Sabancı Holding announces financial results

Sabancı Holding, which continues its investments in Turkey and abroad and is progressing successfully towards its medium-term targets, announced its 2023 financial results with inflation accounting applied. Sabancı Holding increased its combined sales by 6 per cent to TRY 811.1 billion in 2023, while the Holding's consolidated net profit reached TRY 15.4 billion. In his comments on the matter, Sabancı Holding Chief Executive Officer Cenk Alper stated, "Global financial uncertainties, a high inflation environment and geopolitical tensions continued to limit the visibility in the world economy throughout the past year. On the other hand, on 6 February, we experienced an earthquake disaster with few parallels in Turkish and world history. During this period, while we stood by the people of the region, we also continued to be in the field with all our teams to ensure uninterrupted service delivery, especially in our energy business line and public services. In light of these developments, we saw once again that difficulties and uncertainties are now an integral part of our operations," he said.

Our appetite for new major investments is growing

Emphasizing that the Sabancı Group operated with an approach that prioritized balance sheet quality during such a difficult period and made agility, adaptation and flexibility part of company culture, Cenk Alper said, "With inflation accounting, our bank and financial services companies, which naturally have high net monetary asset positions on their balance sheets, have displayed downward financial performance in terms of net profit due to high monetary losses. However, with our strong cash flow and solid non-bank equity returns, we have both increased our Holding cash position to an all-time high on an annual basis and maintained the combined non-bank and non-insurance net debt/EBITDA ratio at 0.8x. This situation is also increasing our appetite for new major investments," he said.

We will focus on new growth platforms such as artificial intelligence and cloud technologies

Recalling that the Holding established a Digital Group Directorate during 2023, Cenk Alper said, "In this business line, while we strengthen our cyber security and digital marketing capabilities, we will also focus on new growth platforms such as artificial intelligence and cloud technologies. We will continue to take steps to position SabancıDx as a service provider, transform Teknosa, which continues its multi-channel growth, into a fully digital identity, and further strengthen Carrefoursa's digital capabilities in its light asset-focused growth strategy," he said. [caption id="attachment_160653" align="aligncenter"] Cenk Alper[/caption] Cenk Alper continued, "The fact that over 60 per cent of total new customer acquisitions in Akbank's 2.3 million net active customer growth achieved last year came from digital channels is the clearest indication that digital is not just a matter of efficiency and cost improvements; it is a business culture that opens new horizons for rapid and quality growth for all companies. On the other hand, one of the prerequisites for thinking in a digital-focused manner is to stand by the right ideas. In this direction, the number of funds and startups we have invested in since 2020 has exceeded 30. However, in 2023, we realized the Sabancı Technology Centre in Germany, which will host Çimsa and Kordsa within Sabancı Holding."

Cenk Alper, who said that important steps were taken on sustainability during the past year, continued as follows:

"In our energy business line, we brought Enerjisa Üretim's installed capacity to 3,792 MW together with our renewable energy investments that we put into operation. In the Hydrogen Valley established by Enerjisa Üretim in Bandırma, we produced approximately 600 kilograms of hydrogen last year. In order to take our experience in renewable energy to international markets, we are realizing our second solar energy investment in the United States in Texas. With the realization of the 232 MW solar energy plant for which we signed the agreement, our solar energy investments in the United States will have reached 500 MW. After Europe's first electric intercity bus, Temsa signed an R&D agreement with Portuguese company CaetanoBus to realize Turkey's first hydrogen-fuelled intercity bus. We increased the capacity of our electric vehicle charging stations, which cover 43 per cent of Turkey, by approximately three times in 2023 to 5,379 kW. On the other hand, Kordsa's establishment of its polymer compounding business unit and Çimsa's calcium aluminate cement (CAC) investments were important indicators of our commitment to growth in sustainable materials."

Next year we will celebrate our 100th anniversary

"The only way to take care of the legacy left to us by Ulu Önder Mustafa Kemal Atatürk is through hard work. With this understanding, we realized the third Sabancı Republic Mobilization, which we launched in 2021 and quickly turned into Turkey's largest social responsibility movement, led by our Sabancı Volunteers. We signed eight main projects and more than 1,000 events focused on education and development. As part of our Sabancı Republic Mobilization activities, we established the Sabancı Hatay Incubation Center in Hatay, one of the provinces most affected by the earthquake disaster, in cooperation with Habitat Association and Brisa, Kordsa, Temsa and Teknosa. As a Group that will celebrate its 100th anniversary next year, we are determined to continue to uphold Republic and Atatürk values with new investments, projects and implementations that we will undertake in the coming period," he concluded.