JERUSALEM, Aug 3 (Reuters) – Nice Systems (NICE.O: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) posted forecast-beating quarterly net profit on Tuesday, boosted by record revenues for its security and other software products, and raised its full-year sales outlook.

Israel-based Nice (NICE.TA: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) said risk management and anti-fraud and anti-money laundering products from its Actimize unit were helping to drive the company’s growth.

“It’s becoming a de-facto standard,” Dafna Gruber, Nice’s chief financial officer, told Reuters. “More large and small banks are adopting it (Actimize’s software) because there is a very strong trend of regulation and they need to be compliant with regulations.”

She said Actimize was growing rapidly. “Our target is its business growth will be more than 20 percent year over year,” Gruber added.

Security products still comprise about one quarter of Nice’s sales with enterprise software the other 75 percent.

Growth was particularly strong in the United States where it received large orders for its suite of enterprise software. The U.S. comprises some 60 percent of Nice’s sales.

Europe, about 25 percent of sales, was also growing this year after a weak 2009. Most sales are to the stronger economies of the UK, Germany and France, Gruber said.

JERUSALEM, Aug 2 (Reuters) – Bezeq Israel Telecom (BEZQ.TA: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) reported an 18 percent rise in second-quarter profit, beating forecasts, boosted by its mobile phone unit and growth in Internet services that offset erosion in its traditional landline business.

Bezeq, Israel’s largest telecoms group, also reiterated its 2010 outlook on Monday, projecting revenue, net profit from continuing operations to be in line or slightly higher than 2009 levels.

The company and its peers are gearing up for big regulatory changes in which mobile phone inter-connect tariffs are expected to be slashed by about 80 percent. An announcement by the Communications Ministry is expected in the coming days.

“A final decision on the extent of the cuts … will be the main short-term catalyst for the stock,” said Citi analyst Michael Klahr, who rates Bezeq as a “buy” with a price target of 10.6 shekels.

Bezeq’s shares closed up 2.2 pct at 8.64 shekels in Tel Aviv, outpacing gains on the broader bourse.

“The numbers were good. There are no negatives as far as I can see,” said Avshalom Shimei, a telecoms analyst at HSBC. “These are the kind of solid telecoms numbers you would expect from a high dividend company.”

Once a monopoly, Bezeq has been losing market share in the fixed-line market due to fierce competition from cable company HOT (HOT.TA: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) and other telecoms companies. Its market share has slumped to about 75 percent.

JERUSALEM, July 27 (Reuters) – Swiss bank UBS (UBSN.VX: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) said on Monday it had bought an 8.33 percent stake in Israel Discount Bank (DSCT.TA: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) for 560 million shekels ($147 million) from the Israeli government and placed the shares with clients.

The state now holds an 11.67 percent stake in Discount, Israel’s third largest bank.

UBS, which beat three other foreign banks in the tender, bought the shares in Discount at 6.803 shekels each, which was a nearly 2 percent discount to Monday’s closing price of 6.93 shekels.

Discount’s shares closed 1 percent lower at 6.86 shekels compared with a 0.7 percent gain on the broader Tel Aviv bourse.

UBS said it sold the shares to its institutional clients, mostly foreign ones.

Earlier on Tuesday, UBS bought a 5 percent stake in Discount for 340 million shekels and received an option to buy another 3.33 percent at the same price by the end of the day.

The Finance Ministry approached nine foreign investment banks late on Monday and asked them to submit bids to buy a 5 percent stake in Discount. Only four did so.

JERUSALEM (Reuters) – The global economy is not heading towards a “double-dip” recession since limp recoveries in the United States and Europe are being offset by strong growth in Asia, Latin America and Africa, Bank of Israel Governor Stanley Fischer said on Monday.

Fischer also said Israel’s economy looks to cool in the third quarter as export growth slows.

“The world situation is not a ‘W’,” Fischer told a news conference, referring to the risk that global economic growth might take a second downturn. “It’s not a double dip but the world (economy) is not growing as rapidly as we had hoped.”

