Markets in Brief

Delek Group announced yesterday it swung to a third-quarter net profit. The conglomerate reported a net profit of NIS 60 million, compared with a net loss of NIS 612 million a year ago, when its real estate operations posted steep losses. Excluding its real estate business, Delek posted a net loss of NIS 184 million for the third quarter of 2008. It said revenues for the quarter fell to NIS 11.9 billion from NIS 13 billion a year ago, hurt by lower gasoline sales and prices in Israel, Europe and the United States. Delek said it would pay a dividend of NIS 33 million, or NIS 2.91 a share, on January 5. (Reuters)

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Not all is grim in the Middle East, said Merrill Lynch analysts in a report released yesterday: The Dubai fallout makes it an extra-good time to seek defensive investments - namely, Israel. "With volatility and negative sentiment in global markets likely to continue to hurt near-term [global emerging market] performance, we believe it is Israel's time to shine," the analysts said. Their bullishness is based in part on the country's resilience - the recession ended in Israel two quarters ago, they say; the fact that many investors underweight Israel; local liquidity; and the shekel's strength against the dollar. Plus Israel has no direct exposure to Dubai. In particular, they recommend defensive choices like Israel's banks and telecoms. (TheMarker)

NICE Systems subsidiary Actimize announced yesterday that Bancolombia is working with both firms to strengthen its ability to fight fraud across the entire bank. Bancolombia is implementing Actimize ATM/Debit, Remote Banking, Wire & ACH Fraud prevention solutions. As Actimize's strategic partner, Unisys is working on deployment of the solutions. The companies did not divulge financial details. (Reuters)

In yet more bad news for Leadcom, 82 of the company's 1,155 employees asked the court to appoint a liquidator for the firm, saying they fear they won't get their salaries. The telecommunications network service provider owes them a total of NIS 8 million. It also owes $38 million to local banks, and $28 million to bondholders, they noted. Last week, the CEO asked that he be allowed to step down and the board announced that the company could not continue operating past the beginning of 2010. The board is expected to resign as well, the workers wrote in their petition, and if this happens, there will be no one responsible for paying their salaries. Leadcom announced yesterday that the TASE had suspended trading in its stock. (TheMarker)

Leadcom's employees aren't the only ones fearing for their money. Yesterday, the Tel Aviv District Court appointed the company a temporary receiver in response to a petition by banks Hapoalim, Leumi, Discount, Beinleumi and BNP Paribas. The banks are hoping to keep Leadcom as a going concern, since they believe that's their best chance for getting their money back. As stated, Leadcom owes them $38 million. (Nir Zalik)?

Lito Group's auditors attached a going-concern warning to the specialty vehicle company's quarterly report, citing the firm's NIS 156 million deficit in shareholders' equity, NIS 182 million deficit in net working capital and significant losses. In addition, the company missed a NIS 125 million payment to bondholders on September 30 and has NIS 103 million in bank debt - but has only NIS 513,000, plus another NIS 2.4 million in liens. Its quarterly revenues fell 35% from a year earlier to NIS 20 million. Including the company's NIS 22 million loss on its real estate holdings, it made an operating loss of NIS 23 million. Lito Group will probably not be able to meet its obligations, including the interest and principal it owes bondholders, the auditors said. (Lior Zeno)

Beinleumi's CEO Smadar Barber-Tsadik cost the bank NIS 2 million for the first six months of 2009, it revealed yesterday as part of a prospectus to raise money. Her salary, not including benefits, was NIS 1.54 million. Bank chairman Zack Elaad received NIS 1.3 million during that period, for a 90% position. Ilan Raviv, the CEO of Benleumi subsidiary UBank, had a wage cost of NIS 1.4 million, including NIS 775,000 for his salary. (Sharon Shpurer)

Consumer confidence is pretty much holding steady: Bank Hapoalim and TNS Teleseker's consumer confidence index dropped by 0.4 points in November - to 132.7, when April 2002 was 100 - after a similar decrease in October. This means it's been stable for the past four months, said Hapoalim economists. The index is slowly returning to its 2007 averages, when it was at its peak, even though current growth is significantly lower than it was in 2007, they added. The index reflecting current general sentiment fell slightly by 0.3 points, while the index measuring expectations eased 0.8 points. (Tal Levy)