By Yeliz Candemir
ISTANBUL--Turkey's biggest mobile-phone operator by subscribers
Turkcell Iletisim Hizmetleri AS's (TKC) fourth-quarter net profit
nearly halved, missing expectations due to foreign-currency losses
from operations in Ukraine and Belarus.
Net income fell to 257.9 million liras ($104.6 million) in the
three months ended December, down 49% from TRY505 million in the
year-earlier period, the Istanbul-based company said on its website
late Thursday. Analysts had forecast a net profit of TRY390
million. The shortfall was mainly due to non-operational expenses
from forex losses.
Turkcell said its revenue grew by 8% to TRY3.1 billion in the
period, reflecting a higher contribution of mobile broadband and
fiber broadband revenues. Earnings before interest, taxes,
depreciation and amortization, or Ebitda, rose 8% to TRY917.1
million.
In the full-year of 2014, Turkcell's net profit fell 20% on the
year to TRY1.8 billion, reflecting macroeconomic conditions in the
company's international markets and several one-off items.
"Our Ukrainian business sustained its operational performance,
and accordingly its [full-year] revenues rose by 13% in
local-currency terms. Nonetheless, its revenues contracted 12% in
lira terms due to 97% local currency devaluation in Ukraine,"
Turkcell said.
In early Friday trading, Turkcell shares were down 0.7% to
TRY14.7, compared with a 0.1% rise in the benchmark BIST-100
Index.
Write to Yeliz Candemir at yeliz.candemir@wsj.com
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