Brewer stocks are the one corner of Turkey’s markets that is celebrating the return of secularists to power, Bloomberg reported on Monday.
The lira swung between gains and losses and the yield on Turkey’s benchmark bond was unchanged, with the Republican People’s Party (CHP) set to oust President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s Islamist-rooted Justice and Development Party (AKP) from office in the country’s biggest cites.
By contrast, shares of Turkey’s top beer maker jumped the most in eight months after Sunday’s elections, far eclipsing the 0.3 percent increase in İstanbul’s main equity index.
“Some investors may be betting that municipal restrictions on alcohol sales may somehow be relaxed,” Burak İşyar, head of research at ICBC Securities in İstanbul, said by phone.
Anadolu Efes Biracılık ve Malt Sanayii AŞ rose 6.9 percent at the close in İstanbul, the biggest gain since September. Turk Tuborg Bira ve Malt Sanayii AŞ, the other listed beer maker, climbed 2.4 percent.
Candidates from the main opposition CHP scored significant victories in the vote, leading races in major cities including İstanbul, Ankara, Antalya and Adana. All four were in the hands of Erdoğan’s ruling AKP or its nationalist ally, the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP). Under Erdoğan’s watch, some municipalities cracked down on venues with outdoor seating areas that spilled into the streets, transforming once popular nightspots.
Anadolu Efes still has a lot of ground to make up. It has declined 9.2 percent this year, trailing the 3.1 percent gain in the benchmark Borsa Istanbul-100 index. The company reported 96.9 million Turkish lira ($18 million) profit in 2018, missing the average analyst estimate. It expects “flattish” beer sales volume this year, according to a guidance published in February.