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Markets in Brief Soaring jet-fuel costs put El Al into the red Advertisement The surge in jet fuel prices reduced El Al to a loss of $11.2 million for the second quarter of 2008 despite a 23% increase in revenues to $557 million. The problem was the 37% jump in operating costs to $485 million, the airline reports, mainly because of its outlay on jet fuel, which almost doubled in price from the second quarter of last year. El Al posted a drop in gross profit to $71.8 million, compared with $99.5 million in the corresponding period of 2007. CEO Haim Romano commented that El Al showed resilience last year in the face of the Second Lebanon War and intensifying competition, and will surely return to profitability. (Rotem Sella) Deutsche Bank votes for Africa Israel in 2009 Africa Israel Investments is a dog this year but will be one of the winners in 2009, predicts Deutsche Bank. The real-estate empire controlled by Russian-Israeli businessman Lev Leviev has diversified its investments in the United States, Europe and Russia, notes Dan Harverd. His recommendation is Buy and his 12-month price target is NIS 250, which is a huge 95% above Africa Israel's present level on the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange. But note that the target is 45% below Deutsche's last target for Africa Israel, mainly because of the low value ($2.7 billion) of subsidiary Africa Israel Development, which handles the group's activity in Russia. (Michael Rochvarger) Expanding activity in Europe and the U.S. brought Scope Metals an 18% increase in second-quarter revenues to NIS 368 million. Higher sales in Poland, Romania and the Czech Republic helped lift its net profit to NIS 21.4 million despite an 8% drop in operating income to NIS 44.5 million because of a 25% increase in financing costs, to NIS 16.5 million. Scope, which imports and sells in Israel and abroad raw materials and products for the metals industry, has lost 40% this year, reducing its market capitalization to NIS 456 million. (Yuval Maoz) Rotex buying Gilon sportswear firm from Gibor Sport Actice Rotex has agreed to buy all of Gibor Sport Active Wear's entire 100% stake in Gilon, a seamless sportswear company, for about NIS 13.7 million. It notes that Gilon sells its gear to the likes of Nike, Lacoste, Falke, Bula and Lowe Alpine. In 2007, Gilon's revenues amounted to NIS 27.8 million, down from NIS 32.2 million in 2006. Also in 2007, Gilon lost NIS 0.7 million and in the first quarter of 2008 it lost NIS 2.5 million. (TheMarker) Management shift at I.B.I. Underwriting Erez Goldschmidt is taking over as CEO of the private company Poalim-I.B.I. Underwriting. Ronen Zellnir will be CEO of the public arm. (Sarit Menahem) Delta Textiles trims loss for quarter to $684,00 Delta Textiles reported a 3.3% increase in sales for the second quarter of 2008 to $154.7 million, thanks to a reorganization that boosted revenues and cut losses. The company even achieved operating income of $717,000 for the quarter. After taxes and financing costs, it cut its quarterly loss to $684,000 from $3.6 million in the parallel quarter of 2007. The company exports most of its wares, mainly to the U.S., which is why it reports in dollars, but its expenses are in shekels, so the feebleness of the dollar in the second quarter hurt its results. By the way, it said that sales to Marks & Spencer in the U.K. dropped but were offset by rising sales in the U.S. and elsewhere in Europe. (Tal Levy) Alony Hetz downgraded to A/Stable by Maalot Another day, another real-estate downgrade. Yesterday came the turn of Alony Hetz, which Maalot S&P downgraded from AA-/Negative to A/stable. The credit rating agency notes the erosion in the value of the company's properties because of the credit crisis, the increase in its leverage (solo and consolidated), heavy borrowing needs to be faced in 2009 and exposure to foreign currency exchange rates and to the consumer price index. (TheMarker) S&P affirms Bezeq outlook at BBB+/Stable Then there's Bezeq, the outlook of which parent company S&P revised from BBB+/Negative to BBB+/Stable, indicating that a downgrade isn't expected. It affirmed the phone company's status because of its "adequate operating efficiency," good diversity in telecommunications, leading position in the market and "satisfactory financial profile." It isn't as pleased with Bezeq's habit of distributing all its net income as dividends and notes that the company's gross debt as of March 31 stood at NIS 6.54 billion. But then its revenues for 12 months ending on that date amounted to NIS 12.4 billion, S&P adds. (TheMarker) Vector fund ups stake in Aladdin to 10.2% From August 8 the Vector technology investments fund has bought another 145,000 shares in data security systems company Aladdin Knowledge Systems for $1.5 million. From July 18, Vector had bought $12 million worth of Aladdin stock and now owns 10.18% of the company's shares, making it the fourth-biggest shareholder after Juniper, founder Yanki Margalit and Gilon Investments. (Nir Zalik) Bookmark to del.icio.us   'Material girl' turns 50 Pop icon and kabbalah enthusiast Madonna celebrates her 50th birthday. Barak vs. The Treasury Defense Minister says budget cuts foolish in light of the threats Israel facing.

Read & React Nasrallah: 'Failed' IDF generals caused Georgia defeat in war Responses: 239 Brenda Shaffer: By not aiding Georgia, Israel harming efforts on Iran Responses: 90 Police admit 'turning blind eye' to settler violence Responses: 81 Marwan Muasher: The Arab Peace Initiative still stands Responses: 146 Russia signs cease-fire agreement with Georgia Responses: 98 More Headlines 00:59 Georgia: Russian-backed separatists seize villages, power plant 23:00 Head of World Congress of Russian Jewry accuses Georgia of genocide 19:24 Barak slams push to cut defense budget for 2009 11:25 IN DEPTH / The Russian empire strikes back 22:50 'We are running out of time for a two-state solution' 14:23 Israeli envoy meets UNIFIL chief over praise for Hezbollah, censure for Israel 11:36 Jewish World / Looking for love on Israeli Valentine's Day 08:14 Haaretz newsletter: All the news from Israel direct to your inbox 00:15 Palestinian PM meets Barak in T.A., demands Israel halt construction in West Bank 19:54 Lebanon expects full diplomatic ties with Syria within 2 months 17:18 Two children, aged 9 and 14, drown off Israel's shore Friday 22:46 Pop star, icon, and Kabbala aficionado Madonna turns 50 17:52 British military helicopter makes emergency landing in Israel Previous Editions Select Day 15 aug 14 aug 13 aug 12 aug 11 aug 10 aug 08 aug 07 aug 06 aug 05 aug 04 aug 03 aug

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