Fischer described as “powerful” a Federal Reserve statement last week that it will take years for the U.S. economy to return to normal.

“It’s been interpreted that interest rates will stay very low for much longer,” said Fischer. “No one expects (the Fed) to start raising rates until the beginning of next year at the earliest.”

But while the United States and Europe were weak, Latin American, Asian and African economies were performing well, Fischer said.

He noted that confidence in Europe was now returning after a what he called a “crisis of confidence of willingness in the euro zone to protect the euro.”

TEL AVIV (Reuters) – MA Industries (MAIN.TA: Quote, Profile, Research) might raise equity abroad to help finance its $1 billion acquisition of U.S. herbicide maker Albaugh, a deal aimed at boosting its market share in the Americas.

The acquisition of Albaugh, announced on Sunday, was expected to solidify MA’s position as the world’s top maker of generic crop protection chemicals. MA will keep the Albaugh brand name.

In a conference call with analysts on Monday, MA officials declined to provide detail on how it would finance the deal until it has completed due diligence and signed a definitive agreement, expected in 6-8 weeks.

“Once we come up with a definitive agreement we will come up with a financial structure,” said Chief Executive Erez Vigodman.

“There could be an equity listing outside of Israel … Once we sign a definitive agreement we will be able to provide details on how we will refinance the deal beyond our ability to raise capital in a foreign market.”

Chen Lichtenstein, director for corporate development, later told Reuters that MA would prefer a share listing abroad within a couple of years — perhaps on the New York Stock Exchange — as a means to improve liquidity and reduce leverage. It is currently in talks to secure a bridge loan, he said.

MA, also known as Makhteshim Agan, said it will pay $340 million in cash, $455 million in seven-year vendor notes and 59 million of its own shares, equivalent to a 12 percent stake and worth $211 million.

JERUSALEM (Reuters) – Regulators from 70 countries failed on Thursday to agree to suspend trade in diamonds from Zimbabwe after calls by civil society groups to address rights abuses in the African country’s Marange diamond fields.

The meeting in Israel of the Kimberley Process (KP), a certification scheme set up to monitor diamond trades, had been due to end on Wednesday but it was extended to allow delegates more time to reach a consensus.

A statement at the end of the four-day meeting said the delegates “could not reach consensus regarding…the work carried out by the KP Monitor to Marange. As such, the meeting ended at an impasse”.

“This situation is unprecedented in the Kimberley Process meeting but all parties are committed to further engagement,” Boaz Hirsch, KP’s chairman, said in the statement.

The KP had angered human rights groups and diamond traders this month when a monitor it appointed to assess the mining operations at Marange said Zimbabwe had met the minimum conditions set by the regulator and could start gem exports.

Zimbabwe said on Wednesday it planned to begin selling diamond stockpiles from Marange no matter what the outcome of the KP meeting.

Hirsch called for another meeting to resolve differences.

JERUSALEM, June 14 (Reuters) – Israel plans to sell at least 3-5 percent of Bank Leumi (LUMI.TA: Quote, Profile, Research) in the near term and a total of 10.5 percent by the end of the year, Accountant General Shuki Oren said on Monday.

“It most probably will be 3-5 percent with an option to buy more,” Oren told Reuters. “If we see big demand, we can sell it all. But we don’t want to be obliged to sell 10 percent at one time.”

Israel’s Finance Ministry on Monday asked parliament’s finance committee for approval to sell its holdings in Leumi, Israel’s largest bank, which would be done through block trades using financial institutions. The banks would then sell the shares to investors in Israel and abroad.

Oren said he hoped the committee would give its nod in a few days.

“We would like to get it over as quickly as possible,” Oren said. “But it depends on market conditions.”

The state holds a controlling 11.46 percent of Leumi, which is worth about 2.5 billion shekels ($652.9 million). It intends to sell 1 percent to Leumi employees.

“We are anticipating good demand and the market is waiting (for the sale),” Oren said.

JERUSALEM, June 3 (Reuters) – Companies drilling for natural gas off Israel’s coast on Thursday said reserves at the Tamar site were higher than expected and that drilling at a potentially larger field would begin this year, sending energy shares and the Tel Aviv market higher.

