American Israeli Paper Mills Report 180 Percent Increase in Net Income

A record increase in net income of more than 180 percent after taxes for the five-month fiscal period ended August 31, 1959, was announced here today by Joseph M. Mazer, chairman of the board of American Israeli Paper Mills Ltd. of Hadera, Israel.

The American Israeli Paper Mills Ltd., which two months ago became the first Israel corporation to be listed on a major United States stock exchange, reported a net income after taxes for the five-month period of 1,168,000 Israel pounds ($648,888) compared with 412,000 pounds ($228,888) for the same period last year. Net profit before taxes for the five-month period totalled 1,677,000 pounds ($931,666) compared with 766,000 pounds ($425,555) during the same period in 1958.

The record increase was attributed to a combination of several unusual occurrences during the period, said Mr. Mazer. These included: a reduction in corporate taxes from 46 percent of net profit to 28 percent under a new law passed by the Government of Israel for the encouragement of capital investment. The company anticipates qualifying under the new law.

In addition there was an unusually high market demand for high-profit grades of fine paper during the period, said Mr. Mazer. Normally, by agreement with the Government of Israel, American Israeli Paper Mills Ltd. balances production with low-profit grades of paper. In this period only high-profit grades were manufactured in anticipation of a scheduled shutdown of the existing paper machine to provide additional production.

Mr. Mazer predicted a successful year based on current income figures, but added that the impending shutdown of the number I paper machine for rebuilding would involve necessary run-in and start-up periods and would prevent sales from maintaining the levels of the first five months.