Zvi Marom stands down as BATM CEO

Zvi Marom  credit: PR/Edward Shtern
Zvi Marom credit: PR/Edward Shtern

Marom founded BATM Advanced Communications in 1992 as a telecommunications solutions company, and later branched out into medical devices.

Zvi Marom, CEO of telecommunications and medical equipment company BATM Advanced Communications (TASE: BVC; LSE: BVC), announced today that he would be stepping down from management of the company that he founded in 1992, and that he would become a director. Marom will be replaced by the company’s CFO Moti Nagar, who joined it in 2015. BATM’s share price fell 1.8% today, giving the company a market cap of NIS 490 million.

Marom founded BATM as a telecommunications solutions company, and successfully led it to flotations in Tel Aviv and London. At the end of the 2000s, he introduced development of medical equipment, when the cellular telecommunications market became more competitive, and the company has successfully managed both tracks.

Marom is a colorful character, with rich general knowledge and an interesting, and sometimes blunt, style of speaking, invoking examples and quotations from his wide range of reference. The company’s diversification into medical equipment was possible because Marom, a former officer in the Israel Navy, himself holds a degree in medicine as well as in electronics. He was also chairman of the Israeli Hi-Tech and Innovation Industries Association of the Manufacturers’ Association of Israel. In the past, he was considered a friend of Benjamin Netanyahu, and even employed him for a time at BATM, between Netanyahu’s terms as prime minister.

Marom told "Globes" today, "I have reached the official retirement age. In the past eight years, we have started to train a cadre of managers in an orderly way. I shall continue to deal with strategic matters at the company, and to serve as chairperson of subsidiary Ador Diagnostics."

BATM was floated in London in 1996, and in 2012 became listed on the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange, from which it was delisted in 2015, listing once again in 2019. In the past five years, BATM’s stock has shown a 55% return in London. During the period of the Covid-19 pandemic, BATM’s share price shot up as it rapidly developed devices and diagnostic tests related to the disease, but fell back again as the pandemic subsided and stock markets weakened, especially the biomed sector.

In the first half of 2022, BATM had revenue of $57 million, 11% less than in the first half of 2021. The decline was because of exchange rate differences and because of the high revenue from Covid-19 tests in 2021.

A few months ago, Marom said that BATM might list on Nasdaq and delist in London following regulatory changes on the London Stock Exchange fro non-local companies. Today, however, he said that this was not on the agenda. "The markets are not currently conducive to a good offering on Nasdaq, but we’ll be there yet. We did also receive a proposal for merging into a SPAC, and we refused. We’re not a unicorn, but a high-tech camel, that can keep pulling and survive even when the market is tough."

Published by Globes, Israel business news - en.globes.co.il - on October 6, 2022.

© Copyright of Globes Publisher Itonut (1983) Ltd., 2022.

  The Tel Aviv Stock Exchange rose today. The Tel Aviv 35 Index rose 1.62%, to 1,867.62 points; the Tel Aviv 125 Index rose 1.33%, to 1,903.10 points; and the BlueTech Global Index rose 0.43%, to 387.75 points. The TelBond 60 corporate bond index rose 0.28%, to 349.79 points. Turnover totaled NIS 3.62 billion in equities and NIS 3.43 billion in bonds.

In the past two weeks (in which there have been breaks in trading for the Rosh Hashana holiday and Yom Kippur), the Tel Aviv 35 Index has fallen 2.9%. The index is down 5.6% for the year to date.

On the foreign exchange market today, the shekel-dollar representative rate was set 1.26% lower, at NIS 3.5380/$, and the shekel-euro representative rate was set 0.05% lower, at NIS 3.4982/€.

Teva led trading today, and rose 5.97%. Bank Leumi rose 2.33%; Bank Hapoalim rose 1.48%; Energix fell 1.81%; and Ormat Technologies fell 2.73%. Notable advancers today were Liveperson, up 3.28%; Perion Network, up 9.55% after releasing better than expected preliminary third quarter results; and Elbit Systems, up 4.39%. Nayax fell 4.59% and IES fell 4.50%.

The Tel Aviv Stock Exchange will be closed for the Sukkot holiday, reopening on Tuesday, October 11.

