Israel's Delek Group Q1 net profit, revenue fall

JERUSALEM, May 27 (Reuters) - Israeli conglomerate Delek Group (DELKG.TA) said on Wednesday its quarterly net profit fell due to a steep drop in revenues stemming from low oil prices.

Delek posted first-quarter net profit of 157 million shekels ($39 million), or 12.86 shekels per diluted share, compared with a profit of 194 million shekels, or 15.25 shekels a share, a year earlier.

The company said all of its sectors showed significant improvement in the quarter after posting a 1.44 billion shekel loss in the fourth quarter of 2008.

"Growth was especially significant in the retail automotive sector, the finance sector, the fuel sectors in Israel, the United States and Europe, as well as in the refining," the company said in a statement.

Revenue slid to 9.5 billion shekels from 12.5 billion, largely due to a drop in the price of oil around the world.

Delek Group, which has interests in the real estate, energy, automotive and financial sectors, is 62 percent-controlled by billionaire Yitzhak Tshuva.

Delek also controls Delek Global Real Estate (DGRE.L) and oil refiner Delek US Holdings (DK.N), while Tshuva owns New York's Plaza Hotel through a private company called Elad Group.

Starting in the second quarter, Delek Real Estate will not be included in the Group's results since those shares will be distributed to shareholders.

As a result, Delek said its consolidated financial debt will fall to 18 billion shekels from 33 billion shekels.

The company's Delek Drilling (DEDRp.TA) unit owns 15.625 percent of a group led by Noble Energy (NBL.N) that has found large amnounts of natural gas off Israel's Mediterranean coast.

Delek said it would pay a cash dividend of 72 million shekels, or 6.349 shekels a share, on July 2.

($1 = 3.97 shekels)

(Reporting by Joseph Nasr, Editing by Steven Scheer)