Over at BizzyWomen.com, I came across an interesting read written by Miriam Schwab, talking about web presence and the importance of a corporate website. Schwab writes, “Today it is generally agreed that a business is not serious if it does not have a website. People look to websites to find out more about businesses, see how the company presents itself, and what are the services that company provides. People also want to be assured that the business has other, satisfied customers by viewing client lists and testimonials.”

Today, the Israeli financial daily Globes has a piece ranking the websites of Israeli companies that trade in the US. Globes is looking to find out which websites provide useful and up-to-date information for investors to enable them to learn essential information about a specific company, and make informed investment decisions.

The article says: “Being an investor in the age of the Internet is a cinch. If you are an investor, either private or institutional, and come across a company that could be an attractive investment, one of the first and easiest things you can do (aside from calling his broker), is to navigate to the main page on your favorite search engine, type in the name of the company in the search field, and then log on to its website, if it has one. When you gets there, you should find all the details he need: the company’s line of business, who its CEO is, how he or she got the job, the company’s revenue and profit for the latest quarter, who sits on its board, who are the analysts covering it and how to get in touch with them.”

The report basically admits that this is information used for the most part by retail investors, as institutional investors have plenty of tools, like Bloomberg, and rarely will take a look at a corporate website. In all honesty, I am not sure how often most retail investors will go to a corporate website to get more information. I always felt that most retail investors were happy with the information provided to them on Yahoo Finance. How many retail investors care about how a CEO ‘got the job’?

The Globes survey was looking for basic information that should be available to investors, such as contact information of analysts covering the firm, email addresses of at least someone in senior management, and up to date press releases and financial reports. Coming out on top was Voltaire (VOLT), which develop and design server and storage switching and software solutions for enterprise IT networks.

Near the bottom of the list are companies that are lacking some basic information on their websites. TAT Technologies (TATTF) does have an investors relations section and from there you can click on financial reports. Only problem is when you click on it it says “no items available.” Another company near the bottom was G. Willi Food international (WILC). On their website you can’t find out anything about senior management, including who they are. But in case you purchased some of their noodles, rest assured that on their navigation bar they have a recipe section, and you can get a tasty recipe for noodles and vegetables.

Hey, G. Willi could incorporate some social networking into their website and have readers submit and rate all kinds of recipes. Who cares about who is CEO, I’m hungry!

Disclosure: Author’s fund has a position in WILC, he has no position in any other stock mentioned as of 8/05/08.

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Aaron Katsman is Managing Editor of the Israel Opportunity Investor newsletter. He is lead portfolio manager for the Israel Growth Portfolio and Managing Director of America Israel Investment Associates, LLC. For more information, go to www.israelnewsletter.com or call 1-888-327-6179, or email aaron@profile-financial.com.

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Aaron Katsman
IsraelNewsletter.com

The inflation bug has most of us worried. Recently in Israel the CPI was released and showed a 4.7% surge in prices. This is obviously not just a problem in Israel. Throughout the world, inflation, especially food inflation, is alive and well, and has been for quite some time. While at first glance investors might think that food stocks should benefit from higher prices, in practice they have performed poorly over the last few quarters. They have been unable to pass on their higher costs to consumers.
This is why today’s earnings report from G. Willi Food International (WILC), is interesting. For consumers, the earnings report signals more food price hikes coming down the road. For G. Willi, it means a return to strong growth.

Why?

Because commenting on the report, CEO Zwi Williger said, ” Furthermore first quarter’s results demonstrate that we are beginning to regain the momentum that had been building over the past few years as we have been able to successfully pass on some of our costs to our customers.”

The problem that has plagued food stocks of late is that they haven’t been able to pass on costs. The fact that G. Willi has started to do so, potentially could prove to be a big boost to their bottom line.

As for its report, the company showed strong revenue growth aided by recent acquisitions, like Shamir Salads, who produce healthy Mediterranean salads, like Hummous.

While the company refrained from providing guidance for the rest of the year, if we see a drop in the price of food materials, G. Willi could potentially benefit.

Disclosure: Author’s fund has a position in WILC. He has no position in any other stock mentioned as of 5/28/08.

Please see our Disclaimer HERE.

NEW! Introducing Israel Opportunity Investor, our monthly subscription-only newsletter. Stay ahead of the game and make smart decisions in Israel stocks. Go here to learn more.

Aaron Katsman is Managing Editor of the Israel Opportunity Investor newsletter. He is lead portfolio manager for the Israel Growth Portfolio and Managing Director of America Israel Investment Associates, LLC. For more information, go to www.israelnewsletter.com or call 1-888-327-6179, or email aaron@profile-financial.com.

