Israeli stock exchange companies publish reports for 2022 amid judicial crisis

The financial statements in 2022 were impacted by several key factors, including interest rate hikes that continued to rise in the first quarter of 2023, the war between Ukraine and Russia that led to oil and gas shortages and rising food prices, and the proposed legal reforms that reversed the trend of falling profits.

The rise in interest rates benefited banks, which ended 2022 with a record profit of NIS 24 billion.

On the other hand, it hurt the profitability of other industries, mainly insurance companies which suffered losses estimated at billions of shekels.

Insurance company losses were caused by stock market falls due to the rise in interest rates and the war in Ukraine. It had a negative effect on both the construction companies, which suffered from price falls, and on real estate investment companies, which had to forgo hundreds of millions of shekels in the revaluation of properties and their depreciation.

Retailers and food chains also earned less due to fewer sales and fewer purchases. Fashion chains lost money on winter clothing because the season was relatively warm.

Hotels, tourism industry recovering along with Bezeq

On the other hand, hotels, especially those of the Fattal chain, made a recovery and the communications industry, led by Bezeq, made gains.

Those who benefited from the crisis were the energy companies, led by Yitzhak Tshuva’s Delek Group and Ratio Energies. These companies that have invested in the local Leviathan and Tamar gas fields are making profits of hundreds of millions of dollars as a result of rising gas prices worldwide. There is also an upward trend in energy stocks in the first quarter of 2023.

In the background of it all are the legal reform proposals that were partially covered in reports for 2022. On March 29, stocks on the TASE registered declines and the dollar strengthened against the shekel in light of background tensions with Biden and his demand to suspend legal reform at all costs.

According to stock market data, the Tel Aviv 35 stock market index recently fell by 2% and the Tel Aviv 90 by 7%.