Turkey Financial News

Posted by meb at October 19th, 2009

The number of mobile phones sold in the first half of this year was down 8 percent over the same period of the previous year, thanks largely to an increased propensity for saving amid a global economic crisis, despite promotions offered by mobile operators, a recent survey has shown.

The Turkey division of the international research company GfK found in a market survey that nearly 450,000 less mobile phones were sold in the first six months of the year. In the January-June period of 2008, Turks purchased 5.46 million devices, whereas they bought slightly more than 5 million phones in the same period of this year. (more…)

Posted by meb at September 24th, 2009

The first satellite manufactured in Turkey, created by the İstanbul Technical University (İTÜ) flight and space sciences faculty’s space engineering department, has settled into orbit around the Earth.

According to reports, Turkish satellite İTÜpSAT1, launched from Sriharikota by the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) at 9:21 a.m. local time yesterday on a PSLV C-14 rocket, settled into its orbital path, 720 kilometers above the surface of the earth, at 9:41 a.m. The cube-shaped satellite travels at a speed of nearly 7.5 kilometers per second, orbiting the Earth once every 90 minutes. It will take photographs of the Earth’s continents. (more…)

Posted by meb at September 10th, 2009

Explaining the main points of the record-breaking tax fines against Doğan Media Group, Soner Gedik, the group’s chief financial officer, says the levy has no legal basis. The levy rests upon the claim that share transfers are not exempt from value added tax, but the law clearly states the opposite, Gedik says. Meanwhile, a brokerage says the tax decision has hit investor confidence in Turkey

Evaluating the record 3.755 billion Turkish Liras ($2.5 billion) tax levy imposed on Doğan Media Group, Chief Financial Officer Soner Gedik said the decision has no legal ground. Gedik’s arguments against the fine, the second against the group this year, were also supported by a prominent tax expert.

Speaking to daily Vatan, Gedik answered questions about the fine, emphasizing that transfer of shares is a practice exempt from value added tax, or VAT, and the share transfer between Doğan Media Group, or DMG, companies, created no extra revenue for the group. Gedik also estimated that in the past four years, share transfers surpassing $128 billion have been conducted in Turkey. “Nearly three-fourths of this amount was conducted as common stock transfer [as was the case in DMG],” he said. “After this [practice] against us, I guess all such sales will be regarded as cloudy. If the interpretation of the Finance Ministry official is correct, all these sales will be inspected.” (more…)

Posted by meb at September 8th, 2009

Doğan Yayın Holding, Doğan Group’s conglomerate in the publication business that runs newspapers like Hürriyet, Milliyet, numerous magazines and TV channels, sustained the record amount of tax fine, the highest ever imposed on a Turkish company

The Finance Ministry inflicted a grueling fine of TL 3.76 billion ($2.53 billion) to the company for evading tax regarding its accounts for a time period covering 2005, 2006 and 2007.

The harsh blow of the record fine was due to the findings of investigations by controllers that the Doğan companies concealed the profits that stemmed from the share transfers among the partners and avoided to pay the Corporate Tax and Value Added Tax (VAT) on the revenues from the share transfers.

The investigation reports also asserted that the fines didn’t include the penalties for delaying the payments of these debts, which will later be calculated and added to the total amount. The calculation of the delay penalty will start from 2005 and will cover the time period until the projected time of the clearance of the debts. This is estimated to create a tremendous cost on the company considering that the rate of default penalty is monthly 2.5 percent for 2009 alone. (more…)

Posted by meb at March 5th, 2009

Avea grew by 23 percent in 2008 compared to 2007 and increased its market share in Turkey to 18.5 percent from 13.5 percent; also we increased our subscribers by 2.2 million to 12.2 million,” Avea CEO Cüneyt Türktan announced during a press conference in İstanbul.

Türktan said the company invested TL 465 million in infrastructure in 2008, increasing its coverage area to over 95 percent of the country. He added that the company had made a total of $1.3 billion in investments in the Turkish GSM market during the last four years. (more…)

Posted by meb at March 4th, 2009

Vodafone Turkey CEO Serpil Timuray has said they expect to invest around TL 1.3 billion in 2009, in line with its decision to refrain from slowing investment in Turkey because of the ongoing global financial crisis.

Speaking at a press conference held Tuesday, Timuray said Vodafone aims to continue on its steady growth trajectory, and they see 2009 as a turning point for the company’s success. “Vodafone is known as the number one GSM operator in the world, serving 290,000 subscribers in 67 countries, and the company has direct investments in 27 countries,” she said, noting that they expect to increase the number of Vodafone stores in Turkey to 900 in 2009 and engage 500 new employees. (more…)

Posted by meb at March 4th, 2009

Turkey’s third biggest mobile operator, Avea, reported on Wednesday a 24.2 percent increase in its income for 2008 with 2.1 billion Turkish liras (around 1.2 billion USD).

Avea grew 23 percent last year, and it increased its market share to 18.5 percent from 13.5 percent, doubling the number of its subscribers by 2.2 million up to 12.2 million, the company’s CEO, Cunyet Turktan, told a press briefing in Istanbul. (more…)

Posted by meb at February 26th, 2009

Turkcell, Turkey’s biggest mobile phone operator, sees enhancing profitability and launching new technology investments as a way out against the current crisis. The company plans to invest a total of $1.6 billion in the region.

Turkcell, Turkey’s largest mobile phone company, is planning to invest $1.6 billion this year. Allocating $1.3 billion for technological projects in Turkey, the company plans to make international investment, particularly in Ukraine and Belarus, worth $300 million in 2009. (more…)