Mekorot, Israel's national water company, published its financial statements for 2023 on Thursday, showing that the company recorded a net profit of NIS 190 million, compared with a net profit of NIS 448 million in 2022. The decline in net profit is attributable to one-time events recorded in the past year, including the completion of the sale of the Ashdod desalination plant totaling NIS 262 million, as well as the transfer of a dividend swap to the state totaling NIS 50 million to lower the water tariff, which was recorded in the first quarter of 2023.
Therefore, profit from continuing operations in 2023, following a change in the balance of deferred regulatory accounts, increased to NIS 190 million compared with a profit of NIS 186 million recorded in 2022. In the last quarter of 2023, against the background of the "Iron Swords" war, the company's net profit amounted to NIS 44 million, compared with a net profit of NIS 25 million in the fourth quarter of 2022.
A segmentation of national consumption data reveals that during the reporting period, there was an increase of 1.1 percent in total water consumption in the agricultural sector, while water consumption for the household sector increased by 2.1 percent since the beginning of the year.
Water consumption and revenue analysis
Summarizing the data for the reporting period, total cumulative water consumption amounted to 1.78 billion cubic meters, compared with total consumption of 1.75 billion cubic meters in the corresponding period of 2022, a weighted increase of 1.7%. At the same time, during 2023, 205 million cubic meters were supplied to the PA and the Kingdom of Jordan, an increase of 12% compared to the amount of water provided to foreign customers during 2022.
An examination of the company's results shows that total revenue for 2023 amounted to NIS 5.25 billion, an increase of 5% compared to total revenue in 2022, when the company recorded revenues of NIS 4.98 billion. The increase is mainly attributable to revenue growth resulting from an increase of 8% in revenues from the sale of water to consumers, primarily due to an increase of 1.8% in the volume of water and an average tariff increase of 3.2%.
At the same time, the cost of sales and works increased from NIS 4.3 billion to NIS 4.9 billion, primarily due to water purchases subject to regulatory provisions and an increase in energy expenses derived from keeping the water system ready for various events, also as part of the "Iron Swords" occurrences. The increase in expenses led to an operating profit of NIS 161 million in 2023, compared with an operating profit of NIS 529 million in 2022.
The EBITDA in the reporting period increased by 10% to NIS 1.16 billion, compared with NIS 1.06 billion in 2022, with financing expenses decreasing from NIS 524 million to NIS