JERUSALEM, Nov 28 (Reuters) - Israel's Delek Group
DLEKG.TA reported a 50% rise in net profit in the third quarter, boosted by improvement in its Israeli and North Sea operations, and leading its auditors to remove a “going concern” warning.
Delek said on Sunday it earned 223 million shekels ($70 million) in the third quarter, compared with a net profit of 149 million in the July-September period a year earlier. Revenue rose to 2.06 billion shekels from 1.7 billion.
Its wholly owned North Sea unit Ithaca unit posted net profit of $80 million in the quarter, versus $16 million a year earlier. Delek bought Ithaca, which operates oil and gas fields in the North Sea, from Chevron CVX.N in 2019 for $2 billion.
Its Israeli energy unit Delek Drilling DEDRp.TA , in which it holds 55%, posted revenue of 942 million shekels, up from 810 million a year ago.
Last week, Delek said it completed terms to sell its 22% stake in the Tamar gas site to Mubadala Petroleum for $1.025 billion.
Delek has been selling off assets to strengthen its balance sheet, which the company said helped remove the "going concern" warning that was issued around the outset of the global COVID-19 pandemic, when there was a steep drop in oil prices.
Delek also said its net debt slipped nearly 2 billion shekels to 4.075 billion shekels. As a result, it plans to make an advance payment to its bondholders of 1.7 billion shekels after the company's offer was approved by bondholders last week.
($1 = 3.1886 shekels)
(Reporting by Steven Scheer Editing by Ari Rabinovitch)
((steven.scheer@thomsonreuters.com; +972 2 632 2210; Reuters Messaging: steven.scheer.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net; Twitter: @StevenMScheer))