Turkish Koc Holding Q2 net income up 49%

Turkish conglomerate Koc Holding said this year's second-quarter net income rose 49 percent to 872.4 million Turkish Lira ($405million) compared to the same period last year. The holding stated in a statement Friday that consolidated sales revenue of the holding increased 3 percent to 16.5 billion Turkish lira. The holding's first quarter net profits was 562 million Turkish Lira ($270 million) compared to the same period last year. "Despite the difficult economic condition in the first quarter of this year, we see some positive developments in the second quarter after Turkey's local election such as cutting interest rate and Koc holding managed to invest on its big projects," Turgay Durak, CEO of Koc Holding, said. Durak was referring to Koc's newly-opened factory for its automotive division Ford Otosan and a project to set up a fuel oil transformation unit in its refinery, Tupras. Koc Holding operates in the automotive, durable goods, food, retailing, energy, financial services, tourism, construction and IT industries. The group owns home appliance-maker Arcelik. It also has joint ventures with Italy's Fiat and US's Ford Motor in vehicle production.