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bne July 2020 Companies & Markets I 17
In 2018, Metro Turizm had a fleet of 1,000 buses. It posted a turnover of Turkish lira (TRY) 1.25bn in 2019, the news service also noted.
Metro Turizm is owned by Galip Ozturk, presently a fugitive after a conviction for inciting murder.
Ozturk owns Istanbul-listed Metro Ticari ve Mali Yatirimlar Holding (METRO). Bloomberg regularly conducts phone interviews with Ozturk.
In the latest, last October, the news agency reported that Ozturk was in Georgia. He was cited as saying that people in Turkey stoked up with national feelings were buying national companies.
A company called Bayrak EBT (BAYRK) held an IPO. Bayrak deals with the production of footwear materials. Ozturk’s brokerage Metro Invest was the intermediary for its flotation.
Meanwhile, Dunya reported on June 16 that the Borsa Istanbul was considering introducing a delay to its planned IPO due to the coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak.
For first time Turkey’s LNG imports outstrip pipeline gas imports
bne IntelIiNews
In a first, Turkey’s liquefied natural gas (LNG) imports in March were higher than the country’s pipeline gas imports, data from the Turkish Energy Market Regulatory Authority (EMRA) showed on May 28.
Turkey imported 2.06bn cubic metres (bcm) of LNG in March, accounting for 52.5% of total gas imports, with US supplies markedly growing, according to the data. Pipeline gas imports in the month amounted to 1.87bcm, with imports via pipelines from Russia and Iran down 72% y/y and 33% y/y.
LNG facilities in Turkey in recent years have been expanded to the point where they can cope with up to 120mn cubic metres of natural gas per day.
Spot LNG prices have continued to fall of late amid a glut
of supply. Turkey, almost entirely dependent on imports to meet its energy needs, intends to benefit from lower international LNG prices and so has kept pipeline gas imports to a minimum.
The country imported 3.9bcm of natural gas in March, lower by 8.2% y/y, the EMRA data showed.
In more small cap news, Istanbul-listed diagnostic kit maker RTA Laboratories (RTALB) recently filed notifications to
the public disclosure platform (KAP) on obtaining approval for its coronavirus test kits from the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA).
For market oddities, Turkey’s bourse takes some beating but the US has lately been bending the minds of anyone who thought they had a grip on sound equity market theory.
The story of New York-listed car rental company Hertz (HTZ) is a cracker, demonstrating that nobody knows what’s next round the corner.
Hertz on May 22 filed for bankruptcy – and its share price boomed. Things got stranger when a bankruptcy judge on June 13 granted permission to the company’s debtors to hold a secondary public offering (SPO).
On June 18, Hertz dropped the plans for the SPO. But we’ve entered The Twilight Zone. If the Hertz CEO takes the New York Subway, expect a tunnel or two to vanish.
LNG carrier Tessala seen at Marmara Ereglisi LNG Storage Facility on Turkey's Sea of Marmara coast.
Turkey’s Petroleum Pipeline Company (BOTAS) conducted most of the imports, at 95.3%. The private sector brought in the remainder.
The data also showed that Turkey imported 786mn cubic metres of spot LNG from Qatar and 370mn cubic metres of spot LNG from the US.
LNG imports from the US in March were up 300% y/y. Other LNG imports came from Algeria, Nigeria, Cameroon and Egypt.
Of the pipeline gas imports in March, Azerbaijan supplied 924mn cubic metres, while Iran and Russia accounted for 557mn cubic metres and 389mn cubic metres, respectively. Iran has complained to Turkey about its failure to repair a cross-border gas pipeline that in late March was taken out of action by an explosion, which Turkish officials said was caused by Kurdish PKK terrorists.
Turkey's Deputy Energy and Natural Resources Minister Alparslan Bayraktar earlier this month said LNG imports accounted for 28% of Turkey's total natural gas imports in 2019
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