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Ampal-American Israel Corporation Reports 2010 Fourth Quarter and Year End Results

^{Published on 2011-03-17 09:50:46 - Market Wire}
 

TEL AVIV, Israel--([ BUSINESS WIRE ])--Ampal-American Israel Corporation (Nasdaq:AMPL), a holding company with experience in acquiring interests in various businesses with emphasis in recent years on energy and related fields, today reported its financial results for the year ended December 31, 2010.

For the year ended December 31, 2010 revenues were $505.0 million, compared to revenues of $425.8 million for the same period in 2009.

For the year ended December 31, 2010, Ampal recorded a consolidated net loss of $(44.7) million, or $(0.80) per diluted share, as compared to a net loss of $(19.5) million, or $(0.35) for the same period in 2009.

The net loss for the year includes the unfavorable impact of approximately ($24.1) million due to the effect of a translation loss resulting from the depreciation of the U.S. Dollar against the New Israeli Shekel and the increase of the Israeli Consumer Price Index. Also included are accounting losses totaling approximately ($31.4) million from the Price Purchase Allocation and intangible asset amortizations of Ampal and Ampal's holdings. Excluding these items, there was a gain of approximately $10.8 million for the year¹.

Ampal ended the year with total assets of $1,397.7 million and shareholders' equity of $185.2 million, as compared to $960.0 million and $216.6 million respectively, at December 31, 2009.

For the fourth quarter ended December 31, 2010, Ampal reported revenues of $138.3 million, as compared to revenues of $90.6 million for the fourth quarter ended December 31, 2009.

For the fourth quarter ended December 31, 2010, Ampal reported a consolidated net loss of $(9.0) million, or $(0.16) per diluted share, as compared to a net loss of $(0.2) million, or $(0.00) per diluted share for the fourth quarter ended December 31, 2009.

The net loss for the quarter includes the unfavorable impact of approximately ($15.1) million due to the effect of a translation loss resulting from the depreciation of the U.S. Dollar against the New Israeli Shekel and the increase of the Israeli Consumer Price Index. This number also includes the accounting loss totaling approximately ($1.4) million from the Price Purchase Allocation and intangible asset amortizations of Ampal and Ampal's holdings. Excluding these items, there was a gain of approximately $7.5 million for the three months ended December 31, 2010.

As of December 31, 2010, Ampal had cash, cash equivalents, other financial investments and deposits of $91.6 million.

Gadot Chemical Tankers and Terminals Ltd. (aGadota) results for the year ended December 31, 2010 were as follows:

• Revenues increased by 20% from $414 million to $497 million compared to the year ended December 31, 2009.
• Gross profit increased by 11.4% from $40.4 million to $45.1 million.
• Adjusted EBITDA increased from $25 million to $26 million.

COMPANY'S PRESENTATION

The Companya™s investments presentation will be available via the Internet at the Companya™s website at [ http://www.ampal.com ].

CONFERENCE CALL

Ampal's management will be hosting conference calls to discuss the year end results on Monday, March 21, 2011, as detailed below:

A replay of the calls will be available on Ampala™s web site ([ www.ampal.com ]) approximately three hours after both conference calls are completed.

* Less than 1.

Adjusted EBITDA is defined as earnings before interest, income tax provision, depreciation and amortization, adjusted for non-recurring expenses.

Management believes adjusted EBITDA for Gadot to be a meaningful indicator of its performance that provides useful information to investors regarding its financial condition and results of operations. Presentation of adjusted EBITDA is a non-GAAP financial measure commonly used by management to measure operating performance. While management considers adjusted EBITDA to be an important measure of comparative operating performance, it should be considered in addition to, but not as a substitute for, net income and other measures of financial performance reported in accordance with Generally Accepted Accounting Principles. Adjusted EBITDA does not reflect cash available to fund cash requirements. Not all companies calculate adjusted EBITDA in the same manner, and the measure as presented may not be comparable to similarly-titled measures presented by other companies.

About Ampal:

Ampal and its subsidiaries acquire interests primarily in businesses located in the State of Israel or that are Israel-related. Ampal is seeking opportunistic situations in a variety of industries, with a focus on energy, chemicals and related sectors. Ampala™s goal is to develop or acquire majority interests in businesses that are profitable and generate significant free cash flow that Ampal can control. For more information about Ampal please visit our web site at [ www.ampal.com ].

Safe Harbor Statement

Certain information in this press release includes forward-looking statements (within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934) and information relating to Ampal that are based on the beliefs of management of Ampal as well as assumptions made by and information currently available to the management of Ampal. When used in this press release, the words "anticipate," "believe," "estimate," "expect," "intend," "plan," and similar expressions as they relate to Ampal or Ampal's management, identify forward-looking statements. Such statements reflect the current views of Ampal with respect to future events or future financial performance of Ampal, the outcome of which is subject to certain risks and other factors which could cause actual results to differ materially from those anticipated by the forward-looking statements, including among others, the economic and political conditions in Israel, the Middle East, including the situation in Iraq and Egypt, and the global business and economic conditions in the different sectors and markets where Ampal's portfolio companies operate. Should any of these risks or uncertainties materialize, or should underlying assumptions prove incorrect, actual results or outcome may vary from those described herein as anticipated, believed, estimated, expected, intended or planned. Subsequent written and oral forward-looking statements attributable to Ampal or persons acting on its behalf are expressly qualified in their entirety by the cautionary statements in this paragraph. Please refer to the Ampal's annual, quarterly and periodic reports on file with the SEC for a more detailed discussion of these and other risks that could cause results to differ materially. Ampal assumes no obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements.

¹ The translation loss resulting from the depreciation of the U.S. Dollar against the New Israeli Shekel and the increase of the Israeli Consumer Price Index and the accounting expenses from the Price Purchase Allocation and intangible asset amortizations are non-GAAP financial measures, and a reconciliation of these measures to translation and interest expense and depreciation and amortization expense is provided in this press release.