Stock market in shock: The company showing a 22-fold jump in profit
The infrastructure and industrial conglomerate controlled by Shlomi Fogel, Sami Katsav, and others concluded an exceptionally strong quarter - with an 84% jump in EBITDA, a 2.5 billion shekel order backlog at the shipyard, and a new silo facility that may directly affect food prices in Israel.
Israel Shipyards Industries Ltd. published its results for the second quarter of 2026, presenting a picture of a company in acceleration: revenues rose by 21.6% to 428.5 million shekels, net profit attributable to shareholders jumped from 0.7 million shekels in the same quarter last year to 15.6 million shekels, and adjusted EBITDA jumped by 83.8% to 60.7 million shekels.
This is a broad improvement in almost all areas of the group's activity, which is controlled by Shlomi Fogel, Sami Katsav, the Schmelzer family, and the Gold Bond group.
The prominent growth engine in the quarter was the shipyard sector, managed by Eitan Zucker. Revenues there jumped by 76.5% to 83 million shekels, compared to 47 million shekels last year, and the sectoral profit more than tripled - from 3.8 million to 14.8 million shekels.
Behind the jump are two engines: accelerated progress in the 'Reshef' project - the new missile ships of the Israeli Navy - whose pace of progress is expected to intensify in 2027–2028, and the start of execution of another military project to supply vessels to a government client abroad. The sector's order backlog stands at 2.52 billion shekels, providing the company with revenue visibility for years to come.
The group's largest sector, building materials managed by Cement CEO El Hecht, recorded a 14.8% increase in revenues to 276.7 million shekels. Sectoral profit jumped by 58.1% to 31.8 million shekels, with its share in revenues rising from 8% to 12%.
This was driven mainly by the rise in the average selling price of cement, alongside the appreciation of the shekel which lowered import costs. It is important to remember that raw material prices and shipping costs offset part of the profit, and the price of cement is subject to volatility and regulation.
Perhaps the most interesting item for the long term is the silo facility at the port, managed by CEO Zvika Schechterman. Construction was completed in 2025, and since early 2026, it has been in the operational testing phase. This is the most efficient unloading facility in Israel, allowing the port to enter the field of grain and grain product unloading in an automatic and innovative way.
This connects directly to the Israeli consumer's pocket: a more efficient unloading facility affects import costs in the long term, and indirectly, food prices on the shelf. The entire port sector showed this in the quarter: revenues rose by 28% to 55.5 million shekels, and sectoral profit jumped by 83.3% to 14.3 million shekels.
The quarter also marked the company's entry into the debt market: in July 2026, it completed its first bond issuance on the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange and raised 200 million shekels against demand of 970 million shekels. In August, a subsidiary signed an agreement to purchase a cargo ship for 14.2 million dollars.
In terms of financial strength, the company's equity at the end of June stood at 946.6 million shekels (42.3% of total assets) with a cash balance and short-term investments of 405.4 million shekels.
Zvika Schechterman, CEO of Israel Shipyards Industries, stated:
"The strong results of the second quarter reflect the initial fruits of the growth engines we have been working on in recent years. We are presenting growth in revenues, significant improvement in operational parameters, and a jump in net profit, led by the shipyard, port, and building materials sectors."
The company continues to invest in additional growth engines: Aeronaut Systems, established about a year ago, which operates in the field of drone interception solutions, and is awaiting the results of the tender for the purchase of 51% of the Lavrion port in Greece.
