Yıldız Holding Vice Chairman Ali Ülker accepted the award from Berat Albayrak, Minister of Energy and Natural Resources.

Sustainability across all the Yildiz Holding companies is handled with great care. The company deeply understands that increasing scarcity of the world’s resources and the need for a long-term outlook is essential both for the company and for the wellbeing of future generations.

The sustainability projects undertaken by Yıldız Holding companies have proudly received many awards. In this year’s "Energy Efficiency Awards", organized by the Istanbul Chamber of Industry (ICI) Besler Gıda was announced the winner with its project concerning the efficient use of energy resources for sustainable development.  Berat Albayrak, Minister of Energy and Natural Resources, presented the award to Ali Ülker, Vice Chairman of Yıldız Holding, at the ceremony held recently at its ICI Odakule building.

The award recognized the efforts of Ülker Biskuvi, where Besler Gıda is an important raw material supplier. Ulker Bisküvi, which published its second Sustainability Report recently, achieved an overall reduction of 15% water consumption per unit production in the last two years. Describing the water savings, the company has already saved the equivalent daily water consumption of 2.1 million people. It is now set well to achieve its goal of a 30% overall reduction in water usage by 2024. 

The company also has a goal of increasing energy efficiency by 25 percent and has achieved energy savings of 9.3 thousand MWh. This is equivalent to around 1.1 million people's daily electricity consumption.

In the area of logistics; developments on vehicle capacity and utilization rates, the use of trailers and the efficiency of pallets have all combined to reduce the number of roundtrips. Since 2014, carbon emissions have reduced by about 430 tonnes on shipments from factories to distributors. Compared to the year 2015, the same amount of product took 2 million fewer kms to reach the consumer.

Mr. Mehmet Tutuncu, Chief Executive Officer of Ulker, commented about the performance of Company:

Ulker once more delivered strong and improved results in the first half 2016. The company’s  consolidated sales momentum has accelerated to 2.0 bn TL and EBITDA growth of 15.6% in an excess of top line growth, carrying the consolidated EBITDA margin to 13.5%.

We managed to build a momentum and continue to drive top line while enjoying historic high margins and net profit.

Ulker’s net profit for equity holders also increased by 46% over the same period, rising to TL 178 million from TL 122 million.

Our sustained growth demonstrates the strength of our brand, the quality of our innovations and how well our people are executing our strategy. Creating consistency across the value chain in order to achieve efficiency and our shared objectives is essential for sustaining this kind of growth. The progress we have made in the first half allow us to reconfirm our outlook for the full year.

The financial and operational successes we have achieved by the end of the quarter indicate that Ülker has a solid foundation for sustainable and profitable growth. The operations reached a solid and strong base where we aim to enjoy further top line growth and market share improvements in the years to come.

While we are in investing in sustainability, we are also targeting to maximize shareholder value by managing intangible assets including our human capital, brand and reputation value, and innovation culture

Mr. Mehmet Tutuncu, Chief Executive Officer of Ulker, commented about the performance of Company:

The successful results that were delivered in 2015 mainly derived from accurate planning and carefully but rapidly taking actions.
Despite challenges in 2015, Ülker Bisküvi improved its operating performance: Ülker increased its sales by 6% in 2015 and closed the year with a turnover of TL 3.1 billion. Ülker’s profit also incrased by 23% over the same period, rising to TL 260 million from TL 212 million.

Our strategic actions also had a positive impact on our success:
We aimed to maintain an affordable price range for our consumers during the 2015 period.

We kept our consumer relationships fresh, launching our new products while maintaining the quality and success of existing products.
We implemented models that will increase efficiency and savings across our value chain.
We developed relevant partnerships with retail channels.
We planned ahead and took fast action.

einforced our customers' longstanding trust in Ülker, thanks to the efforts of our employees who consistently strive for an outstanding performance.
The financial and operational successes we achieved by the end of the year indicate that Ülker has a solid foundation for sustainable and profitable growth despite the challenging conditions it has faced. Creating consistency across the value chain in order to achieve efficiency and our shared objectives is essential for sustaining this kind of growth.

While we are in investing in sustainability, we target to maximize shareholder value by managing intangible assets including our human capital, brand and reputation value, and innovation culture.

Mr. Mehmet Tutuncu, Chief Executive Officer of Ulker, commented about the performance of Company:

The successful results that were delivered in the first quarter of 2016 mainly derived from accurate planning and carefully but rapidly taking actions.

Ülker Bisküvi improved its operating performance: Ülker increased its sales revenue by 19% and closed the quarter with a turnover of TL 937 million. Ülker’s profit also increased by 134% over the same period, rising to TL 86 million from TL 37 million.
The financial and operational successes we achieved by the end of the quarter indicate that Ülker has a solid foundation for sustainable and profitable growth despite the challenging conditions it has faced. Creating consistency across the value chain in order to achieve efficiency and our shared objectives is essential for sustaining this kind of growth.

