Kordsa Announces Strategic Cooperation with Japan Science and Technology Agency and Japan's NITE

Sabancı Holding, one of the affiliates of Sabancı Holding operating in 5 continents with the vision of "strengthening life through our passion," Kordsa continued to create value for its stakeholders in the second quarter of 2020. Kordsa announced that Axiom Materials, which it acquired in the United States in 2019 and produces high-temperature resistant Oxide-Oxide ceramic composite materials, will develop its product portfolio in the second half of 2020. Kordsa, which has become a brand that now reinforces not only the tires of aircraft but also their wings, fuselages, cabin interiors and engines, managed to ensure business continuity across all geographies where it operates and protect its financial structure through strategic and operational decisions taken in the first half of 2020, when the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic were felt worldwide.

In the first six months of the year, Kordsa's revenue was TRY 2,007 million and net profit was TRY 75 million. In the same period, earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization amounted to TRY 267.5 million.

Kordsa, which achieves sustainable profitable growth through the technological advantage it creates, entered into a new partnership. Axiom Materials, one of Kordsa's companies in the United States, acquired a new license that will enable it to supply products to energy generation applications with significant potential. Under this scope, Axiom Materials, a leader in the production of Oxide-Oxide ceramic composite materials, will develop carbon/SiC and SiC/SiC composite intermediate products that can withstand temperatures up to 1400°C under the license of the Japanese Science and Technology Institute and Japanese NITE (Nano-Infiltration and Transient Eutectic-phase) company, and will expand its product portfolio. Kordsa, which produces Oxide-Oxide ceramic composite materials resistant to high temperatures of 1100°C for aerospace and aviation industries as well as various industrial applications, will be able to serve a wider segment with this expansion in its product portfolio. Through this new capability, Kordsa will also be able to supply SiC/SiC materials for energy generation applications, which is NITE's area of expertise. The C/SiC composites that Kordsa has begun to produce are primarily used in static components of jet engines and in automotive or aircraft disk brake applications. SiC/SiC materials are preferred in aerospace applications, particularly in aircraft jet engine power systems, where excellent resistance to high temperatures, complex static and dynamic stresses and strains, as well as high corrosion and erosion conditions and time-dependent deformation changes is required.

Among the industrial applications of SiC/SiC composites are energy, petrochemical industry, chemicals, geothermal and combustion facilities and transportation.

Kordsa CEO Ali Çalışkan made the following statement regarding the first half of 2020: "During this period, while continuing to create value for our stakeholders, we added a new market of strategic importance to the areas touched by our technology. In addition to aerospace, defense and space industries, we have now added ceramic composite materials to our product portfolio that can be used in applications reaching 1400°C. This will enable us to supply products to energy generation applications with significant potential. Our license providers, the Japanese Science and Technology Institute and Japanese NITE company, are among the world's most important experts in this technology. We are bringing together the knowledge of NITE with our industry experience and broad operational scope. The results of this partnership will undoubtedly be exciting. Alongside all these positive developments, our hope is to return to healthy times as a world as soon as possible. By keeping the health of our employees, customers and their families as our top priority, we will continue to strengthen life with greater geographic reach and deeper capabilities."