AFS Amiad Water Systems Ltd

RNS Number:1145V
Amiad Filtration Systems Ltd
05 December 2005



                         Amiad Filtration Systems Ltd.
                           ("Amiad" or "the Company")

                             First Day of Dealings

5 December 2005: Amiad, a producer and global supplier of water filters and
filtration systems for the industrial & municipal and the irrigation markets
announces that the Company's shares have been admitted today to trading on the
Alternative Investment Market of the London Stock Exchange plc ("AIM"). The
Company's trading symbol is "AFS".

5,045,965 new ordinary shares have been allocated to institutional investors at
a price of 129 pence per share (the "Placing Price"), raising approximately
#6.5 million for the Company. In addition, an existing shareholder has
transferred 1,164,454 ordinary shares to institutional investors at the Placing
Price. On admission to AIM a total of 19,491,415 ordinary shares were in issue
(on a fully diluted basis) capitalising the Company at approximately
#25.1 million at the Placing Price.

The Company's nominated adviser and broker is Panmure Gordon (Broking) Limited.

Enquiries:

Amiad Filtration Systems
Yossi Katz, Chief Executive Officer               +972 (0) 4 690 9500
Itamar Eder, Chief Financial Officer

Panmure Gordon (Broking) Limited
Julian Hirst, Katherine Roe                       + 44 (0) 20 7459 3600

Corfin Communications
Harry Chathli, Neil Thapar                        + 44 (0) 20 7929 8989



Notes to Editor

Introduction
Amiad is a producer and global supplier of water filters and filtration systems
used in two key markets, namely the industrial & municipal market and the
irrigation market. The Company specialises in automatic self-cleaning filters
that require low maintenance and that can be adapted to provide bespoke
solutions to a wide range of application in industries including, inter alia,
steel, power, oil and gas, pulp and paper, in addition to a wide variety of
other applications in the irrigation market.

Amiad currently sells its products worldwide to over 60 countries across the
Americas, Africa, Europe, Asia and Australasia. In the year ended 31 December
2004, Amiad generated revenues of approximately $37 million and profit after tax
of approximately $3 million*. The corresponding profit after tax for the years
ended 31 December 2002, 31 December 2003 and for the six month period ended 30
June 2005 were approximately $2.0 million, $2.1 million and $1.9, respectively*.
In the nine month period ended 30 September 2005, based in each case on
unaudited financial information, revenues were approximately $33 million and
profit after tax was approximately $2.8 million*. The Group sells principally
through distributors to a wide range of customers, including Air Liquide,
Aluminum Norf, Avebe, Bayer, Dayen Environmental, Folkstone and Dover Water
Services, Ha'Dan Ha'Mizrahi, Infineon Technologies, Membratec, Meyer Werft,
Novelis, OMEX, ONI, PB Techniek, South East Water, Stereau and StoraEnso.

Clean water is a scarce resource that is facing increasing demand due primarily
to the growth in the global population, which is estimated to increase from 6.5
billion in 2004 to 8 billion by 2025. While the world population has doubled
since 1950, water consumption has increased six-fold over that period.

Approximately 40 per cent. of the global population, across 80 countries,
currently suffers from water shortages, and 1.1 billion people do not have
access to safe water. Asia alone accounts for two-thirds of the people worldwide
whose drinking water comes from unsafe sources like rivers and ponds.

Further, industrialisation, increased environmental awareness and tighter
regulations are driving the need for water purification and recycling systems.
Accordingly, there is a growing demand for solutions that facilitate the
provision of clean water for drinking, manufacturing and irrigation, sewage
treatment and the safe disposal of industrial wastewater.

Amiad's filtration products serve a key role in fulfilling these needs. The
Company's products are used for a wide range of purposes, from improving the
quality of drinking water to recycling water used by car manufacturers to wash
vehicle chassis before the application of paint.

The Company's core filtration technology is designed to have a small footprint,
low maintenance requirement for end users, reliability, scalability and low
energy consumption. The directors of the Company believe that Amiad is at the
forefront of innovation in the design of automatic self cleaning filtration
equipment.

The Company is modifying its technology so as to be able to expand its business
into a number of high growth market segments, including ballast water for
shipping, off-shore oil and gas, prefiltration of drinking and process water,
naval filtration equipment and high-flow rate filters for wastewater features.

* The figures for profit after tax have been determined by excluding from the
Company's consolidated statements of income for the relevant years (as set out
in Part III of the Admission document) non-recurring expenses, management fees
payable to the shareholders, which terminated with effect from Admission, and
amortization of non-tangible assets.

Background and History
Amiad was incorporated as an Israeli company in June 1997. In January 1998,
Amiad acquired a filtration and irrigation business from a partnership owned 
and controlled by the Kibbutz Amiad Agricultural Cooperative Association
("Kibbutz Amiad"). Kibbutz Amiad established the business in the early sixties
as a manufacturer of high efficiency irrigation products. During the 1970s, in
response to a growing demand for filtered water in irrigation systems, the
business began to specialise in the production of water filtration equipment for
irrigation.

As an arid country with a growing population, Israel has a critical need for
agricultural irrigation and clean drinking water. Israel has evolved into a
natural base for major innovative players in the global filtration and
irrigation markets. Three of the four largest global low volume irrigation
companies are based in Israel.

In October 2000, Amiad acquired Filtration Ltd. (''Filtration''), an Israeli
company engaged in the development, production and marketing of water filtration
systems. The acquisition enabled the Company to broaden its product range,
enhance its marketing channels and expand its market share in filtration
systems.

The Company operates from its headquarters located in Israel. In addition, the
Group has offices in Singapore, Australia, China, France, North America, Germany
and Uruguay. The Group also has representatives in Holland and third party
distributors around the world. The Group's workforce as of 30 June 2005 totalled
260 persons (not including 45 persons employed in China), of whom 190 were
employees of the Group and 70 were personnel provided pursuant to manpower
agreement entered into with Kibbutz Amiad.





                      This information is provided by RNS
            The company news service from the London Stock Exchange

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