Şişecam Holds 86th Ordinary General Assembly Meeting

Şişecam Holds 86th Annual General Meeting Şişecam, a global player operating in all major areas of glass with production facilities in 14 countries across four continents and sales to over 150 countries, held its 86th Annual General Meeting on 28 March with shareholder participation. During the General Meeting, participants were presented with Şişecam's 2021 Activity Report titled "Advancing with Pride." Görkem Elverici, General Manager of Şişecam, made the following remarks: "2021 was a year worldwide in which scientific developments increased hopes against the global pandemic, resulting in recovering demand, while production struggled to keep pace with this rising speed of demand. Şişecam, experiencing the gratifying positive results of the merger step it took to carry forward its 86 years of accumulated knowledge and experience into the future, completed a year full of transformation, differentiation, growth and investment. The lean and agile structure of Unified Şişecam enabled proactive management of risks and evaluation of strategic opportunities. Through the performance it demonstrated throughout the year, Şişecam once again demonstrated it is ready for today and tomorrow as a powerful example of the saying 'A good captain is known in rough seas.'" he said. "In 2021, the world went through days when it had to reposition itself according to changing conditions created daily by difficulties in sourcing raw materials and supply chain disruptions. With its foresight competence and strong adaptation capability fed by its experience, Şişecam continued to take the right steps with bold and rational decisions despite these challenges on a global scale. Drawing strength from its competencies, Şişecam demonstrated cautious and well-deserved confidence, making investments that added value to its investors, customers, the economies of the countries in which it operates and the entire ecosystem. Thanks to its long-term perspective and readiness to evaluate investment opportunities, it accomplished major breakthroughs. Building a solid digital structure through award-winning digital transformation projects and equipping all business processes with capabilities for data-driven decision-making, Şişecam gained momentum in growth with its right steps, achieving revenue of TRY 32.1 billion in 2021." Şişecam continues to sustain its growth that creates value for the entire ecosystem despite the pandemic and global economic uncertainties caused by the epidemic, by managing risks correctly in line with its long-term strategic plans and properly evaluating sound investment opportunities. Şişecam, a global player in all major areas of glass including float glass, household glassware, glass containers and glass fibre, as well as in business lines covering soda ash and chromium compounds, held its 86th Annual General Meeting on 28 March 2022 with shareholder participation. Şişecam's 2021 Activity Report titled "Advancing with Pride," which covers investments and activities and presents a vision of sustainable future, was also shared with shareholders at the General Meeting.

2021: A Year of Growth and Investment for Şişecam

Görkem Elverici, General Manager of Şişecam, made the following remarks on the occasion of the 86th Annual General Meeting: "2021 was a year worldwide in which scientific developments increased hopes against the global pandemic, resulting in recovering demand, while production struggled to keep pace with this rising speed of demand. Şişecam, experiencing the gratifying positive results of the merger step it took to carry forward its 86 years of accumulated knowledge and experience into the future, successfully completed another year full of transformation, differentiation, growth and investment. The lean and agile structure of Unified Şişecam enabled proactive management of risks and evaluation of strategic opportunities. As a result of all these competencies, Şişecam managed to achieve results exceeding its targets in a challenging economic atmosphere. Through operations it managed with collective wisdom, operations respectful of nature and society, practices creating sustainable value for all stakeholders, transformation initiatives, investments and value-added products, it once again proved through strong performance that it is a global and future-oriented leading company. For Şişecam, the relationship between yesterday, today and tomorrow is a cause-and-effect relationship. In 2021, we announced our 2022-2030 Care For Next strategy, which serves as a roadmap for the responsibilities we committed to undertaking to protect the planet, empower society and transform lives, which are our sustainability priorities. Şişecam, which has set a zero-carbon target for 2050 in line with its 2022-2030 Care for Next strategy aligned with and integrated into the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (UN-SDGs), aims to extend this vision it is presenting with the goal of a better world in different areas, starting from raw material sourcing to production, from sales to customers, encompassing all stakeholders and processes in the value chain. Şişecam views its sustainability approach not as an obligation it must fulfill to comply with production standards set worldwide, but as an important responsibility, and sees the concept of "Sustainable Future" as its top priority," he said. "The rapidly evolving glass sector and the ever-expanding areas of application of glass offer great opportunities on a path to growth in harmony with nature and a sustainable future. To better explain these opportunities and most importantly to raise awareness among economic and social decision-makers, Şişecam took a leading role in the process of 2022 being declared the "Year of Glass" by the United Nations. The Year of Glass is of great importance in terms of emphasizing globally the role undertaken by the glass sector in combating climate change, protecting the environment and producing solutions for energy savings, aiming to leave future generations a better planet. We believe that the 2022 International Year of Glass will create new areas of development and success for Şişecam, the single global player operating in all major areas of glass, with production facilities in 4 continents and 14 countries, and reaching 150 countries with its sales."

