Textile maker buys Cottonella in France

ISTANBUL- Hürriyet Daily News

Abud Abdo, chief executive of Hateks, says his company, which also runs a facility in Syria, is not negatively affected by the political unrest in the neighboring country. Company photo

Hateks, an exporter of textile goods produced at facilities in both Turkey and Syria, has acquired 90 percent of shares in French textile firm Cotonella yesterday.

“We are targeting to increase our share in European markets,” said Abud Abdo, the chief executive of Hateks, to the Hürriyet Daily News. The investment would play an important role in the firm’s sales growth targets in Europe, he said.

Abdo said the company “has not been affected by the political unrest in Syria” and has been “business as usual.”

The firm has continued manufacturing textile products in Turkey’s southern province of Hatay and the Syrian province of Aleppo plants with “no interruption” to trade.

The company currently manufactures textile products for nearly 20 global brands including Armani, Benetton, Diesel, IKEA, Marks & Spencer and Tchibo. Its primary export products are towels, bathrobes, bathmats, cotton and blended yarns and mercerized yarns.

Abdo said the global economic crisis has hit the textile industry far harder in Europe than Turkey. “The biggest advantage of the Turkish firms is that they are manufacturing top quality products,” he said.

Abdo said Hateks reached total revenue of 100 million Turkish Liras in 2009, with a total annual production capacity of 2,500 tons of towels, 450,000 bathrobes and 6,000 tons of spun yarns.

The producer was, however, planning to invest in increasing the capacity of the firm’s facilities by the end of this year, the chief executive said