Istanbul, Aug 26 - Turkish brewer Anadolu Efes swung back to profit after a loss earlier in 2009, posting second-quarter net earnings up 35 percent on the year to 251.4 million lira ($168 million).
The company said second-quarter sales were 1.196 billion lira, in line with forecasts, while net profit beat the consensus forecast in a Reuters poll of 230 million lira.
Seasonal effects were widely expected to help the brewer boost performance from a loss of 25.2 million lira in the first quarter after it was hit by foreign-exchange losses and debt service costs.
Anadolu Efes, which owns a 50 percent stake in soft drink maker and bottler Coca Cola Icecek, also controls Efes Breweries International, which has operations in Russia, Kazakhstan, Georgia, Moldova and Serbia -- areas whose once rapid growth has been hit hard by the global economic slowdown.
The Russian market, once a golden goose for international brewers such as Heineken looking to exploit fast growth, is now contracting, but Turkey's domestic beer and soft drinks market by contrast is growing, supported by the country's young, increasingly urban population.
Efes announced in July that total sales volumes were up 4 percent in the first-half of 2009. Beer volumes were down 1.9 percent in the period after sharp declines in the Russian beer market, but sales of soft drinks soared 13.8 percent helped by the introduction of new flavours and promotions.
Shares have risen some 61 percent since the start of 2009, lagging Istanbul's financials-dominated index of leading shares which is up 76 percent.