Creo (Ah..well, Ex-Scitex) and Amot Investments are negotiating a $45 million deal in which Amot will buy a 23,000 sq.m. building in Petah Tikva, Israel and grant Creo a long-term lease. According to the proposed deal, Amot will acquire a building, which will be constructed according to Creo’s specifications. Amot will lease the building to Creo under a 10-year contract, with a 10-year option. Creo will pay $15 per sq.m. per month. At the same time, Amot is also examining a deal in Hod Hasharon or Netanya area projects.

A Creo spokesman said in response that the company, currently located in Herzliya Pituah, is negotiating to rent 23,000 sq.m., but declined to provide further details.

Globes, Israel by Elazar Levin 26.03.2002 18:10

Amot Investments, Creo Products (Nasdaq: CREO), and Petah Tikva real estate developers are negotiating a $45 million deal.

Under the emerging deal, Amot will buy a 23,000 sq.m. building in Petah Tikva and grant Creo a long-term lease.

Negotiations are mostly with two groups: SGS-Shemen Industries and Feuchtwanger Investments. Each of the groups has a compound for the construction of tens of thousands of square meters in Kiryat Arie in Petah Tikva.

According to the proposed deal, Amot will acquire a building, which will be constructed according to Creo’s specifications. Amot will pay $45 million at $1,800-1,900 per sq.m.

Amot will then lease the building to Creo under a 10-year contract, with a 10-year option. Creo will pay $15 per sq.m. per month, index-linked. Amot will receive a 10% yield, considered very good under the current market conditions. Amot is very liquid at the moment, and is looking for such investments.

At the same time, Amot is also examining a deal in Hod Hasharon or Netanya area projects. If this deal goes through, it will the first of its kind in several years, as well as one of the largest in the field in Israel. A Creo spokesman said in response that the company, currently located in Herzliya Pituah, is negotiating to rent 23,000 sq.m., but declined to provide further details. Amot confirmed the details of the report.

Amot is owned by Histadrut labor federation pension funds and Gmul, which jointly hold 80%, while Bank Hapoalim owns 20%.

Published by Israel’s Business Arena on March 26, 2002

The US Internal Revenue Service (IRS) is demanding that Scitex pay $30-40 million in taxes owed for 1992-96. Scitex is negotiating to conclude the matter, and anticipate a response from the IRS in the coming months.

Internal Revenue Service The Digital Daily

Sources inform the Israeli business newspaper, the ”Globes”, that the US Internal Revenue Service (IRS) is demanding Scitex (Nasdaq: SCIX) pay $30-40 million in taxes owed for 1992-96.

Scitex is currently traded at a market value of $150 million (remember the days when it was ten time [x10] that?). Scitex paid $20 million in taxes in the fourth quarter of 2001, when it posted a loss of $35.8 million. Scitex CFO Yahel Shachar estimates the company has reserves to cover future tax payments. “We have an additional $22 million allowance that should cover all tax matters, said Shachar. “We are negotiating to conclude the disagreement with the IRS. At issue are Scitex’s activities in the US a few years ago, when those activities were quite extensive. We are negotiating to conclude the matter, and anticipate a response from the IRS in the coming months.”

Capital market sources believe the matter raises some disturbing questions. Such high liabilities for previous years raises questions about the legitimacy of Scitex’s tax planning and the accuracy of the company’s financial reports for the relevant years. “We are not conducting investigations or witch-hunts,” said Shachar. “I am not taking the matter lightly. We are taking it very seriously. There is a very serious team in the US dealing with it. We are checking every figure and number in order to calculate the subsidiary’s liability. It should be remembered that there were substantial profits in those years, which created high tax differences.”

Source: Avishai Ovadya, The Globes, 12.03.2002 16:54

Princeton Video Image to acquire SciDel Technologies

Yanay Alfassy Globes-Arena 03.03.2002 15:46

Princeton Video Image, Inc. (NASDAQ: PVII) announced last week the signing of a definitive agreement to acquire the assets of SciDel Technologies. Scitex subsidiary SciDel inserts electronic virtual advertisements into live and taped televised sporting events.

PVI said the acquisition “increases its industry depth, as well as its share in the European soccer market.” SciDel has extensive experience with European soccer broadcasts and inserts ads virtually for the international broadcasts of the English Premier League, Italian Series A and the Spanish Football league. PVI and SciDel specialize in downstream ad insertion.

SciDel was founded 1995 by Israeli sports marketing professional Kobi Bendel, together with Scitex. The company is headquartered in Tel Aviv. Its products, electronically inserted signage (EIS) and advanced graphic enhancements (AGE), are tools to create new advertising inventory that increases revenues for broadcasters and event organizers.

