Turkey’s leading builder Enka saw net profit growth of about 36 percent in 2006, and revenue growth of 35 percent, and expects both to grow 30 to 35 percent this year, President Haluk Gercek said.
Enka, one of Turkey’s largest listed firms, is in construction, energy and retail businesses in EU candidate Turkey and abroad, particularly in fast-growing Russia.
“(For 2007) I see the progress that we can attain is about a 30-35 percent increase, (in) revenues and profit,” Gercek told Reuters in an interview.
“For 2006 our total turnover increased 35 percent, (net) profit increase is about 36 percent,” he said.
Full results are due next week. Its consolidated net profit in 2005 was 409 million lira on revenues of 4.0 billion, according to stock market data.
Gercek said family-owned Enka was still interested in the planned privatization of Turkey’s electricity grids, which has been delayed until after November general elections, and said a partnership forged with Italy’s Enel to take part in the privatization was still valid.
But he said the firm was not interested in Turkey’s other major energy project, the rehabilitation and expansion of the country’s largest coal-fired power plant Afsin-Elbistan, the delayed tender for which is due in May.
The project is valued at about $4 billion, and Enka was expected to be a bidder, along with several foreign players.
“We’re not interested. We don’t think that it’s a proper way of doing that project... We don’t believe that we can, businesswise we don’t think its viable, for us,” he said.
Shares in Turkey’s Enka have risen 11 percent so far this year, roughly doubling the gain on the main index.
(Reuters)