Turkcell resumes share buyback with TL 277.7 million purchase, its first since November 2025

Turkcell bought back 3,201,696 of its own shares on Borsa Istanbul on 23 October at an average price of TL 86.75, for a total of TL 277,731,356, according to a Form 6-K filed the same day. It is the company's first purchase under its current share buyback programme since 12 November 2025, and only its second since shareholders approved the programme in May 2025.

The Group B shares bought on 23 October have a nominal value of TL 3,201,696, equal to 0.146 per cent of the company's capital, the filing says. It gives the stated aim as "protecting the interests of our stakeholders and supporting healthy price formation in the market while maintaining the fair value of our shares". The table in the filing lists 2,093,944 shares, in nominal terms, as previously bought back within the programme, which confirms that no purchases were made between the two dates.

The earlier purchase

On 12 November 2025 Turkcell bought 2,093,944 shares at an average of TL 95.58, for TL 200,141,178, or 0.095 per cent of capital, according to its announcement of that day. The October purchase was made at a price 9.2 per cent lower in nominal lira terms, and was about 1.5 times larger by number of shares, on Backhaul's arithmetic.

Together, the two purchases come to 5,295,640 shares and TL 477,872,534. That is 5.6 per cent of the TL 8.5 billion the programme allows and 2.4 per cent of the maximum number of shares it permits, leaving about TL 8.02 billion of the fund unused, on Backhaul's arithmetic. The shares bought so far equal about 0.24 per cent of Turkcell's issued capital.

What the programme allows

The board resolved on 25 March 2025 to put the programme to the annual general assembly, and the text of the programme is attached to that announcement. It allows Turkcell to buy back shares up to 10 per cent of its issued capital of TL 2,200,000,000, within a fund of up to TL 8,500,000,000 drawn from the company's own resources and operating cash flow. The minimum purchase price is TL 1 a share, and the maximum is linked to book value per share in the latest consolidated accounts published on the Public Disclosure Platform.

The programme names two purposes: to protect investors from domestic economic fluctuations or adverse effects of the global economy, and to buy shares for employee share ownership plans. It runs for up to three years from the general assembly's approval. The board may decide not to start purchases or to suspend the programme at any time, depending on market conditions or the company's financial position. Bought-back shares may be held indefinitely, resold on the exchange or cancelled through a capital reduction.

The general assembly held on 15 May 2025 approved the programme, according to Turkcell's report of the meeting's results, so the authority runs until May 2028 at the latest. When it was proposed, the TL 8.5 billion fund equalled 2 per cent of total assets at 31 December 2024, and the company said it did not expect a material effect on its financial position.

The programme document also records an older stock of treasury shares: 21,463,501 shares bought for TL 563,834,214 under decisions dating from July 2016, equal to 0.98 per cent of issued capital in March 2025. In March 2025 the programme document said those shares were held by the company and could be used for employee share ownership plans. The filings do not say whether they, or the two recent tranches, are still held, or whether any will be cancelled.

The same week

The purchase came a day after Turkcell disclosed that it and its research and development subsidiary had paid TL 16.51 billion in cash for two Istanbul Financial Center buildings bought from a unit of the Türkiye Wealth Fund, its controlling shareholder. The 23 October buyback was equivalent to about 1.7 per cent of that price, on Backhaul's arithmetic.

Turkcell's main domestic rival is also in the market for its own stock. Türk Telekom started a buyback of up to TL 2.5 billion in September and had bought 1,214,000 shares by the end of that month. Turkcell's fund is more than three times larger, though both companies have so far used only a small part of their limits.

Turkcell will publish its results for July to September on 9 November, after Borsa Istanbul trading hours, according to a calendar announcement dated 20 October. Those accounts cover a quarter that ended before the October purchase, which falls in the fourth quarter.

The filing does not say whether further purchases are planned or what prompted the resumption after more than 11 months. By 25 October, Turkcell had filed no further buyback transactions with the US Securities and Exchange Commission.