Bethel Finance: Delek Group profit quadruples

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Bethel Finance news:

Delek Group Ltd., controlled by Yitzhak Tshuva, quadrupled its net profit for the third quarter of 2011 on higher revenue, driven by higher revenue from fuel sales and natural gas operations, which was partly offset by a sharp drop in revenue from insurance operations. The company will distribute a NIS 100 million dividend from the profit.
Delek Group's consolidated revenue rose 30% to NIS 15.22 billion for the third quarter from NIS 11.74 billion for the corresponding quarter. Net profit attributed to majority shareholders rose 324% to NIS 140 million for the third quarter from NIS 33 million for the corresponding quarter, while total net profit rose to NIS 278 million from NIS 100 million.
Delek Group's revenue from its US fuel operations (Delek US Holdings Inc. (NYSE:DK)) more than doubled to NIS 7.82 billion for the third quarter from NIS 3.33 billion for the corresponding quarter; revenue from its European fuel operations (Delek Europe BV) rose to NIS 4.03 billion from NIS 3.38 billion); and its revenue from Israeli fuel operations (Delek Israel Fuel Corporation Ltd. (TASE: DLKIS)) rose to NIS 1.67 billion from NIS 1.07 billion. Revenue from natural gas (Avner Oil and Gas LP (TASE: AVNR.L) and Delek Drilling LP (TASE: DEDR.L)) rose to NIS 249 million for the third quarter from NIS 169 million for the corresponding quarter, mainly because of increased natural gas sales from Yam Tethys to Israel Electric Corporation (IEC) (TASE: ELEC.B22).
Revenue from Delek Group's desalination joint venture with Israel Chemicals Ltd. (TASE: ICL), IDE Technologies Ltd., rose to NIS 111 million for the third quarter from NIS 43 million for the corresponding quarter.
However, Delek Group's share of revenue from Israeli insurance and financial operations (through The Phoenix Holdings Ltd. (TASE: PHOE1;PHOE5) and Excellence Investments Ltd. (TASE: EXCE)) fell to NIS 536 million for the third quarter, a sixth of the NIS 3.02 billion for the corresponding quarter.
Delek Group CEO Asaf Bartfeld said, "The good results can be attributed to the diversity of the company's businesses, which disperse risk. The company has NIS 1.4 billion in liquidity, and with no liens on most of its assets, testifying to the company's financial soundness."
Delek Group's share price was unchanged by mid-afternoon at NIS 677.10, giving a market cap of NIS 7.7 billion.