While many Israeli companies experienced a slowdown in 2024 because of the war, the combined revenues of the 68 Israeli government-owned companies crossed the NIS 100 billion threshold for the first time to NIS 102 billion, up 11.7% from 2023. In part this was due to a boom in orders for government-owned defense companies like Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) and Rafael Advanced Defense Systems, which added production lines and worked overtime to provide the IDF’s wartime needs. The combined net profit of government companies was NIS 7.6 billion, up from NIS 6.2 billion in 2023.
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These profits have macroeconomic effects. The companies distribute dividends to shareholders – the state – boosting the Ministry of Finance coffers. In current times, when the Ministry of Finance needs every shekel to finance the ongoing war and the expensive operation against Iran, every billion shekels transferred to the state from the defense companies helps.
In 2024, government companies declared a total dividend of about NIS 1.2 billion. The full impact of the war cannot yet be seen, because the dividends were declared for 2023 profits. Still, this is a record in terms of total dividends for one year, and almost double the 2023 figure. Although, in 2022, higher dividends of NIS 1.4 billion shekels declared, the amount also included dividend declarations for past profits, which had not been distributed from 2017 onwards by some companies.
Rafael reported a 27% jump in revenue to nearly NIS 18 billion, and net profit almost doubled to about NIS 1 billion. IAI reported a 14% increase in revenue, to over $6 billion, with a net profit of NIS 1.8 billion. These results are expected to be reflected in dividends to be distributed in 2025, which may again break records.
Biggest profit was from Israel Electric Corp.
Despite the outstanding financial performances by defense companies in 2024, it was the Israel Electric Corp. (IEC) that reported the biggest profits for 2024, by a considerable margin ahead of the defense industries. IEC, which undertook major work in the south and north to repair war damage, reported a profit of about NIS 3.4 billion – up 50% from 2023. A major reason for this was the sale of the Eshkol power plant for over NIS 9 billion in the privatization process.
The company that recorded the highest loss last year was Energy Infrastructures, amounting to NIS 41 million. Major revenue was recorded for the completion of the privatization of Israel Post, which was purchased for NIS 468 million.
Published by Globes, Israel business news – en.globes.co.il – on July 8, 2025.
© Copyright of Globes Publisher Itonut (1983) Ltd., 2025.
