronic and communications markets.
Full StoryOr Yehuda-based Corigin, which specializes in data sharing solutions, is in the advanced stages of a $5 million financing round. Hitachi Data Systems will distribute Corigin's products in Britain.
Full StoryStart-up Commodio, which develops programs that operate computers by voice, is raising $3 million. Most of the money will come from foreign investors.
Full StoryOnset Technology has raised $2 million from Edouard Cukierman's Catalyst Venture Partners. Herzliya-based Onset develops message transmission and conversion software solutions.
Full StoryIsrael-US business investor BIRD-F has approved a $900,000 investment in a joint project by Israeli start-up Lambda Crossing and Finisar Corporation (Nasdaq:FNSR) of the US. The two companies will jointly develop tunable optical components.
Full StoryNanolayers has raised several hundred thousand dollars in its seed financing round. The start-up has developed a process to create nanometric layers of semiconducting materials.
Full StoryJerusalem Venture Partners (JVP) participated in a series D financing round for US start-up BridgeWave Communications, which develops technology for the fixed wireless access industry.
Full StoryInformation technology
Network software developer TTI Telecom (Nasdaq: TTIL) confirmed "Globes" reports of an upcoming profit warning when it said it expected to record a sharp decline in revenue and profit for the third and fourth quarters of 2002.
Full StoryIn a report on TTI Telecom's profit warning, Goldman Sachs warned it expected the company's year 2003 profit per share to fall well below consensus estimates of $1.58.
Full StoryCheck Point (Nasdaq: CHKP) responded to speculation it would miss third quarter targets by pre-announcing its financial results. Revenue fell about 5% short of Merrill Lynch’s estimates, while profit was in line with targets.
Full StoryInternet security company NetScreen Technologies (Nasdaq: NSCN) has opened a sales office in Hod HaSharon, not far from the Ramat Gan headquarters of its Israeli rival, Check Point.
Full StoryThe Ministry of Industry and Trade's Investment Promotion Center approved Intel's (Nasdaq:INTC) request to extend investments approved in 2000-01 through the end of 2003. The postponement is due to the market recession.
Full StoryTechnology investor Formula Systems (Nasdaq: FORTY) reported on consolidation plans for its subsidiaries. The company hopes the plans will lead to the creation of Israel’s largest IT solutions provider.
Full Story"Globes" reported last week that Comverse (Nasdaq: CMVT) won a multi-million dollar voice mailbox contract in the Czech Republic. Meanwhile, AT&T Wireless has suspended its unified messaging contract with Comverse.
Full StoryChipmaker Tower Semiconductor announced that it received $44.7 million, as part of the $305 million investment committed by its partners to the Fab 2 project. Tower has now received 85% of the investments committed to Fab 2.
Full StoryPetah Tikva-based ECtel (Nasdaq: ECTX) has signed a three-year frame agreement with France Telecom. Under the agreement, ECtel is supplying France Telecom with its QualiVoIP revenue enhancement solution.
Full StoryM-Systems (Nasdaq: FLSH) filed a patent infringement lawsuit in a United States federal District Court, alleging that Seattle-based JMTek LLC unlawfully copied its data storage technology.
Full StoryComputer aided design company Cimatron (Nasdaq: CIMT) has established a subsidiary in Beijing. Cimatron says sales in China have risen significantly.
Full StoryIsraeli messaging solutions developer CTI² will offer Critical Path’s (Nasdaq: CPTH) messaging server as part of its communications platform. The deal allows CTI² to offer new value-added services to subscribers, Critical Path says.
Full StoryAnti-piracy technology developer TTR Technologies (Nasdaq: TTRE) is negotiating the sale of its assets to Macrovision, one of its largest stockholders and its primary technology partner.
Full StoryFlorida-based Airspan Networks (Nasdaq:AIRN) acquired from UK telecom equipment provider Marconi all outstanding shares in its Israeli wireless unit, for $3 million in cash. Lod-based Marconi Communications (Israel) employs 60 workers.
Full StoryRamat Gan-based BackWeb (Nasdaq: BWEB) said it would lay off 60 employees, or 44% of its workforce, as it expected to post a steep revenue decline for the third quarter.
Full StoryVoIP technology developer VocalTec Communications (Nasdaq: VOCL) will probably lay off one-third its staff, mostly from the marketing department. The company had $13.2 million in cash reserves at the end of the second quarter.
Full StorySoftware developer Retalix (Nasdaq: RTLX) said it expected to post revenue in excess of $20 million for the third quarter, and that profit per share was set to meet current consensus estimates.
Full StoryTelecoms
Telecom company Bezeq and the Israel Land Administration have reached an agreement in principle settling their protracted land dispute, which has been blamed for delaying Bezeq's privatization.
