Tomer Food CFO Withdraws Candidacy Amid Inventory Accounting Probe

Avital Perlstein Cherni, appointed as CFO of Tomer Food, decided not to assume her role just one week after her appointment and before officially starting. Initially, Tomer Food cited personal reasons for her withdrawal. However, during trading yesterday, the company revealed the true cause: concerns over the accounting treatment of inventory at its subsidiary, Tomer Import and Food Marketing.

Tomer Food announced that its board has initiated an immediate review of the inventory accounting methods and their financial implications on the company's 2025 financial statements, which were published on April 28. The company promised to disclose the findings to the public.

Tomer Food, controlled and managed by Doron Kimelov (71% ownership), is traded on the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange with a current market value of 138 million shekels, down 13% in the past month. This valuation remains higher than at its IPO via a reverse merger with the shell company Siphiya, which valued Tomer at 82.2 million shekels and the merged entity at 100 million shekels. The merger was facilitated by the law firm Mor-Langerman, which received 4% of the shares.

One month after the merger, Tomer Food raised 14.7 million shekels through a share offering to hedge funds to support expansion plans. The shares were issued at 1.22 shekels each, while the stock closed last Friday at 1.63 shekels.

Tomer Food primarily imports and markets food products to supermarket chains. The company reported revenues of 245 million shekels and a net profit of 4 million shekels for 2025. It carries 84 million shekels in bank debt and has equity of only 25 million shekels. Due to financial covenant breaches, it reclassified 11 million shekels of loans as short-term liabilities.

The outcome of the ongoing inventory review and its impact on Tomer Food’s financials will be closely watched by investors and market participants.