Pursuant to letter dated 31 March 2020 sent by the Republic of Turkey Ministry of Trade ("Ministry") to the Union of Chambers and Commodity Exchanges of Turkey, numerous chambers of commerce throughout Turkey published an announcement regarding dividend distributions on their websites starting from 2 April 2020 ("Announcement").
The Announcement states that the Ministry highlights the importance of preserving the capital companies' equities. According to the Announcement, the Ministry bases upon Article 13(5) of the Regulation on the Procedures and Principles of General Assembly Meetings of Joint Stock Companies and Representatives of Ministry of Customs and Trade to be Present at These Meetings, and states that the companies except for the state-owned subsidiaries should, in terms of the resolutions on dividend distribution that they will discuss at their ordinary general assembly meetings pertaining to the year 2019, (i) not distribute previous years' profits; (ii) not distribute profit in excess of ¼ of their net profit of the year 2019; and (iii) not authorize their board of directors to distribute advance dividends.
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