Turkcell Posts Surge in Second-Quarter Net Profit

By Yeliz Candemir

ISTANBUL--Turkey's biggest mobile-phone operator by subscribers Turkcell Iletisim Hizmetleri AS (TKC) reported a 45% jump in second-quarter net profit, beating expectations, on the increasing operational strength of Turkcell Turkey and a positive impact from currency movements.

Net profit rose to 712 million lira ($256 million) in the three months ended June from TRY492.3 million in the year-earlier period, the Istanbul-based company said Thursday. Analysts had forecast a net profit of TRY622 million.

Turkcell said its revenue grew 5.8% to TRY3.093 billion in the period. Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization, or Ebitda, rose 9.7% to TRY995 million.

"Higher translation gains mainly driven by positive quarterly currency movement impact from Ukraine operations as UAH appreciated quarterly 10% against U.S. dollar and Turkey operations due to our foreign currency cash position as TRY depreciated 3% against U.S. dollar," Turkcell said.

Turkcell shares Thursday closed 1.2% higher at TRY12.45, compared with a 0.25% rise in the benchmark BIST-100 Index.

Write to Yeliz Candemir at [e-mail]

Subscribe to WSJ: http://online.wsj.com?mod=djnwires