"We Demonstrated Cautious and Well-Deserved Confidence"

"In 2021, we went through days when we had to reposition ourselves according to changing conditions created daily by pandemic-related difficulties, difficulties in sourcing raw materials, and supply chain disruptions. With its foresight competence and strong adaptation capability fed by its experience, Şişecam continued to take the right steps with bold and rational decisions despite the challenges experienced on a global scale in 2021. Displaying cautious and well-deserved confidence against all difficulties, Şişecam, as in every period, made its growth moves in 2021 with a holistic development approach and foresight in line with its targets. It was able to realize its investments that added value to its investors, customers, the economies of the countries in which it operates and the entire ecosystem thanks to its long-term perspective and readiness to evaluate investment opportunities." "Şişecam continued uninterrupted strong investment moves in 2021 both in Turkey and in the international arena that would contribute to the growth of country economies and locomotive sectors. In a challenging global economic and geopolitical atmosphere where only well-managed institutions can differentiate positively; it evaluated the opportunities that emerged according to the conditions of the day not through instant decisions, but in line with long-term strategies. As a well-established company distinguished by smart technology use and qualified human resources, managed with collective wisdom, it was among the most prepared institutions against global fluctuations. For example, today we operate with 8 facilities in Russia, which is facing sanctions due to war; we produce in glass containers, household glassware and float glass. In Russia, where we hold a leading position in glass containers and household glassware, we are able to manage our operations as more than 90 percent of our production is sold to the domestic market. We encounter different fields and times with similar fluctuations; cost changes, supply chain disruptions. However, Şişecam, with its strong crisis management capabilities, its structure made more agile through the merger, and its admirable results from major digital transformation initiatives, succeeds in creating enviable outcomes. By determining its direction in the long term, it also evaluates investment opportunities that emerge according to the conditions of the day in line with this strategy." "Building a solid digital structure through award-winning digital transformation projects and equipping all business processes with capabilities for data-driven decision-making, Şişecam gained momentum in growth with its right steps, achieving revenue of TRY 32.1 billion in 2021. Despite a global economic atmosphere full of difficulties last year, we achieved gratifying results both financially and in terms of operational performance. With our results reflected in share price, at the end of 2021, while the BIST-100 Index gained 26%, BIST-30 Index gained 24%, BIST Industrial Index gained 45% and BIST Holding Index gained 23%, Şişecam shares performed significantly above the indices with a gain of 87%. We continued to support shareholder value positively by effectively using tools such as dividend distribution and share buyback programs. We continued our efforts to create additional shareholder value through increasing our dividend payment performance that we wish to maintain long-term and our share buyback strategies. In the coming period, our goal remains to create the highest possible value for all our shareholders through our high-return investment expenditures, our rising financial performance, our dividend payment policies that we do not compromise on, with stable and proportionally increasing dividend payments we target and our optimized share buyback strategies." "Within the framework of the share buyback program announced by Şişecam in February 2021, the company has repurchased close to 44 million shares to date, reaching a ratio of 1.41 percent of its total capital of the shares it owns. The fund used in the share buybacks is currently at only one-third of the fund allocated for this program. Şişecam's 2026-maturity Eurobond and the country's Eurobond of the same maturity realized a yield spread of 90 basis points on an annual average. Pricing in the international bond market was higher for Şişecam bonds. The main factors in the formation of this pricing, which also points to lower risk perception compared to country risk, can be listed as geographical diversification, limited business line concentration, balanced operating portfolio structure, successful financial management and increasing profitability. We firmly believe that we will achieve new successes in 2022 and thank our employees, our customers, our shareholders, our business partners, our suppliers and all our stakeholders," he said.

Şişecam by the Numbers at the End of 2021

 

• Carries out production operations in 45 facilities located in 14 countries across 4 continents.
• Produced 5.6 million tonnes of glass, 2.3 million tonnes of soda and 4.5 million tonnes of industrial raw materials.
• Consolidated net sales at the end of the operating period rose to TRY 32.1 billion.
• Made total investments of TRY 2.6 billion.
• Obtained net profit of TRY 9.2 billion.
• International sales represented 60% of total sales.

 

Şişecam's Value-Creating 2021 Investments

 

• Şişecam made a strategic investment decision to the United States in the natural soda field in 2021. The soda ash capacity it managed, which was 2.5 million tonnes before the investment, has now reached 5 million tonnes. The capacity is expected to reach 10 million tonnes in 2027 and Şişecam is expected to become a world leader in soda ash in 2026.
• Şişecam, which made its first investment in glass containers in Europe in Hungary, plans to commission this facility in 2023. With the completion of the investment in 2025, it will have additional production capacity of 330,000 tonnes annually.
• Şişecam announced two new float glass line investments exceeding TRY 5.5 billion (EUR 344 million) for architectural glass and automotive glass needs, in line with its goal to meet rapidly rising glass demand in Turkey.
• Şişecam announced a glass container investment to be implemented in Eskişehir with an investment of TRY 1.3 billion (EUR 85 million). With a furnace investment of 155,000 tonnes, it aims to respond to growing glass container demand.
• In the past year, Şişecam made its first investment in the biotechnology field in green and circular Basalia Technology. Pilot applications of the system that removes waste from being an environmental problem have been completed at Şişecam facilities. Şişecam will work on the global dissemination of this green and circular Turkish technology.
• While realizing its investments, Şişecam also made an important acquisition in 2022 in the refractory field to enable it to manage risks related to its supply chain. In the refractory material field, which has strategic importance in glass furnace investments and cold repairs, it acquired Refel, one of the world's leading manufacturers, from Italy.