Published by Globes, Israel business news - en.globes.co.il - on October 6, 2022.

© Copyright of Globes Publisher Itonut (1983) Ltd., 2022.

Zvi Marom  credit: PR/Edward Shtern
Zvi Marom credit: PR/Edward Shtern
Unframe founders credit: Yossi Yarom Israeli AI enterprise platform co Unframe raises $50m

Unframe’s turnkey AI solutions enable companies to solve any enterprise AI use case at scale with fully functional, customized AI solutions for businesses in a matter of hours, rather than months.

Combatica credit: Combatica Combatica launches next-gen VR AI training platform

The Israeli company's virtual reality platform includes 50 AI generated scenarios, seven maps and even situations for operating night vision.

Shekel credit: Shutterstock Vladirina 32 Shekel volatility after US tariffs announcement

The shekel is weakening sharply against the euro, which is gaining following the unveiling of Donald Trump's tariffs plan.

Minister of Finance Bezalel Smotrich credit: Noam Moskovitz Knesset Spokesperson Treasury assesses potential damage to Israel's US exports

Israel will be charged a higher tariff on its exports to the US - its biggest export customer - than Turkey and the UAE.

Iranian flag credit: Shutterstock Why inflation haunts Iran

With a month-on-month increase of 3.3% and an annual rate of 37.1%, inflation reflects the struggles of millions of Iranians.

APM merges with lawyers from Doron, Tikotzky Kantor, Gutman credit: Eyal Merilos APM merges with 12 lawyers from Doron, Tikotzky Kantor, Gutman

With the addition of these 12 lawyers, Amit Pollak Matalon & Co. will now have 135 lawyers.

US President Donald Trump credit: Reuters Sipa USA Israel on list as Trump unveils tariffs

Relatively low reciprocal tariffs will be imposed on Israeli goods sold in the US.

Deflated unicorn credit: Shutterstock Big Tech 50 reports more huge falls in startup valuations

Israeli R&D partnership Big Tech 50 reports that an investment of $2 million in Orcam made in 2021, shrank to just $31,000 at the end of 2024.

NextFerm technologies based on yeast credit: NextFerm Food-tech co NextFerm suspends operations

The company, which produces food ingredients in yeast without genetic engineering, cannot pay its debts and is seeking a buyer.

Minister of Finance Bezalel Smotrich credit: Shlomi Yosef OECD sees recovery in growth but high inflation

The OECD Israel Economic Survey 2025 recommends that the Israeli government take several restraining measures, in order to exit the economic storm created by the war.

Dano Ben-Hur credit: Dror Sithakol Statisticians contradict BoI on impact of housing finance deals

The Central Bureau of Statistics insists the impact of 20/80 buy now pay later financing deals on the real estate market and housing prices is minimal.

Governor of the Bank of Israel Amir Yaron  credit: Government Press Office Debt fears top Bank of Israel's concerns

Most unusually, Governor of the Bank of Israel Amir Yaron's press conference last week did not focus on inflation and the impending interest rate decision.

US President Donald Trump  credit: Reuters/Leah Millis Israel moves to avoid Trump's tariffs axe

Minister of Finance Bezalel Smotrich has signed an order canceling all tariffs on imports from the US. The impact will mostly be on agricultural produce.

Forbes Rich List credit: Shutterstock Maslowski Marcin Wiz founders ranked in Forbes 2025 Rich List

There are a few dozen Israelis listed in the 2025 Forbes Real-Time Billionaires List including Wiz founders Assaf Rappaport, Yinon Costica, Roy Reznik and Ami Luttwak.

SatixFy CEO Nir Barkan credit: Ariel Barkan Canada's MDA Space to buy Israeli satcom co SatixFy

MDA Space will pay $269 million for the Israeli company, including taking on a $76 million debt and a 75% premium on SatixFy's closing price on Nasdaq yesterday.

Raising dollars credit: Shutterstock Israeli startups raised over $1b in March

Israeli privately-held tech companies have raised $2.1 billion in the first three months of 2025, according to IVC-LeumiTech, up 24% from the corresponding quarter of 2024.

Twitter Facebook Linkedin RSS Newsletters גלובס Israel Business Conference 2018