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March 15, 2019 www.intellinews.com I Page 5
loosened. It expects an easing cycle to start in June and has pencilled in a total of 400bp of rate cuts by year-end.
“My sense is the recession will be deeper and longer than previously (thought) given the balance sheet nature of this recession. Any unorthodox response [by the government, such as] early monetary policy easing at this stage will make things much worse,” Timothy Ash of BlueBay Asset Management told Reuters on March 11.
VTB Capital has kept its Buy recommendation
on Turkish automakers Tofas and Ford Otosan, and also its Hold recommendation on car retailer Dogus Otomotive and cement makers Cimsa
and Akcansa, Vladimir Bespalov of Russian investment bank said on March 7 in the latest version of his CEEMEA Industrials report.
VTB Capital upgraded London-listed DP Eurasia, which operates the Domino’s Pizza brand
in Turkey and Russia, to Buy from Hold, the investment bank said on March 7, adding: “Downside risks come from weaker consumption in Turkey and Russia, less openings, operational mismanagement by franchisees, and the slower ramp up of Russian restaurants to the mature profitability.”
Turkish car parts maker Ege Endustri and airport operator Tav Havalimanlari were among Finland- based Evli Emerging Frontier Fund’s Top 10 holdings as of end-February, according to the fund’s latest available investment frontier.
“February took us to Egypt, Turkey, Thailand, and Indonesia where we met with 25 companies... In Turkey, we learned more about the aviation indus- try as we met with an airport operator, an airline,
and a baggage handler. The most timely theme was around the new airport [Istanbul’s new mega airport which officials want to eventually make the busiest in the world] which is expected to open
in March, replacing the 66 year old Ataturk air- port which has operated at full capacity for years. With plenty of new capacity, the baggage handler should benefit from increasing passenger traffic in the medium term. Meanwhile the low cost carrier based in the city’s secondary airport may benefit in the short-term as the new one is home to its main competitor, is farther from the city, and still lacks a metro line. Overall, we remain cautious on Turkey and only hold fx-hedged firms,” Evli said on Febru- ary 28 in its monthly review.
Aksu Enerji’s stake talks
Turkish energy company Aksu Enerji launched stake sale talks with a US-based investment company, Aksu Enerji said on March 11 in a bourse filing.
Aksu Enerji shares were up 2.86% d/d to TRY9
as of 10:30 local time after hitting to TRY9.22. South Korean Samsung, which has a TV sets assembly line in Turkey, plans to initially produce vacuum cleaners in the country and later to launch white goods production facilities, Samsung Electronics Turkey Head DaeHyun Kim said on March 10.
Spain’s Saica Group has agreed to acquire a corrugated cardboard plant with a production capacity of 75mn square metres, located in Sakarya province of Turkey, from local cardboard maker Norm Ambalaj, media reports indicated last week. Turkey’s paper products industry has been in trouble since August’s currency crash due to extra costs tied to its dependence on material imports.