Tuesday, January 3, 2012

Bethel Finance: Surge in food prices since holidays

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Bethel Finance news:
The social protest has waned, the holidays are over, and prices of some products on supermarket shelves have again skyrocketed, according to a "Globes" investigation at retailers.

For example, the price of Osem Investments Ltd's (TASE: OSEM)'s real powdered chicken soup has risen 150% at Shufersal Ltd. (TASE:SAE) discount chain Shufersal Deal from its price on the eve of Rosh Hashana on September 26, 2011, to NIS 25. The price of this product at Alon Holdings Blue Square - Israel Ltd. (NYSE: BSI; TASE: BSI) chain Mega has risen 140%, and it has risen 114% at Rami Levy Chain Stores Hashikma Marketing 2006 Ltd. (TASE:RMLI) to NIS 17. Osem's real powdered chicken soup costs 47% more at Shufersal Deal than at Rami Levy.

The difference in prices for mayonnaise is especially wide. The price of Telma mayonnaise costs 44-50% more at Mega Deal than at Shufersal Deal and Rami Levy. Mega Bull has raised the price of this product by 34% since Rosh Hashana, while Shufersal Deal has cut the price by 7%, and Rami Levy has hiked the price 66%.

The huge differences in prices of products at the different supermarkets also indicates the huge differences in their mark-ups.

Rami Levy has raised the price of frozen Nile Perch fillet by 66%, Mega Bull has raised the price by 20.7%, and Shufersal Deal has raised it by 10%. Even so, frozen Nile Perch fillet costs NIS 35 per kilo at Mega Bull - 40% more than the NIS 24.90 per kilo charged by Rami Levy.

Sharp price hikes have been made on a wide range of products, including ketchup, Starkist Tuna, and mineral water and other beverages.

However, the prices for some products are the same across supermarkets. For example, the price for Snowfrost frozen garden peas and corn is NIS 17 at all the supermarkets.

The Jewish New Year's holiday and Sukkot occurred at the height of the cottage cheese boycott and protests against high prices, and consumer demand fell. Retailers and manufacturers both realized that to maintain sales levels, they would have to make deeper price cuts. Price cuts at both Rami Levy and Shufersal hit their gross profits for the third quarter of 2011. Blue Square's gross profit actually rose, possibly indicating the chain did not itself finance the reduction in consumer prices. All the supermarket chains saw a sharp drop in profits, although this was not due to lower prices at Blue Square.

Retailers are now trying to build back their profit margins, and are raising prices as part of this effort.

In response, Rami Levy Hashikma chairman Rami Levy accused manufacturers, saying, "These are the price that suppliers charge us." He also pointed fingers at the government and regulators, saying, "The party responsible for everything is the public sector and the regulator. The country is more and more concentrated and monopolistic, and sets a bad example for the private sector. The government raised the price of land by 50%, and there is no competition. In the end, this also affects food. Five years ago, we paid $10 per square meter in rent, but we're now asked to pay $20-25 per square meter. This isn't what I'm giving, but what they are asking. I call on consumers not to buy at stores that raise prices."

Mega declined to comment on the report, and Shufersal did not respond.

Bethel Finance: Israelis raise Wikipedia donations by 150%

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Bethel Finance news:
12,000 Israelis donated NIS 720,000 to Wikipedia in 2011, 152% more than the NIS 285,000 donated by 3,500 Israelis in 2010. Israelis donated NIS 140,000 to Wikipedia in 2009.

Altogether, Wikipedia raised more than $20 million from over one million donors in 2011, more than double the amount that it raised in 2010.

"Our model is working fantastically," said Wikipedia Foundation executive director Sue Gardner, following the closing of the annual donations campaign. "People are used to using Wikipedia, they love it, and they are willing to donate some money so that it will continue to thrive.

Bethel Finance: Levin comes home to Americanize Teva

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Bethel Finance news:
Sources at Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. (Nasdaq: TEVA; TASE: TEVA) and in the pharmaceutical industry have told "Globes" that Teva may have acquired Cephalon, but Cephalon actually took over Teva.

The remark refers to the change in corporate culture at the Israeli generic drug giant, which began to resemble the culture of the young and innovative US company that it acquired. On the face of it, the appointment of Dr. Jeremy Levin as Teva's new president and CEO at first looks like a step in this direction, but things are more complicated beneath the surface.

Levin joins Teva after stints as business development manager at Bristol-Myers Squibb (NYSE:BMY) and Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS; LSE: NOV; SWX: NOVZ). He may be an American, and will soon be an Israeli, but he was born in South Africa, and his friends say that he is a strong Zionist. He has made countless visits to Israel to establish joint ventures between the companies he was working for and Israeli parties.

Few people have had a more fascinating life than Levin. The details are sketchy, but it is known that he was born to an important South African family, and that he diligently climbed the corporate ladder, first in medicine and then in industry. En route, he worked in many countries, so he is ready to handle Teva's global reach.

