Ampal-American Israel Corporation Reports Fourth Quarter and Year End Results.Business Editors NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--March 27, 2003 Ampal-American Israel Corporation (Nasdaq: AMPL (language) AMPL - Along with mpl, the intrinsic parallel languages for MasPar's computers. AMPL and mpl are parallel variants of C. Ampl is actually now a gcc port. ["AMPL: Design, Implementation and Evaluation of a Multiprocessing Language", R. Dannenberg, CMU 1981]. ) reported for the fourth quarter ending December 31, 2002 a consolidated net loss of $17.3 million, or a loss of $.90 per share, and revenues of $1.1 million. During the fourth quarter Ampal recorded a realized and unrealized loss Unrealized Loss A loss that results from holding onto an asset rather than cashing it in and officially taking the loss. Notes: Let's say you own a stock that is down 50%, but you haven't sold it to realize the loss yet. This is said to be an unrealized loss. on investments of $12.8 million primarily reflecting a permanent write-down of the company's investment in Blue Square-Israel Ltd. (NYSE NYSE See: New York Stock Exchange : BSI BSI - British Standards Institute and TASE TASE Tel Aviv Stock Exchange TASE The All Seeing Eye TASE Tactical Air Support Element TASE Thrust Assessment Support Environment TASE Telecontrol Application Service Elements (IEC communications protocol) ). "Political and market volatility in Israel continues to adversely impact stock valuations," stated Jack Bigio, CEO (1) (Chief Executive Officer) The highest individual in command of an organization. Typically the president of the company, the CEO reports to the Chairman of the Board. of Ampal. "As a result, during the fourth quarter we felt it was prudent to revalue certain investments in our portfolio to more appropriately reflect current market valuations. During 2003 we will continue to carefully monitor portfolio valuations but are hopeful that it won't be necessary to make further significant investment write-downs in the near term." Mr. Bigio continued, "During 2002, although we have reviewed numerous investment opportunities, market and political uncertainties lead the company to make only nominal additional investments. We believe that many investment opportunities still do not reflect the real economic value of the underlying assets. We expect that during 2003 there will be further convergence of investment prices and economic value providing a better environment for us to continue to diversify diversify To acquire a variety of assets that do not tend to change in value at the same time. To diversify a securities portfolio is to purchase different types of securities in different companies in unrelated industries. our portfolio by investing in undervalued Undervalued A stock or other security that is trading below its true value. Notes: The difficulty is knowing what the "true" value actually is. Analysts will usually recommend an undervalued stock with a strong buy rating. , Israeli companies The top 10 Israeli companies by sales are[1]:
For the year ended December 31, 2002 Ampal reported a consolidated net loss of $44 million or a loss of $2.27 per share and revenues of $16.7 million. Ampal ended the year with total assets of $323.7 million and Shareholders' equity Shareholders' Equity A firms' total assets minus its total liabilities. Equivalently, it is share capital plus retained earnings minus treasury shares. Shareholders' equity is the amount by which a company is financed through common and preferred shares. of $100.2 million. A significant portion of this loss is associated with the permanent write down of certain investments within the company's portfolio to reflect current market valuations. About Ampal Ampal and its subsidiaries primarily acquire interests in businesses located in the State of Israel or that are Israel-related. Ampal has diversified interests in the following sectors: telecommunication, energy, high-technology, real estate, capital markets, leisure-time and other. For more information about the company please visit our web site at www.ampal.com . Except for the historical information contained herein, the matters discussed in this news release are forward-looking statements forward-looking statement A projected financial statement based on management expectations. A forward-looking statement involves risks with regard to the accuracy of assumptions underlying the projections. involving risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those in such forward-looking statements. Further information regarding risks and uncertainties are detailed from time to time in the Company's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. - tables follow -
FINANCIAL HIGHLIGHTS
(In thousands, except earnings per share)
Year Ended Three Months Ended
December 31, December 31,
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(Unaudited)
2002 2001 2002 2001
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Revenues $16,732 $29,062 $1,060 $5,165
Net loss $(44,047) $(6,974) $(17,275) $(456)
Basic EPS
Loss per Class A share $(2.27) $(0.38) $(0.90) $(0.03)
Weighted average number
of Class A shares
outstanding 19,538 19,184 19,661 19,226
Diluted EPS
Loss per Class A share $(2.27) $(0.38) $(0.90) $(0.03)
Weighted average number of
Class A shares
outstanding(1) 19,538 19,184 19,661 19,226
December 31, 2002 December 31, 2001
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Total Assets $323,699 $383,833
Shareholders' Equity $100,178 $151,220
(1) Excludes the conversion of the 4% and 6 1/2% Preferred Stocks
due to the antidilutive effect.
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