Page 108 - TURKRptMay19

2018.
Foreign exchange losses and increased debt costs drove the company into the red. The company said it was impacted by movements in the Russian rouble against the euro prior to the refinancing of its euro-denominated bank loans in Russia. The cost of bank loans had grown in both Turkey and Russia. DP Eurasia was quoted by Reuters as saying: “In the coming years, management expects foreign exchange results will be less volatile due to the fact that the group no longer has any hard currency bank borrowings.” DP Eurasia is the fifth-largest master franchise of Domino’s. It also reported growth in full-year core earnings of 21.8% on better sales and new store openings. System sales, which reflect total sales of all the company’s outlets that use the Domino’s Pizza brand, rose to TRY859.8mn. The company anticipates opening between 25 and 30 outlets in Turkey and between 40 and 60 in Russia in 2019. During the first two months of 2019, the company opened a net three outlets. DP Eurasia expects like for like growth to be in the high single digits in Turkey and the low to mid teens in Russia.
Shares in Turkish beer companies rise as secular opposition claims election victories in largest cities. Shares in Turkish beer producers Anadolu Efes and Turk Tuborg jumped on April 1 after the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) claimed victory in the country’s largest cities, including Istanbul and the capital Ankara, in the weekend’s highly contested local elections. “Some investors may be betting that municipal restrictions on alcohol sales may somehow be relaxed,” Burak Isyar, head of research at ICBC Securities in Istanbul, told Bloomberg. Shares in Anadolu Efes soared 6.85% d/d to trade at TRY18.71, while shares in Turk Tuborg closed 2.44% higher at TRY10.49. The main Istanbul stock exchange index, the BIST-100, gained 0.34%. Efes Beer group is the 16th largest brewer in the world and the sixth largest in Europe. Its market share in Turkey is as much as 60%. The brewer says it has a penetration rate of 99% in stores in the country that sell alcohol. According to information on the company’s website, per capita annual beer consumption in Turkey stands at only 11 litres versus 100 litres in Germany, 36 litres in Greece, 71 litres in the US and 57 litres in Russia. Anadolu Efes’ beer sales declined by 2% year on year in 2018 to 5.7 mhl.
Turkey’s Tosmur Grup invests €40mn in starch plant in Romania.
Turkey’s Tosmur Grup is investing €40mn in building a starch plant in the southeast Romanian town of Medgidia, Ziarul Financiar reported on April 22. The investment, which will create 200 jobs, will benefit from RON80mn state aid. “We are waiting for the building permit. We hope that the construction is ready in one and a half years, we hope to be able to start building the plant in August,” the director of Omnia Europe, which is controlled by Tosmur Grup, told Ziarul Financiar. The plant will cover an area of 10 hectares and will produce starch, fructose and glucose as well as other products. Tosmur Grup has two starch plants in Turkey and is also active in other agricultural businesses.
Turkey, Azerbaijan to form rail car manufacturing JV in line with Baku-Tbilisi-Kars rail route project. Turkey and Azerbaijan are set to create a joint venture for the production of rail cars as part of the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars (BTK) rail route project, Turkish Minister of Transport and Infrastructure Mehmet Cahit Turhan said on April 24, according to Turkish media reports. He reportedly said that JV would be set up in Azerbaijan and a location had already been reviewed. "The width of the railway track in Azerbaijan is 1,520 mm, which provides for Russian cars, while the European standard is 1,435 mm. Our trains have large dimensions that do not allow them to pass through tunnels. To address this issue, we are conducting negotiations with Turkish experts on the production of hybrid trains, which can be used in Azerbaijan, Turkey and elsewhere in Europe," Gurbanov was quoted as saying by Azvision.
108 TURKEY Country Report May 2019 www.intellinews.com