Türk Telekom announces loss due to slump in lira, rise in financing costs

ISTANBUL

Integrated telecommunications company Türk Telekom posted an annual loss of 888.6 million Turkish Liras ($183 million) in the second quarter compared to a net profit of 890 million liras in the same period of 2017, due to the falling value of Turkey’s currency and an increase in its financing costs, it said in a statement to the main Istanbul stock exchange on July 25.

The company added it achieved 5 billion liras ($1.02 billion) of revenue with a 10 percent yearly increase thanks to a significant boost in the number of new subscribers.

The company’s net financing costs rose to 2 billion liras in the second quarter of the year, as reported by Reuters upon the company filing. Türk Telekom made a 254 million lira net financing income in the same quarter of 2017.

The recent plunge in the lira has created a significant burden for the businesses, which are indebted in foreign currencies.

While Türk Telekom’s such debts decreased in the second quarter compared to both the first quarter of the year and the end of the previous year, the lira equivalent debts rose by 10 percent and 17 percent, respectively, to 19.3 billion liras due to the loss in the lira’s value.

The lira lost almost 30 percent in value against the dollar from the end of the second quarter of 2017 until the end of the same quarter of this year. Its loss against the euro in the same period was around 33 percent.

The number of Türk Telekom’s subscribers rose to 43.5 million in the second quarter with the highest annual net subscriber gain since 2008, according to company data.