Marti stock falls after Turkish unfair competition ruling

Marti (MRT) shares dropped Monday after a Turkish court ruled that the company's ride-hailing practices amount to unfair competition. The ruling does not order the app shut down. Marti said it will appeal and services continue normally.

The Istanbul-based company, which operates a mobility platform spanning scooters, taxis and minibuses, has been locked in a legal dispute with local taxi associations that argued its model undercuts regulated fares. The court agreed with the claim but stopped short of blocking Marti's app, a decision the company called a partial win.

"We respect the court's process but believe the ruling misreads the regulatory intent behind ride-hailing," Marti said in a statement. The appeal will be heard by a higher court, a process that could take months. In the meantime, Marti's existing operations remain unaffected.

For investors, the ruling introduces a layer of regulatory risk that had been priced in only partially. Marti's stock had rallied in recent weeks on a broader rebound in Turkish equities and optimism around transport-sector reforms. Monday's move erased roughly half of those gains.

The Turkish ride-hailing market has been a battleground between app-based companies and traditional taxi operators. Regulators have taken a cautious stance, wary of disrupting a legacy industry that employs hundreds of thousands of drivers. Marti's model – which uses dynamic pricing and a digital dispatch system – has been a lightning rod for criticism from unionised taxi groups.

The court's explicit finding of unfair competition is a negative reading of the company's future legal exposure. Even if the appeal succeeds, a final ruling against Marti could open the door to franchise-level penalties rather than an outright ban. The company did not disclose any pending civil claims tied to the ruling.

Analysts covering Marti have flagged the case as a near-term overhang. Revenue growth has been strong – Marti reported 38% year-over-year growth in its most recent quarter – but legal uncertainty tends to compress valuation multiples for Turkish tech stocks. The company trades at roughly 12x forward earnings, in line with regional peers but below its own historical average.

The next concrete marker is the appeal hearing date, which the court has not yet scheduled. Until then, Marti's app-related revenue stream remains intact. Investors who built positions on the regulatory-clearance thesis now have a harder case to make, at least until the higher court weighs in.

Shares of Marti closed at 4.52 lira, down 9.4% on the session. Volume was roughly double the 30-day average, suggesting institutional positioning ahead of the ruling's release.