At a press conference in İstanbul yesterday, TÜYİD Chairman Tamer Haşimoğlu, who is also head of Koç Group's strategic planning, told the press that the organization's primary objectives are to raise the awareness of IR in Turkey, provide a networking stage for IR professionals and support professional development through various educational programs, as well as helping investors to fairly evaluate companies. The company hopes to act as a bridge between investors and regulatory agencies in making sure that investor relations are properly carried out. Members of the association are drawn primarily from listed Turkish companies. “We are the first in Turkey to represent investor relations professionals,” said Diyez Beksaç Cin, who compared the organization to such organizations as the IR Society of the UK and NIRI in the US.
Haşimoğlu said that TÜYİD will contribute to the increase of interest and investment in Turkey. He added that there are currently more than 300 publicly traded companies on the İMKB, of which 20 percent receive about 65 to 85 percent of the volume in the stock market. Haşimoğlu hoped to increase the number of companies being traded on the market and said the organizations goal was to increase the activity of İMKB stock and increase the number of initial public offerings (IPO).
He added that "there is a long way to go, a lot of work to do" because the ratio of the market capitalization of public companies in Turkey equals only 16 percent of Turkey's gross national income.
Haşimoğlu, answering questions from the press, said that, unfortunately, investors look at the name “Turkey” rather than the name of the company. He cited research that showed that 36 percent of companies listed on the İMKB 100 do not have an "investor relation section" on their Web sites, and 62 percent of the companies do not have English translations of "special announcements."
Other members of the TÜYİD board in attendance included Hurşit Zorlu, Anadolu Grubu's chief financial officer, and Özge Bulut Maraşlı.