A consortium led by Noble Energy (NBL.N: Quote, Profile, Research) raised its reserve estimate at the Tamar field by 15 percent to 8.4 trillion cubic feet (238 billion cubic meters).

Noble and its Israeli partners also said they would start natural gas exploration at the Leviathan prospect in the fourth quarter of 2010. They said Leviathan had estimated deposits of 16 Tcf (453 Bcf), twice that of Tamar.

Noble owns 36 percent of Tamar while Isramco Negev (ISRAp.TA: Quote, Profile, Research) owns 28.75 percent and Delek Group (DELKG.TA: Quote, Profile, Research) has a 31 percent stake through two units that have equal shares – Avner Oil Exploration (AVNRp.TA: Quote, Profile, Research) and Delek Drilling (DEDRp.TA: Quote, Profile, Research).

Delek and Avner have 22.7 percent each in Leviathan while Ratio Oil Exploration (RATIp.TA: Quote, Profile, Research) holds 15 percent. Noble owns nearly 40 percent of Leviathan.

Shares of Delek Drilling and Avner jumped more than 11 percent, while Isramco shares were 7.7 percent higher. The blue-chip Tel Aviv 25 index and broader TA-100 .TA10 were up 2.2 percent at midday on the news.

“With the Tamar project expected to supply Israel with its natural gas needs for the next three decades, a discovery at Leviathan, should there be one, would be earmarked for export,” Deutsche Bank analyst Richard Gussow said in a note to clients.

JERUSALEM, May 25 (Reuters) – Israeli mobile phone operator Partner Communications <PTNR.O> reported higher quarterly profit on Tuesday and said a government demand to cut cross-network fees could hit future results.

Like its peers, Partner — Israel’s second-largest mobile provider — reiterated that the government’s order from earlier this month to reduce the charges operators make to connect each other’s calls may weigh on the company.

“The decision might have a material adverse impact on our earnings, and we intend to take all the necessary measures to mitigate it… by reviewing our cost structure and generating additional revenues from the fixed-line business,” CEO David Avner said in a statement.

Avner called the Communication Ministry’s decision to lower cross-network fees to 0.04 shekel from 0.25 as of August “radical” and “out of line” with common practices worldwide. He said Partner would vigorously fight the demand.

Partner has estimated its net income would fall by about 20-30 million Israeli shekels ($5.25 million to $7.9 million) a month from the drop in interconnect fees.

Larger rival Cellcom <CEL.N> estimated it would lose some 25 million shekels a month. [ID:nLDE64413A].

Companies have until next week to make their arguments to the telecoms regulator.

JERUSALEM, May 17 (Reuters) – Cellcom Israel <CEL.N>, Israel’s largest mobile phone operator, on Monday looked beyond forecast-beating first quarter results with a fresh warning that profit could suffer from government cuts in cross-network fees.

Israel’s Communications Ministry this month said it was considering reducing the charges operators make to connect each other’s calls. [ID:nLDE64413A]

Cellcom <CEL.TA> has said its net income would fall about 25 million shekels a month from August when mobile carriers are supposed to lower interconnect fees to 0.04 shekel from 0.25.

“We intend to object to the decrease in interconnect tarrifs, as suggested, especially to the way it is implemented, which may have an adverse affect on the company’s results, and we plan to take measures to mitigate its impact,” Cellcom Chief Executive Amos Shapira said in a statement.

In the past mobile phone operators have responded to demands in cuts to fees by raising airtime rates.

“After publishing good quarterly results one should remember the threatening regulatory environment. Aside of the interconnect fee the Communications Ministry has a few other matters to decide upon regarding the cellular companies such as the distribution of new frequencies,” Excellence Nessuah analyst Liat Glazer said in a report.

Cellcom posted first-quarter net profit of 314 million israeli shekels ($83.53 million), or 3.18 shekels per share, compared with 345 million shekels, or 3.51 shekels a share, a year earlier and a forecast EPS of 2.82 shekels a share, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S. [ID:nPnUKM791]