Page 99 - TURKRptOct19

TRY1.9bn worth of dividends from Turkcell’s 2017 profit.
Turkcell's main shareholders—Cukurova, Alfa Group and TeliaSonera—have been engaged in a longrunning legal dispute over control of the company. However, they managed to agree on dividends from the 2016 and 2017 profits.
“Turkcell’s board has called an AGM for 12 September 2019, and recommended TRY 0.46 DPS distribution from 2018 profits (in line with the company’s 50% NI pay-out policy, and equivalent to a 3.4% yield and a TRY 1.01bn total amount)... Uncertainty over the dividend distribution has been one of the factors weighing on stock performance, in our view. Now it remains to be seen i) whether the AGM convenes to approve the dividend (likely, in our view), and ii) whether the dividend amount is increased (that has happened before, and could be a moderate catalyst for the stock, although in any case a yield of more than 5-6% is unlikely, in our view),” Ivan Kim of VTB Capital said on August 1 in a research note.
Turkcell’s 2018 net profit was up 2% y/y to TRY2.02bn.
Turkcell increased its net income by 12% y/y to TRY465mn in Q2 while revenues grew by 22% y/y to TRY5.9bn.
The market expected a TRY540mn profit in the quarter.
Ebitda rose 20% y/y to TRY2.6bn. The company’s assets and debts stood at TRY46bn and TRY22bn, respectively, at the end of the second quarter, according to a presentation on Turkcell’s website. Net debt was TRY11.3bn.
For the first half of 2018, Turkcell reported a net income of TRY1.69bn which translated to an annual increase of 84.5%.
The company had a total of 36.8mn subscribers, including 18.9mn postpaid and 15mn prepaid customers, as of end-Q2.
The company increased its Ebitda margin target for 2019 to 39-41% from a previous 38-40% while it kept its revenue growth target at 17-19%.
In July, Fitch Ratings downgraded Turkcell to BB- from BB+ following the downgrade of Turkey's sovereign Long-Term IDR from 'BB' to 'BB-', three notches below investment grade, and the Country Ceiling to 'BB-' from 'BB+'.
In September 2017, Sonera Holding B.V., a wholly owned subsidiary of Telia, launched an accelerated bookbuilding offer for institutional investors of approximately 153.5mn shares in Turkcell, representing approximately 7.0% of Turkcell’s issued share capital.
● Turk Telekom
99 TURKEY Country Report October 2019 www.intellinews.com