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July 7, 2017 www.intellinews.com I Page 4
economy is WOOD & Company. In an end of April note to investors, it advised: “The risk of populism is high. Given the need to lift the economy before the 2019 election, we would normally expect Erdogan to tone down the negative rhetoric with the EU to help business confidence, allowing the much-needed foreign funding for growth. We have seen little of this for now, although we believe it is also a function of the EU’s own indecision on how to deal with the 'new Turkey' going forward. At the risk of perhaps drawing conclusions too early, we fail to see a concrete game plan for the economy.”
The bank – currently giving its top picks as Emlak Konut, DO&CO, Ford Otosan, Migros, Tupras, Turkcell, TSKB and Coca-Cola Icecek – said it was positioning its non-financials on a combination of high-beta and defensive names. It added: “Under a benign scenario, where the focus returns to
the economy, we could envision some rerating on Turkish equities, as we believe that growth may surprise to the upside, implying upward earnings revisions – although we believe that significant
Belarus’ retail king Euroopt goes on the road
take their story out to the rest of the world for the first time: a successful and fast growing $2bn business based exclusively on Belarus’ domestic market.
Belarus is not famous for producing highly profit- able and regionally competitive companies. But there are a handful of firms such as the state- owned giant mining truck-maker MAZ and the Belarus Potash company that are serious inter- national players. From the private sector the only really notable name is New York listed software engineering company EPAM, but even that will call itself a US company, despite the fact that the bulk of its employees live and work in Minsk.
structural reforms are unlikely before the 2019 election. The possibility of an economic recovery, be it government-fuelled, vs. policy uncertainties has forced us to position for the combination of defensive and consumer-driven names.”
When all's said and done, the stock market analysts divide between those who will bet on plentiful healthy economic growth – as well as Turkey's young consumerist population – that the bourse can continue to draw on and those who perceive too much unhealthy growth that could end in tears.
This past six months has seen Turks swiftly buying up foreign currency, pushing foreign exchange deposits to $165bn in mid-June, up from $142bn at the start of the year. By some measures, therefore, it seems that despite the exchange’s strong performance, Turkish consumers have already got the “rainy day” jitters.
Now you can add Euroopt, which is already the biggest privately owned company in the country, to this list. With a staff of over 33,000 it is the largest private sector employer too.
Having made a fortune in trading during the 1990s, its founders and majority shareholders Sergei Litvin and Vladimir Vasilko began to trans- form their wholesale business into a modern re- tail chain in 2007 and opened its first eight stores. When the store was founded the owners already had several wholesale depots that were turning over some $100mn a year, supplying Belarusian stores with goods.
“But slowly the company refocused and switched from wholesale to consumers,” CEO Andrey Zub- kov exclusively tells bne IntelliNews in the com- pany’s first ever interview with the international press. “Today we have 459 stores in five formats – everything from the tiny corner stores to hyper-