Full StoryGroups considering bidding to buy control of Bezeq will be allowed access to internal company data in November. The development brings privatization one step closer.
Full StoryPele-Phone, Israel's third largest mobile phone operator, launched a 2.5G 1x-CDMA network in Jerusalem and its environs. The network will be able to transmit voice and data at up to 144 kbps.
Full StoryHealthcare
Agis Industries subsidiary Chemagis has acquired a German Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients plant from Aventis for €5 million in cash. The plant has $15 million in sales a year, mostly to Aventis and its customers.
Full StoryTeva's Copaxone drug is making inroads in the European market for multiple sclerosis (MS) treatment, and could fare much better than expected, Merrill Lynch said in a report.
Full StoryKeryx Biopharmaceuticals (Nasdaq:KERX) obtained worldwide manufacturing rights for KRX-101, its late-stage drug candidate for diabetic kidney disease, and received clearance to negotiate commercialization rights across European and other territories.
Full Story
Defense
The Turkish government confirmed that an Israeli consortium headed by Israel Military Industries would upgrade 170 M-60 Patton tanks for $668 million. The announcement put an end to speculation that the deal was in trouble.
Full StoryFeatures
“It’s laughable to talk about revenue at this stage” Emblaze Systems CEO Eli Reifman claims his company's results should be treated like a start-up entering into a new market. But with a $22 million loss, Eli Reifman
still jokes at shareholders’ expense, writes Doron Avigad.
Full StoryOptID raises the barcode
OptID originally targeted its technology to the automobile market. Then came 9/11.
Full StoryCTI² goes Critical
Messaging company CTI²’s Boaz Gruener on what the agreement with Critical Path will mean.
Full Story
Israeli market at a glance
Tel Aviv Stock Exchange
| Index | Index value
3 October 2002 | Weekly change
points | Weekly change
% | 1 month change
% | YTD change
% |
| Tel Aviv 25 | 339.84 | -11.5 | -3.3 | -7.6 | -26.0 |
| Tel Aviv 100 | 331.62 | -9.2 | -2.7 | -7.2 | -25.8 |
| Tel Tech 15 | 166.44 | -8.6 | -4.9 | -12.7 | -38.7 |
Average daily turnover - NIS 160 million
Note: The trading week in Tel Aviv is from Sunday to Thursday
Tel Aviv - leading stocks
Top five by market cap in alphabetical order
| Closing price
3 October 2002
NIS | Closing price
26 September 2002
NIS | Weekly change
% | 1 month change
% | YTD change
% |
| Bezeq | 4.68 | 4.84 | -3.41 | -7.37 | -21.51 |
| IDB Development | 82.70 | 86.10 | -3.95 | -10.01 | -36.53 |
| Bank Leumi | 5.54 | 5.68 | -2.46 | -6.42 | -35.20 |
| Bank Hapoalim | 7.25 | 7.32 | -0.96 | -3.97 | -23.68 |
| Teva | 329.60 | 330.90 | -0.39 | 7.68 | 21.67 |
Israeli companies traded overseas
Top five by market cap in alphabetical order
| Closing price
4 October 2002
US$ | Closing price
27 September 2002
US$ | Weekly change
% | 1 month change
% | YTD change
% |
| Amdocs (DOX) | 6.29 | 6.41 | -1.87 | -12.76 | -81.48 |
| Check Point (CHKP) | 13.58 | 14.2 | -4.37 | -17.50 | -65.96 |
| Comverse (CMVT) | 6.91 | 7.01 | -1.43 | -12.97 | -69.11 |
| Mercury (MERQ) | 16.81 | 18.07 | -6.97 | -32.46 | -50.53 |
| Taro (TARO) | 32.53 | 34.9 | -6.79 | 4.90 | -18.57 |
Isratech 50
The Globes-Nessuah Zannex Isratech 50 index comprises the 50 leading Israeli stocks traded in New York.
| Weekly change
% | 1 month change
% | YTD change
% |
| Isratech 50 index | -6.3 | -19.9 | -56.8 |
| Nasdaq | -4.9 | -11.8 | -41.6 |
Shekel rates
| Representative rate
4 October 2002 | Weekly change
% | 1 month change
% | YTD change
% |
| NIS/$ | 4.8420 | -0.10 | 2.61 | 9.65 |
| NIS/basket | 5.0630 | 0.10 | 2.22 | 13.38 |
| NIS/100 yen | 3.9430 | -0.42 | -1.52 | 17.25 |
| NIS/euro | 4.7750 | 0.64 | 1.93 | 22.20 |
Bank of Israel interest rate: 9.1%
Inflation expectations: 3.77%
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