Israel's Delek Group on Wednesday reported a record profit in the fourth quarter on strong revenue and a boost in the value of its North Sea unit Ithaca.

Net profit rose to about 1.1 billion shekels ($330 million) for the October-December quarter, up from 311 million a year earlier.

Revenue rose to 1.63 billion shekels from 1.4 billion.

Most of the profit, 871 million shekels post-tax, stemmed from a revaluation in Ithaca's North Sea assets, mainly attributed to an increase in reserves and resources.

This was a reversal of an impairment last year.

Delek also holds large stakes in offshore natural gas fields where its business reported a 114% increase in sales to 685 million shekels, after it began exporting to Egypt and Jordan.

Delek was hit hard by the coronavirus outbreak and a drop in global oil prices and was forced to sell assets to raise funds to pay its lenders and bondholders.

The company said that in 2020 its net financial debt declined by 1.6 billion shekels to 4.343 billion.

Source - www.oedigital.com