Levin is believed to have very close ties with Israel's government. He has lived in Israel before, when he was young, and even acquired part of his professional training here. He chose to open today's speech with remarks in Hebrew, demonstrating a good grasp of the language. Levin loves Israel and loves innovation, and knows the pharmaceutical industry like few others.

"Teva is a special company, an Israeli company, and it will stay that way. This is a company where the actions of its managers and employees help millions of people around the world every day. There is no more successful realization of a vision than to work in the pharmaceutical industry," said Levin at the press conference.

"I am excited to come and live here in Israel. My Hebrew will improve. My family and friends around the world know how important it is for me to move to Israel and contribute to the advancement of science and medicine in Israel, and to its economy. To my friends and family in Israel - I have come home."

Levin will move with his wife to Israel, and may be joined by his two daughters, who are in their 20s.

In an exclusive interview with "Globes", Levin said that he did not decide to take the post at Teva out of Zionist motives, but for business reasons. He said that the decision was not an easy one, since he was happy at his job as president of business development and strategy at Bristol-Myers Squibb. But "Teva ties up a lot of loose ends for me. I am familiar with the company, and I've studied it since I first came to Israel 40 years ago," he said.

As for his relations with Israel, Levin said, "I am South African. We left the country for political reasons. We fled to Rhodesia. We moved to Israel on the way to England. I worked as a dairyman and at a number of other jobs at Beit Alfa, but I won a scholarship to study medicine at Cambridge, so I returned to England. In my soul, I am still a doctor, and there's nothing I like better than dealing directly with patients."

"Globes": Have you thought about how you will communicate with Teva's shareholders, some of whom now have very mixed feelings about the company?

Levin: "I'll have to learn about Teva's shareholders whom I don’t yet know. I am familiar with the capital market, because I once floated a start-up, and I believe that there must be as much transparency as possible, the creation of a close relationship and explain, and in this area, and sometimes teach investors about the company."

"Globes" interviewed Levin six years ago, when he worked for Novartis. "We want to work with you," he said at the time, in a call to Israeli companies. Commenting on the development of innovative drugs, he said, "I sometimes don’t understand how scientists go to work in the morning, when they know that in most cases the product will fail. We want the failure to happen much earlier in the process, to save time and resources."

Levin is therefore an unusual choice as he is the first non-Israeli ever to head Teva. "This was possible only thanks to the relatively new chairman, Dr. Philip Frost. The old guard would never have allowed it," a source close to Teva told "Globes". But Levin is not really a foreigner. "Levin is the perfect hybrid CEO, with his heart in Israel, but the ability to speak American with Teva's disappointed investors, its American customers, and with potential partners in the US, and, of course, with Cephalon's team," added the source.

People in Israel's life science industry who know Levin say that he is a very nice man, and also a very smart one. "He sometimes buys products from companies, even when the company that owns it does not realize its full potential and how it fits with Bristol-Myers Squibb or Novartis's portfolio," said one person.

Levin faces two challenges: directly communicating with Teva's shareholders as CEO of the company, and handling the board of directors, which includes some strong and opinionated directors who have held their posts for a long time.

Bethel Finance: "Teva must overcome dependence on Copaxone"

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Bethel Finance news:
"This was a process. You don’t wake up one morning and decide to quit. I deliberated over the matter, and concluded that this was the right time to embark on a new road. A year at Teva is like five years somewhere else, because of the intensity and heavy responsibilities. It's good for the company to bring in a new CEO with a new perspective every few years," outgoing Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. (Nasdaq: TEVA; TASE: TEVA) president and CEO Shlomo Yanai told "Globes" today, after announcing his resignation after five years at the company.

Yanai previously served as CEO of Makhteshim Agan Industries Ltd.. He spent most of his career in the IDF, where he rose to major general, serving as OC South and Head of the Planning Directorate. He is known as a strategist who believes in planning ahead. After arriving at Teva, he prepared a five-year plan, which when its end in 2012, Teva should have $20 billion revenue and a net profit margin of 20% of turnover (the 20-20 Plan). Today, it can be said that the company will probably exceed the targets by the end of the year.

Yanai considers this one of his key achievements. "The strategy provides an answer to the challenges of the coming years. Its essence is diversity - in markets and in medical fields," he says. Mapping the challenges facing his successor, Dr. Jeremy Levin, Yanai says, "Teva has two challenges: its dependence on Copaxone, and its dependence on the American market, specifically generics."

Copaxone, Teva's flagship treatment for multiple sclerosis, accounts for half of the company's profit.

Yanai adds, "In the past few years, we pulled in more global directions. We took important measures around the world, so that today's Teva is more balanced. In addition, the acquisition of Cephalon turns us into a business with an $8 billion a year branded drug business, reducing the dependence on Copaxone, and it will fall further."

