Rav-Bariach CEO Shmuel Donerstein to Step Down Amid Company Recovery

Shmuel Donerstein, the controlling shareholder of Rav-Bariach, will conclude his tenure as CEO in January after two and a half years. He will transition to the role of Chairman, replacing Giora Bar Dea. Tal Knaani, currently CEO of advanced plastic products manufacturer Plaziv and formerly in management roles at Keter, is set to become the new CEO.

Rav-Bariach, which manufactures and sells products for the construction industry including doors, windows, and locking solutions, faced significant challenges following the outbreak of the war in October 2023, which slowed the construction sector. In July 2024, Donerstein, who had recently taken over as CEO, initiated a restructuring of the company's debts and a emergency cash raise through convertible bond issuance. The company's stock reflected these difficulties, hitting a low of NIS 209 million in September 2024, a 65% drop from its IPO valuation of NIS 603 million in August 2021.

Since its low point, the stock has partially recovered, ending the last trading day at NIS 524 million, a 2.5-fold increase. Despite this rebound, the stock still shows a 28% loss since its IPO, while its benchmark index, TA Growth, has risen 9%. The company's performance improved significantly in the first half of 2026 compared to the previous year, following a recovery that began in 2025. In 2025, Rav-Bariach reported a profit of NIS 2.4 million, a substantial turnaround from a NIS 52 million loss the year before.

In the first half of 2026, Rav-Bariach saw a 10% increase in revenue to NIS 404 million. This period also included income from the sale of its 30% stake in its Ashkelon factory complex to Migdal Insurance as part of a sale-and-leaseback deal, with the first phase completed in March for NIS 94 million. Consequently, the company recorded a net profit of NIS 16.3 million for the first half, nearly eight times the profit of the same period last year. The company's stock surged 18% on the day its second-quarter and first-half financial reports were released, and has risen 13% in the last two months, while the TA Growth index fell 3%.

Rav-Bariach stated that Donerstein's move to Chairman is intended to allow him to focus on strategic development and growth engines, including the new glass factory that recently began operations. The terms of Knaani's and Donerstein's new roles are pending approval. Donerstein's monthly management fees as CEO were approved at NIS 195,000 in 2024, reaching NIS 247,000 by March 2026 due to indexation, along with an annual performance bonus. His total remuneration in 2025 was NIS 6.2 million. The outgoing chairman, Bar Dea, worked part-time and his salary in 2025 was NIS 482,000.