Stef Wertheimer: Iscar sales in 2003 - $950m

Iscar chairman Stef Wertheimer predicts $1.5 billion in sales by 2010.

Industrialist Stef Wertheimer has disclosed business information for the first time. He said Iscar had $950 million in sales in 2003 and predicted $1.5 billion by 2010.

Iscar and Blades Technology have a profit margin of 25%, which means they posted a $240 million profit in 2003. Iscar has 1,500 employees in Israel. 99% of the company's production is exported. The 30 enterprises at the Tefen industrial park, which operates as a kind of industrial incubator, export 80% of their products, the highest proportion of any area in Israel.

Until now, Wertheimer jealously guarded details about Iscar and his family. He has declined to disclose any details about Iscar and his family's equity, estimated at $2.5-3 billion. In 1997, his son, Iscar president Eitan Wertheimer, forced Discount Investment Corporation (TASE:DISI) to sell its holding in Iscar, by refusing to allow Iscar's results to be disclosed in Discount Investment's financial statements.

Stef Wertheimer told "Globes" that each worker at Tefen exported over $150,000 worth of goods a year. Over a tenth of Israel's manufactured exports come from Tefen, which accounts for just 1% of the country's population. Tefen-based enterprises have an aggregate turnover of $1.5 billion a year.

This week, Tefen will host an international conference to promote Wertheimer's plan to establish 100 industrial parks on the Tefen model, in a joint project of Israel, Jordan, Turkey, the Palestinian Authority, and Lebanon, partly financed by the US.

Wertheimer said, "An industrial park costs $10 million to set up. Most of the investment is in education and technology training." The total cost of his plan is therefore $1 billion.

Wertheimer said, "The amount of US aid is unimportant. $10-20 million initially would be fine. The main thing is their commitment to the idea; that's it's not necessary to send money or weapons here, but to create jobs, which in the long run will enable people to make money."

Published by Globes [online] - www.globes.co.il - on January 4, 2004

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