Sabancı Holding Will Invest TRY 4.5 Billion in 2017

24-02-2017
  • GÜLER SABANCI, CHAIRMAN OF SABANCI HOLDING BOARD OF DIRECTORS: “OUR SAVINGS, VALUES AND CONTINUITY ARE OUR MOST PRECIOUS ASSETS.”
  • “OUR FOCUS IS TO WORK, PRODUCE, INVEST, GROW, AND CONTINUOUSLY SEEK FOR SUCCESS.”
  • ZAFER KURTUL, CEO OF SABANCI HOLDING: “OUR INVESTMENT AMOUNT IN THE LAST FIVE YEARS AMOUNTED TO TRY 17.3 BILLION.”


Sabancı Holding announced its financial results for the year 2016. The figures show that combined net sales in 2016 amounted to TRY 53.6 billion with an increase of 12%, while net consolidated profits amounted to TRY 2.7 billion with an increase of 19%.

Güler Sabancı, the Chairman of the Board of Directors of Sabancı Holding, says:

"As Sabancı Group, we have been working and creating value for over 90 years as an important player of the Turkish economy and for the social development of the country. The experience, values, and continuity we have created are our most precious assets. I remember the late Mr. Sakıp Sabancı and all others who brought us where we are today with respect.

Zafer Kurtul has been with the Sabancı Group for nearly 20 years. He started his career as an Assistant General Manager at Akbank, continued as the CEO of Akbank, and then as the CEO of our Holding for nearly 7 years. He had great contributions in all our processes, in this crucial run, and in important decisions. I would like to express our gratitude for his services on behalf of our Group. I would also like to congratulate him again in your presence as he carried the flag successfully, and I wish him great success in his future.

We have reached our current level thanks to our strong resources, healthy financials, and more importantly, with our strong human resources and strong corporate culture. We have reached this day by running through all these stages, by accumulating experience and savings for more than ninety years, and by creating value. We have a healthy and strong structure by dint of these stages executed successfully, and obstacles that we overcame until today.

On this infrastructure, Mr. Kurtul will hand this flag over to Mehmet Göçmen. We will run new stages under the leadership of Mehmet Göçmen. Mehmet Göçmen has been with our Group for 14 years. His journey started as the General Manager of Akçansa, continued as the President of our Cement Group, then as the President of our Human Resources Group, and finally, he acted as the President of our Energy Group for the last three years.

In the last decade, we have created a leader in the energy industry. Enerjisa is the leader in this industry. Mehmet Göçmen has been a very important contributor in the growth of Enerjisa in the last three years, in the positioning of Enerjisa and in successful preparation of Enerjisa for the future. As the Board of Directors, we are fully confident that with his experience and competencies, he will be very successful in this new era and this new stage of Sabancı Holding. I wish him the best of luck.

Mr. Kurtul will announce our 2016 results in a little while. 2016 was a special and a difficult year. But we have never lost our focus as Sabancı. Our focus is to work, produce, invest, grow, and continuously seek for success. We achieved successful results in this difficult year of 2016 with the devoted work of all Sabancı employees without ever losing this focus. I wholeheartedly congratulate and thank my colleagues - all the employees of Sabancı."

Sabancı Holding CEO Zafer Kurtul evaluated the year 2016 and the Group's results, and expressed the following:

"The year 2016 for the Sabancı Group was a year that we have grown by increasing our operational profitability and a year that we have reached our targets in the industries we engage in. 2016 was a year in which we bore the fruit in all industries we operate in. We increased our consolidated net profits by 19% to TRY 2 billion 700 million in 2016. Our combined net sales increased by 12% to TRY 53.6 billion in the same period. Our combined EBITDA increased by 25% to TRY 11.2 billion.

INVESTMENTS FOR 4.1 BILLION LIRAS IN 2016

Kurtul continued: "We believe in Turkey, and our investments continue. 2016 has been a difficult year in the global sense, but we have made the biggest investment in the last five years as Sabancı Holding this year with TRY 4.1 billion. "

INVESTMENTS FOR 4.5 BILLION LIRAS IN 2017 FOR A STRONGER TURKEY

Referring to Sabancı Holding's 2017 plans, Kurtul said: "Our target in 2017 is also immense. As Sabancı Holding, we will continue our investments this year without slowing down, we aim to invest TRY 4.5 billion for a stronger Turkey and to grow in double-digit.

