In the wake of the huge Cellcom Israel Ltd. takeover deal, IDB Holding Corp. Ltd. (TASE:IDBH) subsidiary Discount Investment Corporation Ltd. (TASE:DISI) today published its financial report for the second quarter of 2005. Discount Investment posted a net profit of NIS 197 million for the second quarter, 147% more than for the corresponding quarter of 2004. Most of the profit came from the sale of Partner Communications Co. Ltd. (Nasdaq: PTNR; TASE:PTNR; LSE:PCCD) shares by Discount Investment subsidiary Elron Electronic Industries Ltd. (Nasdaq: ELRN; TASE:ELRN), which generated a NIS 135 million capital gain for Discount Investment.
In addition to Elron, Cellcom was another important source of revenue for Discount Investment, and will undoubtedly become even more important following the complete takeover of the company yesterday. Cellcom contributed NIS 32 million to Discount Investment’s second quarter net profit. Property and Building Corp. Ltd. (TASE:PTBL) contributed NIS 14 million, and Super-Sol Ltd. (TASE:SAE; OTCBB:SSLTF) NIS 6 million.
Discount Investment posted a net profit of NIS 252 million for the first half of 2005, mostly thanks to Elron’s sale of its stake in Partner. Cellcom contributed NIS 68 million, and Property and Building NIS 52 million. Discount Investment posted a net profit of NIS 350 million for the first half of 2004, thanks to the sale of its stake in Ormat Industries Ltd. (TASE:ORMT) for NIS 180 million.
Discount Investment’s industrial holdings did not contribute much to the company’s profit for the first half of this year NIS 7 million, 36% less than for the first half of last year. The drop was because American Israeli Paper Mills Ltd. (AMEX: AIP; TASE:AIP) wrote off Clubmarket Marketing Chains Ltd.’s debt, and poor market climate and low profitability on the part of Ham-Let (Israel-Canada) Ltd. (TASE:HAML), which in recent quarters has been paying the price of its rapid growth in international markets.
Discount Investment posted NIS 2.08 billion in revenue for the second quarter, 18% higher than for the corresponding quarter of 2004, and NIS 3.9 billion for the first half, 3% more than for the first half of last year.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes.co.il - on August 11, 2005