Turkish insulation materials producer Izocam said its net profit rose 77% to TL 1.43 trillion in the first nine months of the year partly due to a 1,717% surge in dividend income from its shares in th…
Turkish insulation materials producer Izocam said its net profit rose 77% to TL 1.43 trillion in the first nine months of the year partly due to a 1,717% surge in dividend income from its shares in the group“s banking arm, Kocbank. Izocam said it expects full year 1999 net profit to rise 74% to TL 2 trillion (US$ 4.17 million), so long as the tax burden remains unchanged. Sales for 1999 are forecast to rise 5.8% to US$ 55 million this year, even as exports drop. “We plan to reach US$ 55 million turnover and US$ 12 million in exports in 1999,” said the company“s general manager Ali Yalcin. Yalcin said exports, which totalled US$ 14 million in 1998, were dropping due to developments in neighbouring countries, namely crisis-hit Russia. Izocam“s share of the Russian market sank to 4% in the first nine months of the year, down from 15% in the same period one year ago. Izocam“s gross sales firmed 41% to TL 14.59 trillion over the nine-month period, compared to 54.4% annual wholesale price inflation at the end of September. Yalcin said the company, which is owned largely by industrial conglomerate Koc Holding, exported 27% of its output in the first nine months of the year, totalling US$ 9 million. Yalcin said glass wool, mineral wool and extruded polystyrene accounted for 85% of the company“s sales. He said Izocam faced intense price competition in glass wool from the local Toprak group, but managed to keep its domestic market share at an estimated 59% in the first nine months, compared to 60% in the same 1998 period. Izocam remained the sole domestic producer in mineral wool, but a Croatian producer took some of its market share. As a result, Izocam“s share dropped to 83% from 93%. Yalcin added that Izocam would benefit from reconstruction efforts that are likely to begin in early 2000 in earthquake-shattered northwestern Turkey.