Telecom giant Turk Telekom posts loss in 2018

ISTANBUL

Turkey’s telecom giant Turk Telekom reported a net loss of 1.39 billion Turkish Liras ($267 million) for 2018 versus 1.13 billion liras of profit the company posted in 2017.

Revenues rose by 12.6 percent from 2017 to stand at 20.4 billion liras last year, while EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization) increased 30.7 percent to 8.4 billion liras, Turk Telekom said on Jan. 30 in a filing with Borsa Istanbul.

“The net loss was due to unfavorable FX conditions as the Turkish lira depreciated against the U.S dollar and euro by 39 percent and 34 percent, respectively,” the company explained in the statement.

In the fourth quarter of last year, Turk Telekom’s consolidated revenues increased 12.5 percent from a year ago to reach 5.4 billion liras.

“The net income was 2.2 billion liras in the quarter, with a significant improvement compared to a net loss of 113 million in the same quarter of 2017, thanks to stronger operating performance and favorable FX environment in the last quarter of the year,” the company said.

The total number of Turk Telekom subscribers reached 46 million with 1.2 million net additions in the fourth quarter.

Turk Telekom targets consolidated revenue growth of 12-15 percent this year while its investment target is between 5.5 billion and 5.7 billion liras.

In December last year, Turk Telekom shares previously held by Ojer Telekom (OTAŞ) were moved to a special purpose vehicle, which the creditor banks – namely İş Bankası, Garanti and Akbank – of OTAŞ were shareholders.