LONDON (Alliance News) - Amiad Water Systems Ltd on Wednesday said its profit decreased in the first half of 2018 due to absence of gains on foreign exchange rates.
The water treatment & filtration company said pretax profit for the six months to the end of June declined to USD2.2 million from USD3.2 million reported for the same period a year earlier, while revenue climbed moderately to USD56.3 million from USD55.7 million.
The reduction in profit came from net finance costs of USD900,000 compared with a net finance income of USD400,000 in the first half of 2017, primarily as a result of exceptional gains from foreign currency hedging in the earlier period.
Sales & marketing costs increased to USD13.5 million from USD12.7 million the year before, primarily due to the launch of the new Irrigation products.
Research & development costs were broadly flat year-on-year at USD1.9 million, while administrative & general expenses reduced to USD4.6 million from USD4.8 million as the company continued to maintain tight cost control.
The Irrigation segment generated USD31.7 million revenue in the first-half, down from USD32.4 million the year prior, due to a decrease in sales generated under the company's distribution agreement with Netafim. In the Non-Irrigation segment, revenue increased by 5.3% to USD24.5 million from USD23.3 million.
The Industrial unit generated USD14.9 million revenue during the period, down from USD17.8 million a year ago, due to the weakness in Israel and India markets.
The Municipal division generated revenue of USD6.3 million compared with USD3.5 million in the first half of 2017, partly due to the project reclassification as well as an increase in sales in the US and Singapore.
"I am pleased to report this set of results that represents solid progress for Amiad," said Chief Executive Dori Ivzori.
"We entered the second half of the year with positive sales momentum and anticipate reporting full year revenue growth for 2018 in line with market expectations," Ivzori continued.
"Looking further ahead, we expect to benefit from increasing operational efficiencies, growing sales from the new products launched this year and continued demand for our vast portfolio of solutions. As a result, we are confident of achieving a higher rate of revenue growth in 2019," added Ivzori.
Shares in Amiad Water were trading 4.2% higher on Wednesday at 255.30 pence each.
