Business in Brief

Tax revenues from car imports fell 8.3% in 2008 to $8 billion, says a detailed report published by the Tax Authority. Tax revenues were dragged down by a 0.6% drop in the value of goods imported last year, a tax cut (from 78% to 75%) implemented that year, and a 4.8% decrease in the weighted exchange rate of currencies with which automobiles are purchased. Personal imports were also closely scrutinized in the report, and point to some fishy business by automobile importers: It seems that about a quarter of all car importers have no visible source of income, and another 10% supposedly earn less than minimum wage. Oh, and Chrysler's Jeep Grand Cherokee was the personal import of choice that year. (Daniel Schmil)

Modu, the Kfar Saba company founded by Israeli technology startup legends Dov Moran and the developer of a tiny, modular cell telephone, says its next generation of phones, featuring touch screens, will roll out in about eight months. Modu recently raised $10 million from an unnamed European investor, and in January it completed a round of financing that raised about $7 million from Qualcomm. The firm has raised a total of $85 million from venture capital funds, private investors and technology companies since its inception, including $20 million invested by the Ofer brothers. (Guy Grimland)

The price of gasoline rises by 35 agorot per liter tonight, and for once you can't blame speculators in crude. The reason is that the Finance Ministry is increasing excise tax on gasoline by 30 agorot per liter, plus value added tax. Therefore, from midnight tonight, a liter of 95-octane gasoline will cost NIS 5.79, if you fill up the tank yourself. In other words, the tax will now be 60% of the price. The hike is one of the ways the treasury chiefs hope to cover the deficit this year; this move alone is expected to bring in a billion shekels a year. (Avi Bar-Eli)

The number of ultra-Orthodox people employed in industry in Jerusalem increased by 70% in the last five years, to 2,800, says the Manufacturers Association's district office in the capital. Most of those 2,800 are women working at 380 local industries, says the district office chairman, Yitzhak Reif, who is also a manager at Ophir Optica. Most of the Haredim work as computer programmers at high-tech companies, where they comprise 2% to 10% of the workforce, Reif says. Some of the companies have earmarked rooms for prayer and taken steps to ensure that the food served meets ultra-Orthodox standards of kashruth. (Ora Coren)

The Assuta Medical Center in Ramat Hahayal, Tel Aviv has been sold to Assuta Medical Centers for NIS 892 million. Assuta Medical Centers has opted for outright ownership rather than a long-term lease from its former owner, Ogen Real Estate, a subsidiary of Ocif. Ogen, for its part, is on the lookout for multimillion shekel investments to offset its capital gains tax liability. (Raz Smolsky)

Castro clothing company has signed a joint venture agreement with its Swiss franchise owner Bollag-Guggenheim Holding. Castro's chief executive and owner Gabriel Rotter says the aim of the agreement is to expand the retailer's operations in Switzerland. The parties will initially invest more than NIS 5 million in the jointly owned company (Castro 75%, Bollag 25%). Castro already operates 164 outlets worldwide: 118 in Israel, and 46 others in Germany, Russia, Kazakhstan, Thailand, Switzerland, Romania, Ukraine and Holland. (Adi Dovrat)