 |
| At first glance |
|
Throughout 60 years... Hürriyet from past to present |
|
Financial Highlights |
|
 Main factors affecting operational performance |
 |
Main factors affecting operational performance
 Turkey’s economy slowed down considerably in the second quarter of 2008. Meanwhile, in the fourth quarter of 2008, industrial production, foreign trade volume and capacity utilization rates contracted severely due to the impact of global economic crisis. Real growth in 2008 was 1.1%. Hence, national income reached US$ 740 billion with a 13% increase, while income per capita rose to US$ 10,350. As of the end of 2008, annual growth in manufacturing industry was 0.7%. The services sector has grown by 4.6% and agricultural sector by 4.1%, while, the construction sector, which was promptly afected by the slowdown in economic activity, contracted by 7.6%. In 2008, exports surged to a value of US$ 133 billion and imports to US$ 204 billion, reaching record-high levels. However, the foreign trade volume is forecast to decline up to 30% in 2009 due to the global recession. As a result of the substantial contraction in the foreign trade defcit, the record-high current account defcit of US$ 41.6 billion in 2008 is estimated to fall below US$ 20 billion in 2009. Due to the signifcant slowdown in the global capital movements and the disruption in credit markets, the importance of foreign currency liquidity will be further heightened in 2009. Having relied heavily on foreign capital infow for growth in recent years, the loan repayments of the private sector in 2009 are estimated to cause pressure on the foreign exchange rates. With an average daily circulation of 518,000 in 2008, Hürriyet maintains the responsibility of being the market leader in Turkey in terms of both its average daily net circulation and the ad revenue generated. According to 2008 fgures, Hürriyet enjoyed an 11.3% market share in total ad revenue and 38.7% in overall newspaper ad revenue. Among the newspapers published in Turkey, Hürriyet has the strongest fnancial structure and is the frst and the only media company to be assigned a credit rating by an international rating agency. On December 23, 2008, the international credit rating agency, Fitch Ratings (Fitch) revised the long-term foreign currency and local currency credit ratings of Hürriyet as “BB-”, the “stable” outlook to “negative” and national credit rating of “AA(Tur)” with a “stable” outlook to “AA-(Tur)” with a “negative” outlook. |
