LONDON (Alliance News) - Amiad Water Systems Ltd Thursday said first-half pretax profit fell as it was hit by the non-repeat of a large project in the corresponding period last year, as well as the weakness of the dollar against the Israeli shekel.
In its first-half results for the six months to June 30, the water treatment and filtration company said it made a USD1.7 million pretax profit, compared with USD4.2 million in the corresponding period last year.
Revenue fell by 2.5% to USD60.2 million as growth in the irrigation and municipal segments, and flat revenue in the industrial segment, was more than offset by a 50% fall in the oil and gas segment due to the lack of a single large project similar to that delivered in Colombia in the corresponding period last year. However, Amiad Water Systems said that revenue was up 5% on the second-half of 2013, which it called a "clear indication" of the company's return to growth.
The company said its new products are increasingly penetrating the market. Its said that Omega, Sigma, ScanJet and Super Galaxy products first-half sales reached an all time high of USD6.0 million, or 10% of overall sales.
Research and development expenses rose to USD1.8 million from USD1.5 million, while selling and marketing rose to USD14.3 million from USD13.3 million. Administrative and general expenses were down to USD5.6 million from USD6.0 million.
"Looking ahead, the company entered the second half of 2014 with a higher backlog than at the equivalent period last year. We expect the Municipal and Oil & Gas segments to accelerate in the second half of the year and the Irrigation segment, particularly in the US, to continue to show sustained momentum," Chief Executive Arik Dayan said in a statement,
"Hence, we expect to deliver revenue growth for full-year 2014 compared with 2013 and, despite the uncertainty surrounding the extent of the impact of the NIS strength against the US Dollar, we still expect to report a higher net profit than last year," Dayan added.
Amiad Water Systems increased its interim dividend to USD0.022 per share from USD0.051.
Amiad Water shares were Thursday quoted down 3.1% at 252.00 pence per share.
By Samuel Agini; samagini@alliancenews.com; @samuelagini
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