While we are in investing in sustainability, we target to maximize shareholder value by managing intangible assets including our human capital, brand and reputation value, and innovation culture.

We place great importance in making our customers happy and being happy at work

Our work has been based on providing different food products to the public. When we work, we take the best crops, process them, and provide them to people in the best way possible.

For us, sustainability is as much about making the earth happy as it is about making people happy. Sustainability means keeping earth alive to leave wheat crops for the future, and keeping people happy so they can be productive. It means leaving "a good world" for our children. It also means the investments we make today for tomorrow for a better world and happier people, as we run our business. It is ensuring the happiness of the people of tomorrow with these investments. To us, it also means that people are happy in a healthy environment with our products.
We place sustainability in the center of our business operations, and strive to leave a happy world to future generations.

Ülker Bisküvi’s first Sustainability Report was published. Click for the details.
We will be happy to receive your feedback on our report and Ülker Bisküvi’s efforts.
Please click here for the survey. We would be glad to hear your opinion on our report and the activities of Ülker Bisküvi.”

We achieved to end 2014 with successful results, where we also celebrated our 70th year anniversary. Our revenue grew by 5.2% to TL 2.891 mn which is a noteworthy growth considering tough conditions in the global markets in 2014. In previous year, input costs mainly cocoa prices which is a key ingredient in our operations elevated significantly. In the mean time volatility in currencies along with political and social unrest in neighborhood countries where Ulker exports were other key concerns in 2014. Despite all these developments, we accomplished to grow revenue as well as net profit in line with our assumptions.
 
In 2014, we divested our stakes in İstanbul Gıda, Birleşik Ticaret ve Rekor Pazarlama. Even tough this transaction resulted a lower sales revenue for the first year, it will assist to grow profitably in the years ahead. In addition to that, we increased our stake in Biskot by 30%. Ulker has a well developed financial and operational structure. We will continue to add value to our consumers, clients and all stakeholders through costumer centric, competitive, efficient and innovative approach of ours.
 
Following the initiation and implementation of cost and investment policies in 2014, we foresee faster growth in 2015.
 
Mehmet TÜTÜNCÜ
CEO

Ülker Bisküvi arranged a syndicated term loan facility in the amount of USD 550 mn, all sourced from international banks. With over subscribing almost three times the offer, Ülker achieved to lower interest rate.
 
Total of 26 banks with more than 10 new lending relationships from Europe, United States and Asia committed to the deal. The syndication loan was the largest and most diverse syndicate of banks for any Turkish corporate excluding banks in the past 10 years.
 
Initially launched for USD 300 mn and a rate of Libor + 2.90, however ended up with a loan amount of USD 550 mn and rate as Libor + %2.75 with a 3 year maturity on the back of significant demand to be a part of this transaction.
 
Some portion of the syndication term loan facility will be utilized to refinance the loan to be matured and the remaining amount will be used to finance Ülker’s local and regional investments.
 
Lead arranger was Bank of America Merrill Lynch, and Mizuho, SMBC, Bank of Tokyo Mtsubishi from Japan; Mega Bank from China, Bank of Taiwan from Taiwan, Al Khaliji, The Commercial Bank of Qatar, Emirates NBD, Ahli United Bank, Bank of Bahrain & Kuwait from Middle East, HSBC Bank plc, ING, Rabobank, Standard Chartered, Unicredit, Barclays Bank PLC, BNP Paribas, Societe Generale, Natixis, Commercial Bank International, Intesa Sanpaolo, JP. Morgan Chase Bank, The Royal Bank of Scotland, Citibank ve Deutsche Bank Luxembourg SA participated in the syndication loan.

The results that were delivered in the first quarter of 2015, indicates that we have accurately set our year end targets. Improved operational results prove Ulker’s strong financial and operational capabilities, in spite of our neighbor countries still struggle with instabilities and volatility in the currencies in Turkey. Sales revenue recorded TL 790 mn, which is almost flat compared to last year mainly due to lower export activities. On the other hand, our domestic operations continue to post double digit growth rates and persisted its growth trend. In particular, the growth will gain momentum with the start of second quarter and enjoy from the actions that aim to improve efficiency.
 
Divesture of our stakes in İstanbul Gıda, Birleşik Ticaret and Rekor Pazarlama enabled us to attain higher profitability levels despite this transaction resulted a lower revenue. In addition, SKU optimization at Biskot resulted lower volume and revenue, however contributed in the growth of profitability. These developments will lead lower volume and revenue for some seeable period nevertheless certainly contribute to our profitably growth strategy.
 
We will continue to add value to our consumers, clients and all stakeholders through costumer centric, competitive, efficient and innovative approach of ours. