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generated from the sale of Fintur shares. Turkcell reported that its profit increased to Turkish lira (TRY) 1.11bn in Q1 this year from TRY501mn a year ago. Its revenues were up 19% y/y to TRY5.7bn. In the quarter, the company completed the transfer of its stake in Fintur to Sonera. The final transaction value was €353mn with profit generation of TRY772.4mn. Ebitda rose by 13% to stand at TRY2.3bn. Data and digital services revenues rose by 18% y/y to TRY3.2bn. The company’s consolidated debt increased to TRY22.9bn as of end-March from TRY20.2bn a year earlier. The number of Turkcell’s mobile subscribers declined 1.9% y/y to 36.6mn in the first quarter. The mobile churn rate was 1.9% versus 1.4% in Q1 2018. “Demand for mobile data has remained strong this quarter with the contribution of our digital services. Monthly average data consumption of customers on our 4.5G network has increased 28% yearly to 7.4GB,” said CEO Murat Erkan. The company has revised its guidance for 2019. “Accordingly, we now target revenue growth of 17%-19% up from 16%-18% and an Ebitda margin of 38%-40% compared to 37%-40% previously. We maintain our target operational capex over sales ratio of 16%-18%,” Turkcell said in a statement.
● Others
US-based Sovos acquires Turkish e-invoicing start-up Foriba. Global tax software provider Sovos is to acquire Istanbul-based Foriba, a leading player in e-invoicing, e-delivery notes, e-receipts and periodic value-added tax (VAT) reporting in Turkey, for an undisclosed sum, Sovos said on May 28 in a press release. Sovos is owned by Hg, the London-based specialist private equity investor focused on software and service businesses. Hg took a majority stake in Boston-based Sovos in 2016 alongside Vista Equity Partners. Deloitte served as financial advisor to Sovos, and Skadden and Akol provided legal counsel. Gokce provided legal counsel to Foriba and its investors, Revo Capital and the International Finance Corporation (IFC). Revo Capital, founded in 2013, is an Istanbul-based angel investor focused on internet and technology start-ups. It invested in Foriba in 2014 and the Foriba stake sale is its first exit. Revo invests in seed to early and growth-stage startups in Turkey, Eastern Europe and Baltics. It provides investments of between $0.25mn and $4mn in a given investment round. It has invested in a total of 19 start-ups so far and currently operates with a fund of $66mn. Revo is working on a second fund worth $60mn. Some of the fund’s key investments include Parasut, Turkey’s leading financial management solutions provider; Paycore, a provider of end-to-end payment solutions and the Turkey region’s largest processor; Capturefast, an RPA focused cloud-based document and data capture application; and V-Count, an e-commerce style visitor analytics platform for the physical world. Revo’s anchor investors include IFC and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD). Endeavor Catalyst is also an investor in Foriba. Foriba was founded in 1999 as a SAP systems integrator and remains rooted in the market through its SAP OEM agreements and blue- chip clients. Sovos will integrate Foriba solutions into the Sovos S1 platform, which enables companies with multi-country operations to centralise compliance to meet all global indirect tax requirements. Foriba delivers 25 different solutions and services in more than 10 countries with regulatory compliance requirements, and its customers include more than 450 multinational companies. Foriba solutions include e-Invoice, e-Ledger, e- Archive, e-Delivery note, e-Ticket and e-Signature. As a compliance service provider for electronic invoicing, Foriba creates, signs and stores more than 30mn electronic documents per month. Sovos has recently bought real-time tax compliance leaders Invoiceware, Paperless and TrustWeaver. Turkey has had complex and mandatory digital VAT controls since 2014, and it's one of the few countries outside of Latin America with a mature e-invoicing mandate. As one of Turkey's leading providers, Foriba has continued to extend its digital tax compliance capabilities with services for additional Turkish mandates on electronic customer receipt reporting, the mandatory transfer of accounting ledgers, e-delivery notes and other requirements. With Spain, Hungary, Portugal, the UK, Italy and other countries investing in real-time and near-real- time transaction control requirements, Sovos plans to use Foriba's experience to help customers address the new wave of digital taxation. "By 2025,
107 TURKEY Country Report June 2019 www.intellinews.com