Page 92 - TURKRptSept19

9.2.10 Metallurgy & mining corporate news
Steelmaker Erdemir’s net profit declined by 14% y/y to TRY1.31bn in Q2
while revenues rose by 20% y/y to TRY7.45bn. Market expected a net profit of TRY1.21bn in the quarter. Revenues rose by 20% y/y to TRY7.45bn in the quarter versus a market estimate of TRY7.34bn.
Kardemir’s net profit declined by 50% y/y to TRY103mn in Q2 and by 61% y/y to TRY170mn in H1 while revenues rose by 30% y/y to TRY1.64bn in the quarter and by 29% y/y to TRY3.28bn in the first half. Market expected a net profit of TRY77mn in the quarter. Seker Invest expects Kardemir’s revenue growth to decelerate in H2, Fulin Onder of Istanbul-based brokerage said on August 7 in a research note.
Koza Altin increased its net profit to TRY 414mn in Q2 (market expectation: TRY357mn) from TRY357mn a year ago while H1 profit rose to TRY734mn from TRY499mn.
The UK government was close to entering exclusive talks with a Turkish military pension fund on the sale of British Steel, the Guardian reported on August 8. Britain needs an investor to save more than 4,000 jobs and the steelworks in Scunthorpe. Three bidders remain in the running to buy the company, but a source who took part in a conference call with the business secretary, Andrea Leadsom, reportedly said two were likely to be excluded imminently, while several sources were cited as saying the frontrunner was Ataer Holdings, owned by the Turkish military pension fund Oyak, which is also the largest shareholder in the Turkish steelmaker Erdemir. The UK daily’s report said the British government’s official receiver, David Chapman, and the accountancy firm EY, who are managing the sale, were likely to name Ataer as the preferred bidder soon.
Oyak, a £15bn pension scheme chaired by an army general, was accused of corruption by a parliamentary commission, and jointly owns a car plant where striking workers were allegedly mistreated, the Guardian reported on August 15. The Guardian said it asked Oyak, whose history goes back to Turkey’s 1960 military coup, about its involvement in a corruption scandal in 2012, when a Turkish parliamentary commission accused it of orchestrating land deals that cost the exchequer tens of millions of Turkish lira. In a 130-page report, the commission pointed to several deals, including one in which Oyak allegedly obtained construction permits to build a military barracks on government-
92 TURKEY Country Report September 2019 www.intellinews.com