As Sabancı Holding, we will continue to work to create more value for our stakeholders and our country in every industry we operate, in every business we do with our innovation culture and operational excellence understanding in 2017, and we will continue to run toward our targets."

ENERJISA PROVIDES ELECTRICITY FOR 1 IN EVERY 4 PEOPLE IN TURKEY

Kurtul continued his address with their energy activities: "In the year 2016 - which was very important as it was the first year of the new tariff period for electricity distribution - we have continued to create value for all of our stakeholders, especially the consumers, in our distribution areas for our important network investments, productivity improvements and activities for increasing service quality. We will continue to create value for our country with our ongoing investments in distribution regions.

Enerjisa will complete an investment of over TRY 1.5 billion in distribution and production in 2017. Enerjisa provides electricity for 1 in every 4 people in Turkey, and this also shows the magnitude that Enerjisa has reached.

The year 2016 was a year that we successfully completed our major production investments. We set about 1140 MW installed capacity into operation in 2016. Enerjisa, the largest privately-owned electricity producer in Turkey with an installed capacity of 3600 MW with contemporary technology, has a 55% share in installed capacity based on domestic and renewable energy sources."

Kurtul stated that they were offering technology and innovative products and solutions to their customers in retail sales, taking steps parallel to the electricity market liberalization process, and he expressed that they saw the drop in the free consumer limit for the year 2017 as a positive step towards the liberalization of the electricity market by EMRA. Kurtul said, "From now on it is of utmost importance to maintain the developments towards liberalization. We find the steps taken towards further competitiveness and efficiency of the energy market very important."

WE ARE ONE OF THE WORLD'S LEADING MANUFACTURERS OF WHITE CEMENT

"Despite the energy prices and difficult weather conditions in the past quarter, our cement companies have left a successful year behind. Akçansa, the leading construction materials company of Turkey, has a sales revenue of TRY 1 Billion 461 million, gross profits of TRY 413.9 million, and a periodic profit of TRY 287 million.

We are also pleased to see that Akçansa has differentiated itself from the competition with innovative products, services and platforms they develop, and 2016 was a year of new records for Akçansa. We have our signature on Turkey's pride projects. For Yavuz Sultan Selim Bridge, which united the two sides Bosporus for the third time and reached the world literature with its firsts, we supplied our product 100+ Concrete that was developed 100% by Turkish engineers and produced 100% with the efforts of Turkish workers. We have won an 'Excellence Award' in the USA with this product and we have forged our name among the exemplary applications in the world with the successful operation carried out under the challenging conditions of the Bosphorus.

Our Çimsa company, one of the world's leading white cement manufacturers, closed 2016 with a net sales revenue of TRY 1 billion 170 million and net profits of TRY 249 million. 2016 was a year that we made significant investments in Çimsa. The investment we made in our Eskişehir Factory will be completed in the second quarter of 2017 and we will produce both gray and white cement in this factory in addition to our Mersin Factory. Thanks to investments exceeding TRY 600 million we have made in our Afyon and Eskişehir factories, I believe Çimsa will continue to be the leader of the industry and strengthen its position among the world's cement manufacturers."

WE FOCUSED ON INNOVATION IN INDUSTRY AND WE BROKE SOME GROUND

“We have strengthened our new client and new market targets with the investments and innovations continued in 2016 for our industrial companies. Last year was a period that we focused on R&D and innovation, and broke new grounds.

In addition to launching six new products, Temsa Bus achieved a 52% increase in sales figures abroad. Our Temsa Bus company, which has not lost its market leadership in Turkey for the past three years, made a difference in its segment with the first 100% domestic electric car it produced in cooperation with Aselsan, under the brand of Avenue EV. Today, seeing Temsa buses in 66 different countries of the world gives us a distinct pride and makes our fellow countryman proud as well.

One of every three tires sold in Turkey today has the Brisa brand. Brisa holds a very important position in its segment with Lassa and Bridgestone brands. There are more than 580 Lassa sales points in over 60 countries today.

Our Kordsa company recorded a net profit of TRY 178.1 Million in 2016 with an increase of 53% compared to the previous year. Kordsa, celebrating its 44th year, is the world leader in the industry with its production facilities in 5 countries and its export to 42 countries. One of every two automobile tires, and two of every three aircraft tires are strengthened by Kordsa today. In addition to this, it broke crucial grounds with 407 patent applications and 128 discoveries in the past year.

