Makhteshim Agan Industries Ltd. (TASE: MAIN), of the IDB group, controlled by Nochi Dankner, reported its second quarter results this morning.
Revenue for the quarter totaled $600.9 million, compared with $560.3 million in the corresponding quarter last year. Gross profit grew 13.1% to $175.1 million (29.1% of sales), compared with $154.8 million (27.6% of sales) in the corresponding quarter. Operating profit was $44.1 million, compared with $37 million in the corresponding quarter.
On its bottom line, the agricultural chemicals company posted a net profit of $12.4 million, compared with just $1.7 million in the corresponding quarter. An important positive in the second quarter statements is the company's cash flow from regular activities, which totaled $268 million in the second quarter this year, compared with $222 million in the corresponding quarter last year.
Analysts had estimated revenue of $595-600 million and a net profit of $20-30 million for the second quarter, so that while actual revenue was at the top end of the estimate range, net profit disappointed.
Makhteshim Agan president and CEO Erez Vigodman said, "2010 is a particularly challenging year for us. Alongside our day-to-day activities, in an industry that has not fully recovered yet, we are making progress towards our goals of improving our global operational platform and cost structure, the results of which will begin to bear fruit in 2011.
Despite an industry-wide price decline in the first half of 2010, we managed grow our business. Emerging markets in Asia Pacific and South America played a significant role in this growth, and I expect this trend to continue in the coming years. We also increased our market share in Europe and North America, while coping with tough weather conditions that reduced overall market size, leading to challenging competitive conditions. At the same time, we improved profitability and cash flow generation, and reduced working capital and inventory levels.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on August 11, 2010
© Copyright of Globes Publisher Itonut (1983) Ltd. 2010