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Aaron Katsman
www.IsraelNewsletter.com

G. Willi-Food International Ltd(WILC), one of our favorites here at Israelnewsletter.com, reported a 21% increase in revenues for Q3 ‘07 versus the same quarter ‘06. As expected profit decreased as the company suffered from a drop in margins. The worldwide increase in dairy prices impacted G. Willi’s Q3  gross margins, as they declined to 20% compared to 27% in the same period a year ago.

Mr. Zwi Williger, President and COO of Willi-Food commented, “Third quarter results are in line with our expectations for the period. In this period, nearly all of our shortfalls can be attributed to gross margin decline in our dairy business. As previously stated, Willi Food and the global dairy industry continues to experience cost pressures due to weather related problems, reduced milk production, cessation of EU dairy export subsidies at the same time that consumption and demand for dairy has increased in growing emerging markets. These factors have negatively impacted Willi Food’s near term sales and gross margins on cheeses and other products.”

Mr. Williger continued, “While we believe that this trend shall continue through the remainder of the year, we anticipate that the cost of raw food materials will stabilize by mid-2008. In the interim, we are successfully leveraging our infrastructure, hedging our strategic direction through smart acquisitions and setting the stage for growth in 2008.”

The company continues to grow and we continue to like this for the long-term. With limited volume the stock price is subject to large swings. Long-term investors should keep their eye focused on the long-term regarding this stock. As they continue to execute their business plan, I would expect the stock to continue to move up.

Please see our Disclaimer HERE.

Disclosure: Author has a position in WILC. He holds no position in any other stock mentioned, as of 11/29/07.

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Aaron Katsman is the lead portfolio manager for the Israel Growth Portfolio and Managing Director of America Israel Investment Associates, LLC. For more information, go to www.israelnewsletter.com or call 1-888-327-6179, or email aaron@profile-financial.com.

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Aaron Katsman
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I was never big on bragging, well maybe I was, just never had much of a chance, but today’s news that G. Willi Food Intl (WILC) signed a binding term sheet with the owners of a Russian dairy distributor was predicted. The distributor is a leading supplier and importer of dairy products in Russia, and together they will form a new joint company. Willi Food would hold a 51% interest in the new company. This reminds me of the Philosopher Kings classic lyrics, “I am the man, that’s what I am.  I’m a straight shooter with a master plan.” Okay, to all you jokesters out there (and you know who you are) who are now going to remind me of some of my less-than-stellar analysis, give me a break and let me have my fun.

For ‘07, analysts think this distributor will sell roughly 36,000 tons of cheese products to a base of over 1,000 customers in Russia and generate an estimated $120 million in sales.  According to HLB Prime Advice, a Russian appraisal company, the distributor is a leading distributor of all cheese types in Russia and the biggest supplier of hard cheeses such as Gouda and Edam to this market. I love my GOUDA cheese! Nothing like watching football with some Gouda and crackers. This follows on what I have said in the past: that G. Willi is making a big push into the Russian food market.  It’s become clear that with growing wealth and more disposable income, Russian consumers have created a large demand for imported, premium products. G. Willi can help satisfy that demand with their broad selection of healthy dairy products and other foodstuff.

Mr. Zwi Williger, President and COO of Willi Food commented, “We are very excited about this transaction, which represents a bold step for Willi Food as we continue to expand our global footprint. According to market data, over 650,000 tons of cheeses are consumed in Russia each year of which roughly 50% is imported. We believe that NewCo will provide a well-developed distribution platform for Willi Food and its subsidiaries to drive market demand for dairy products in all categories including premium branded products, kosher and healthy living styled dairy products, as well as other categories.”

As I write this, my local Dolphins fan (ouch), Zack “Facebook“Miller, asks,” What’s their competitive moat?” First of all, what the heck is a Moat? Anyway, the answer lies in Arkadi Gaydamak.  He owns the parent company Willi Food Investments and he is the largest egg distributor in Russia. He himself is a huge distribution channel, and with this new deal, look out. Willi will carve out nice marketshare in the Russian food market.

How is that for some Moat!

If you are looking for a small food company that’s about to explode onto the global scene, have a long look at G. Willi. The stock has taken a hit, and looks attractive as a long-term investment.

Please see our Disclaimer HERE.

Disclosure: Author has a position in WILC as of 10/22/07. Author has no holdings in any other stock mentioned.

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Aaron Katsman is the lead portfolio manager for the Israel Growth Portfolio and Managing Director of America Israel Investment Associates, LLC. For more information, go to www.israelnewsletter.com or call 1-888-327-6179, or email aaron@profile-financial.com.

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