השופט דן מור פורש מכהונה לאחר שנחקר בחשד להשמטת מס

Standard 15 won't affect Osem Food Industries' (TASE: OSEM) results in 2003, said CFO Pinhas Kimelman, speaking at a conference the company held after publishing its 2002 results.

All Osem's rivals ¿ Elite Industries (TASE: ELEI), Supersol (NYSE, TASE: SAE) and Blue Square Israel (NYSE, TASE: BSI) - adopted Standard 15 in the fourth quarter.

Standard 15 requires companies to equate the book value of investments with market value. After some three years of recession, most companies are reporting a steep drop in asset value, involving heavy charges. Companies can apply the standard in the fourth quarter of 2002, or wait for the first quarter. Osem opted to wait.

Kimelman explains that Osem did not acquire properties in recent years. Most of the properties it owns were bought decades ago, and are booked at their historic values, which are significantly below their market value.

Kimelman believes that during 2003, Osem may be recording capital gains from selling a property freed by merging its Bnei Brak manufacturing facility with another plant in Sderot. The company has been negotiating to sell the Bnei Brak plot, he said. Offers for the property have ranged from $15 million to $20 million.

Osem had bought the Bnei Brak plot between 1947 and 1950 at substantially less than that. Almost the entire sum would be recorded as a capital gain, as its cost in Osem's books is negligible, and tax on capital gains is relatively low.