German do-it-yourself chain Praktiker recently sold its 27-store chain in Romania and its brand locally to Turkish investor Omer Susli, who controls the distribution business Search Chemicals, according to Mediafax newswire, quoting market sources. This comes soon after Praktiker sold its Ukraine business, and after it went insolvent in Germany. In Romania, Praktiker has yearly sales of some EUR 140 million and about 1,700 employees. The buyer is a much smaller company, with a turnover of about EUR 10 million, and 12 employees in 2012, according to data from Ziarul Financiar.
A company’s own top management tend to have the best inside view into the business, so when company officers make major buys, investors are wise to take notice. Presumably the only reason an insider would take their hard-earned cash and use it to buy stock of their company in the open market, is that they expect to make money — maybe they find the stock very undervalued, or maybe they see exciting progress within the company, or maybe both. So in this series we look at the largest insider buys by the ”top brass” over the trailing six month period, one of which was a total of $398.1K by Ahmet Muhtar Kent, CEO at Coca-Cola Co (NYSE: KO).
The Assembly of Turkish American Associations mourns the victims of the Khojaly massacres in Western Azerbaijan. As Human Rights Watch documented, between February 25 and 26, 1992, the Armenian Armed Forces and Russian 366th Motor Rifle Regiment massacred 613 Azerbaijani civilians, 106 of them women and 83 of them children. Armenian forces took hostage another 1275, torturing 56 to death; another 150 remain missing to date. Over 480 civilians were disabled through mutilation, 76 of them teenage boys and girls. Young girls were raped and sexually mutilated. Twenty-five children lost both their parents, while 130 children were left motherless or fatherless.
Turkey’s Culture and Tourist Office in New York, and agency M. Silver/ A Division of Finn Partners, have won Gold in the prestigious Hospitality Sales and Marketing Association International (HSMAI) Adrian Awards. Announced at the Adrian Awards Gala at the New York Marriott Marquis last night, the recognition for major feature stories in The New York Times brings Turkey a total of four gold awards awarded over the past four years, highlighting the effectiveness of M. Silver’s ongoing public relations program for the country.
