Amir Marketing in the First Quarter: Profit Reached Cash, Feed Margins Still Depend on the Dollar

Amir Marketing opened 2026 with a quarter that fixes part of the problem that defined the end of 2025: profit no longer stayed only in the income statement, it reached cash as well. Revenue rose 12.6%, operating profit jumped 43.6%, and operating cash flow turned to NIS 35.1 million, compared with NIS 9.3 million used in the parallel quarter. This is not only a strong quarter. It is the first answer to the proof point left open after the prior annual analysis: can the company turn profit into cash without again increasing its dependence on the bank? The current answer is positive, but not complete. A large part of the improvement came from the feed mill, which benefited from lower raw-material prices and mainly from a weaker dollar, so the quarter’s margin should not be treated too quickly as a permanent base. Bnei Brak also started contributing rental income, but the fuller proof will come only when the shopping center operates for a full quarter and shows a stable rent run rate. The next few quarters will decide whether this was the start of a real fix in the working-capital bottleneck, or mainly a favorable mix of collections, raw materials and an asset entering operation.

Amir Is a Customer-Credit Business Before It Is a Sales Business

The company markets agricultural inputs through 27 branches, produces and markets animal feed, holds income-producing real estate, and owns partnerships in agricultural machinery, agricultural structures, solar solutions, turkey farming and laying hens. But its economics are simpler than the legal structure: it buys goods, carries inventory, gives long credit to farmers and customers, and tries to preserve enough margin so the bank does not finance all the growth.

That matters especially this quarter. Sales revenue rose to NIS 306.3 million, versus NIS 273.0 million in agricultural activity in the parallel quarter, but the more important point is earnings quality. Total gross profit rose to NIS 59.2 million, the agricultural sales gross margin rose to 18.7%, and operating profit reached NIS 20.7 million. The quarter shows growth, margin and cash moving in the same direction, which was not the setup at the end of 2025.

Still, it is one quarter. The agricultural-inputs activity is seasonal, and the company explains that the second, third and fourth quarters are generally similar in sales, with effects from growing regions and weather. The improvement is therefore important mainly as the opening signal of a proof year, not as a full close of the story.

Feed and Bnei Brak Carried the Profit Improvement

Growth was not even across the business. Crop protection and nutrition rose because rain at the end of 2025 and in the first quarter increased the consumption of fertilizers and pesticides. Packaging benefited from sales of non-corrugated packaging products and higher corrugated-carton prices. But the main profit change came from two places: feed and real estate.

In feed, sales rose to NIS 78.2 million and gross profit rose to NIS 18.1 million. The segment gross margin jumped to 23.1%, from 18.8% in the parallel quarter. This is the quarter’s central profit engine: NIS 13.8 million of operating profit, about 66.5% of group operating profit. The reason is not only more tons. Quantities sold rose about 13%, but management explains that the margin improved because purchase prices of raw materials fell sharply, mainly due to a sharp decline in the dollar, while selling prices to customers fell only slightly.

That point defines earnings quality. If lower raw materials and the dollar remain with the company for a while, feed can keep supporting high profitability. If customer pricing adjusts faster later on, part of the margin will return to the market. In the first quarter the company kept more of the spread, but that does not yet mean pricing power changed structurally.

In real estate, revenue rose to NIS 2.5 million from NIS 1.2 million, and gross profit rose to NIS 2.0 million. The increase came from the start of rent collection on part of the Bnei Brak asset that was converted into a shopping center, after fit-out works were completed, and the asset began operating in the second quarter. This is the kind of finding that turns Bnei Brak from accounting value into a cash source, but only partially. The first quarter already includes rent on part of the asset, but the remaining question is the income run rate when the whole center operates.

Working Capital Stopped Absorbing Cash, but the Dividend Had Not Yet Left the Till

The strongest part of the quarter is not net profit of NIS 16.2 million, but the way that profit became cash. Operating cash flow was NIS 35.1 million, while operating cash flow before working-capital changes was NIS 20.7 million. In other words, working capital contributed to the quarter instead of absorbing cash.

All-in cash flexibility after the quarter’s real cash uses looks like this: operating cash flow of NIS 35.1 million, slightly positive investing cash flow of NIS 0.2 million, and financing cash outflow of NIS 27.3 million, mainly bank-credit repayment, leases and contingent consideration. The result was an NIS 8.1 million increase in cash, before the NIS 15.8 million dividend paid in May.

The decline in receivables is positive, and average customer credit days fell to 123 sales days from 128 at the end of 2025. But the number contains two different movements: company customers fell to 123 days from 131, while feed-mill customers rose to 121 days from 114. Group cash conversion improved, but the most profitable engine actually required more customer credit. That is not a problem by itself in a strong quarter, but it is a point to watch if feed continues to carry most of operating profit.

2026 Looks Like a Proof Year, Not a Comfortable Year

The first quarter gives the company a good opening to the year, but it also sharpens three conditions for the rest of 2026. First, the feed improvement needs to hold even if the dollar and raw materials stop helping the company. Second, Bnei Brak needs to show a full quarter of rent at a run rate that justifies its weight in the value story. Third, working capital needs to keep improving after the dividend payment and not only because receivables fell at the end of March.

There is also an investment and capital-allocation layer that has not closed yet. In January 2026 the company announced its intention to exercise the option in Yaadim Marketing after Yaadim’s 2025 financial statements are approved, but the exercise still depends on approval from the Competition Commissioner. At the same time, the company’s share in equity-method companies moved to a profit of NIS 1.6 million from a loss of NIS 0.6 million, with the improvement attributed to Yaadim Marketing, Merom-Amir and Mekor Hod-Amir. That supports the direction discussed in the follow-up analysis on feed and the partnerships, but the price and return question around Yaadim remains open.

The current read is more positive than at the end of 2025, but still limited to one quarter. Profit became cash, short-term bank credit fell, Bnei Brak began contributing more rent, and the partnerships returned to profit. The counter-thesis is timing: better collections, a lower dollar, cheaper raw materials, and a dividend that left cash only after the balance date. The next few quarters should be read through three numbers: feed profitability, receivables and inventory discipline, and a full Bnei Brak rent run rate.