Ülker Announces 2021 Financial Results

Ülker Reports 2021 Financial Results Ülker Bisküvi announced its 2021 financial results. Despite all global uncertainties during the pandemic period, Ülker strengthened its position in its markets and continued growth in domestic and international operations. Ülker Bisküvi's 2021 revenue reached TRY 12.5 billion, according to the disclosure sent to the Public Disclosure Platform (KAP). The company's domestic operations grew by 27.4 percent, while export and international operations increased by 31.5 percent. Export and international operations' share of revenue rose to 41.1 percent. Despite input cost increases since the start of the pandemic, Ülker CEO Mete Buyurgan stated that the company navigated the period through uninterrupted production and continued value creation for Turkey, leveraging new products, a balanced product portfolio, geographically diversified operations, risk management structure and 78 years of experience. Buyurgan said: "With our vision to make our country a production and export hub, we continued our efforts to gain strength in global competition and maintain our market positions and leadership. We strengthened our position in Middle East, North Africa and Central Asia markets. We lead the biscuit market in Saudi Arabia and Egypt. In Kazakhstan, we rank third in chocolate. We continued steady growth in Kazakhstan. We maintained our market leadership in biscuits and chocolate in Turkey. Turkey operations accounted for 58.9 percent of revenue, export and international operations for 41.1 percent, and our consolidated EBITDA margin was 18.6 percent. Export and international operations' share of EBITDA rose to 46.3 percent. Although fluctuations in the last quarter of 2021 brought short-term challenges, we are acting in line with our solid strategies to overcome them in the medium and long term," he said.

Continuous New Product Launches

Buyurgan said the company continued to grow the market with innovative products in 2021, stating: "We launched a total of 86 new products last year. Through improvements in our innovation processes, we increased the share of new products in our revenue compared to previous years. With the support of our consumers and stakeholders, we are working toward sustaining our growth in the coming years." Noting that Ülker exports to over 100 countries worldwide and has more than 9,000 employees, Buyurgan, who pointed out that the company continues production in 13 factories—9 in Turkey and 4 abroad—shared the following information regarding 2021:

• We achieved significant progress in our sustainability efforts conducted under a waste-free company model. Our achievements enabled us to be actively represented on international platforms such as the S&P Global ESG Index, S&P Global Corporate Sustainability Assessment List, and edie Sustainability Leaders Awards. 2022 started with good news. We were included for the second time in the Corporate Sustainability Assessment list of S&P Global, which examines 7554 companies. We remained the sole Turkish food company in the food products category. In the coming period, climate change, food preservation, sustainable raw material sourcing and water risks will be areas we prioritize.
• In the 14th Turkey's Lovemarks 2021 Research conducted in collaboration with MediaCat-Ipsos, we ranked first as the most beloved snacking brand.
• We acquired Önem Gıda, from which we had procured semi-finished products for many years, bringing all production processes for chocolate and bakery products in-house end-to-end. Thus, we took an important step under our export and sustainable growth strategy.
• In line with our sustainable growth targets, we launched many innovative projects under research and development, innovation and digitalization. We closely follow technology, especially IoT and Industry 4.0. We monitor supply chain processes end-to-end and closely track consumer behavior and trends. We continue efficiency work through digitalization projects.