Yanai says that Teva's two important growth engines are biosimilars (generic biological drugs) and non-prescription over-the-counter (OTC) drugs. Teva has joint ventures in both fields. "People don’t always see it, because they're used to looking at the company from one moment to the next, but things take time in a manufacturing company," he says, in an implication about Teva's share price. Teva's current market cap is $35.7 billion - a 21% return during Yanai's tenure, but 36% off from its peak in early 2010.

"Globes": Has there been miscommunication with the capital market?

Yanai: "I don’t think so. We've invested heavily in public relations about our strategic moves. The capital market sometimes understands sooner and sometimes it understands later. It's the nature of the world to focus on the short-term share price, and less on the strategy."

Are you disappointed by the market's reaction to your resignation - a 3% rise in Teva's share price?

"No. It's immaterial. I see the share price as something very important, but Teva is a manufacturer that works in the long term, and that's how investors should look at it. A person who invests that way will always see a return on his investment. I have no doubt that the share price will reflect Teva's real economic activity and achievements."

Monday, January 2, 2012

Bethel Finance: Leumi: Housing supply up, prices down

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Bethel Finance news:
Bank Leumi (TASE: LUMI) says that current real estate supply levels will contribute to continued falls in real estate prices in the coming months, but that the number of sales will remain unchanged.

"The current supply of apartments will last for 12.5 months at current sales levels," Bank Leumi reported last week. "This level of supply reflects decreased pressure to raise prices," the report said.

According to Leumi, "The survey carried out by the Central Bureau of Statistics predicts that the pace of real estate sales will stabilize as prices continue to fall. The number of people who, in November, expressed interest in purchasing a home rose."

Bethel Finance: Africa-Israel to buy back NIS 1b in bonds

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Bethel Finance news:
Africa-Israel Investments Ltd. (TASE:AFIL), controlled by chairman Lev Leviev, has begun the new year with a buyback of company bonds estimated at NIS 1 billion.

In a notice to the TASE today, Africa-Israel reported that its board has approved the continuation of the buyback purchasing program it began in late 2010. In 2011, the company bought NIS 1.16 billion worth of bonds. About NIS 400,000 of the original NIS 1.5 billion bond buyback program was unused.

Africa-Israel said, "Although the program will reduce the liquidity of cash balances held by the company, Africa-Israel believes that this will not harm the company's ability to carry out current operations or the ability to meet its obligations."

The company added, "Taking the long-term market conditions and bond prices into account, a bond buyback is the proper use of the company's cash… It is a financially sound move to make."

Africa-Israel's share price rose 3% in morning trading to NIS 11.87, giving a market cap of NIS 1.4 billion.

Bethel Finance: Orckit seeks stay of proceedings

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Bethel Finance news:
Orckit Communications Ltd. (Nasdaq: ORCT; TASE: ORCT) today petitioned the Tel Aviv District Court for a stay of proceedings as it attempts to reach a debt settlement with its bondholders. The company develops packet transport network solutions for Ethernet and communications networks, under the Orckit-Corrigent label, for telecommunications providers.

Orckit is due to pay $25 million on the principal of its two bond series on March 29, 2012, and it has just $28 million in cash. The bondholders are demanding that part of the company's cash be deposited with a trustee to ensure that it will be available for the payment. The stay of proceedings is intended to block the bondholders.

In July 2011, Orckit fired 35 employees, 17% of its workforce. The company has posted heavy losses, despite growing revenue, including a net loss of $1.5 million on $3.6 million revenue for the third quarter of 2011.

In filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Orckit said that its Series A bondholders have the right to request early redemption of the bonds on March 29, 2012. During negotiations with the bondholders on a settlement, which would include postponement of part of the early redemption of the bonds' principal, the bondholders threatened legal action if the company did not agree by January 1, 2012, to repay a significant proportion of the principal.

At the same time, the Series A bondholders refused to let the Series B bondholders participate in the negotiations with the company. The Series B bondholders object to the Series A bondholders receiving preferential treatment.

Orckit said that if the court grants the stay of proceedings, this would block any legal action by the bondholders or other creditors, allow the company to conduct its business while it negotiates with the representatives of the holders of both bond series, under court oversight, in order to reach an agreed-upon settlement.

Orckit said that, during the stay of proceedings, it's business would continue under a trustee appointed by the court, while Orckit CEO Eric Paneth and president Izhak Tamir would keep their posts.

Orckit concluded that its "objective is to continue to seek to meet its business goals, including to secure orders with respect to one or more of the projects to be conducted by Tier 1 telecommunication service providers… and to raise additional funds to finance its operations until it can achieve a positive cash flow. "

Orckit's share price fell 0.4% in morning trading on the TASE following the announcement to NIS 3.67, after rising 2.1% on Nasdaq on Friday to $1.01, giving a market cap of $23 million