IT HAS BEEN A YEAR THAT WE HAVE FOCUSED ON CUSTOMER SATISFACTION IN RETAIL

Referring to Sabancı Holding's activities in the retail field, Kurtul said, "2017 will be a year that we will focus on balanced growth and profitability with CarrefourSA." Stating that they increased their sales by 14% in 2016, Kurtul expressed that CarrefourSA's operational profitability (EBITDA) was 2.7% in the last quarter of 2016 and its net profits were at a point of breaking even.

"Our CarrefourSA company, which serves with 656 stores in 58 cities of Turkey, hosts 500,000 customers a day. We have a CarrefourSA today that invests more in customer satisfaction. We call our customers our priority and we are working with all our power to provide better service to our customers in 2017 as we did until today.

With TeknoSA, our leading brand in the electronics retail sector, we are Turkey's most popular technology chain in 70 cities with 210 stores. More than 200 million people visited TeknoSA stores and teknosa.com in 2016."

OUR COMPANIES MAINTAINED THEIR STRONG POSITION IN THE INSURANCE INDUSTRY

Kurtul also mentioned the activities of Sabancı Holding Insurance Group: "AvivaSA continued to lead the sector in 2016 just as it did in 2015, with a market share of 19.4%, and with a fund size of TRY 11.8 billion. In the private pensions industry, where 18 firms are active, AvivaSA achieved 28% growth in fund size and 6% growth in the number of participants. The number of participants of the company has reached to 876 thousand people."

"Our company Aksigorta, which generated TRY 1.9 billion worth of premiums in 2016, increased its premium production by 17 percent compared to the previous year. According to the financial statements prepared on the basis of International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS), Aksigorta's net profit reached TRY 71 million.

While Aksigorta maintained its profit-oriented policy in traffic insurance, it increased its market share by 24% in motor insurance, one of the most important branches of the industry. Aksigorta grew in parallel with the sector in the fire branch with 10%. Aksigorta brought its product portfolio to a more profitable balance and increased the share of non-auto branches within its portfolio to 56%."

TRY 219 BILLION OF CREDIT SUPPORT FROM AKBANK TO TURKISH ECONOMY IN 2016

Kurtul mentioned that Akbank was awarded the title of Best Bank in Central and Eastern Europe: "In 2016, Akbank increased its assets by 17% to exceed TRY 294 billion. Our bank's consolidated net profits were TRY 4 billion 854 million liras". Stating that Akbank is one of the important actors of the Turkish economy, Kurtul said: "In 2016, our credits reached to TRY 219 billion, of which TRY 179 billion is cash loans. Our support to real economy was especially significant. Our TRY commercial credits increased by 26%, nearly doubling the industry averages. We have reached 321 thousand companies employing 4.1 million people with our commercial credits, including SMEs."

INTERNAL PROMOTION RATE IN SABANCI GROUP WAS 75%

Kurtul stated that they have continued their activities with tens of thousands of employees in 16 different countries of the world, and the rate of internal promotion in the Group has reached to 75% since 2012. "The employees of Sabancı Group are our most important asset. Our employees constitute a very young organization with an average age of 33.8. We attribute particular importance to women's employment in the Sabancı Group. Our view of "Equality in the Work" is an important value that we promote and champion. We provide an average of 44 hours of training per employee per year across the Group. We always underline that we are a "big family". Seeing that we have invested in our employees and increased the average training hours makes us happy."

SABANCI OF TURKEY

Referring to the efforts of the Sabancı Foundation, Kurtul said, "Sabancı Group is one of the leading institutions serving the economic and social development of our country. We share the power we achieved on the commercial side with social and cultural spheres we maintain with our social responsibility activities in the Sabancı Foundation and the Group companies on a wider scale. We are delighted to see the fruits of 43 years of continuous efforts of the Sabancı Foundation all over Turkey today. Our foundation has created more than 120 permanent artifacts in 78 settlements scattered throughout Turkey since its establishment. It granted more than 44.000 scholarships. It supported projects aimed at promoting equal opportunities for women, youth and disabled people and active participation in collective activities by grant programs. We continue to serve our country with the responsibility of being the Sabancı of Turkey."