Other equity holders include Clal Electronics, Star Venture Capital, Gemini Israel Funds, Invision and Infinity (a division of Metro International), and a group of private investors include Ron Lauder. The company closed a $5.5. million fund-raising round in August 2001. In 1998, the company raised $5 million.

PVI said that upon completion of the transaction, it will “take advantage of globalization by decentralizing its research and development center and incorporating SciDel’s marketing and sales division into its existing European operations.”

PVI is headquartered in New York City and Lawrenceville, New Jersey, with offices in Canada, Brussels and Mexico City, as well as a licensee office in Seoul

Princeton Video Image pays $3.8M for SciDel Technologies

31.3.2002 | 12:27 by: Boaz Babai

Princeton Video Image (Nasdaq PVII) paid $3.77 million in stock and options for Scitex (Nasdaq:SCIX) digitial advertising subsidiary SciDel Technologies. PVI specializes in virtual advertising and imaging solutions.

U.S.-based PVI announced completion of the acquisition last week. PVI closed Thursday’s tradin g with the same $34 million market cap as the date of the preliminary sale agreement, meaning there is no change in the value of the deal.

Scitex had invested $3.33 million in its 29% stake in SciDel. Scitex is now expected to hold $1.1 million in PVI shares.

Revenue for the year was $256 million. In the fourth quarter, the loss widened to $35.8 million, and revenue declined to $59.1 million. CEO Yeoshua Agassi: “We would like to see moderate revenue growth in 2002”. (we bet that the shareholders would also like it…)

During the fourth quarter of 2001, Scitex conducted extensive negotiations with the Internal Revenue Service with regard to the conclusion of audits of US subsidiaries for the years 1992-1996 and made an advance payment of $20 million. Scitex is expecting the final IRS position to be received in the coming few months. (more…)

Click to hear =>the Scitex 2001 year end conference call (until Mar 14, 2002).

Scitex lost $250m in 2001

Globes correspondent

07.03.2002 17:15

Scitex (Nasdaq: SCIX), a supplier of inkjet technologies and digital imaging solutions, today reported a net loss of $35.8 million, or $0.83 per share in the fourth quarter of 2001. The net loss compares with a $15.9 million loss in the corresponding period of 2000 and a $40.8 million loss in the preceding quarter.

Revenue for the fourth quarter was $59.1 million, a decrease of 9% from revenue of $64.5 million that was posted in the fourth quarter of 2000. Revenue fell 11% compared with the preceding quarter, when revenue was $66.6 million.

Operating loss before amortization of intangibles (of $18.1 million) and restructuring costs (of $1.7 million) was $0.5 million in the fourth quarter of 2001.

Revenue for 2001 totaled $256.2 million, and was 13% higher than the combined revenue of Scitex Digital Printing and Scitex Vision in 2000. Operating profit for 2001 was $11.9 million (before restructuring costs and amortization of intangibles). Net loss was $250.3 million, of which $219 million was associated with Scitex’s holding in Creo and $27 million associated with amortization of intangibles.

The company recorded a profit of $75 million in 2000. Scitex said a year over year comparison of 2001 to 2000 was not meaningful because starting the second quarter of 2000, the company’s involvement in Creo Products changed from full ownership to an equity investment.

Agasi

Scitex CEO and president Yeoshua Agassi said, `Year 2001 is the first full year in which Scitex was mainly focused on its industrial ink jet digital printing business activities. During the year, we primarily demonstrated this focus by continuous investments by Scitex Digital Printing and Scitex Vision in new products and markets and by the increase in our share in Aprion Digital to a total of 43%. In addition, during the final quarter of the year, we sold a major portion of the shares held in Creo Products, bringing our holding in that company from 27% down to approximately 13%, and significantly improving our cash position. As for the financial results and the economic slowdown, especially in the second half of the year, both Scitex Digital Printing and Scitex Vision took measures to reduce their expenses by reducing their workforce and cutting various expenses.”

Agassi concluded, “The considerable revenue growth of our subsidiaries during the first three quarters of 2001 was affected in the last quarter by adverse market conditions. As for 2002, while global economic conditions remain uncertain, we would like to see moderate revenue growth, as well as some improvements in gross margin and profitability.”

During the fourth quarter of 2001, Scitex conducted extensive negotiations with the Internal Revenue Service with regard to the conclusion of audits of US subsidiaries for the years 1992-1996 and made an advance payment of $20 million. Scitex is expecting the final IRS position to be received in the coming few months.

Scitex shares closed on Nasdaq at $3.52 on Wednesday.

Published by Israel’s Business Arena on 7 March, 2002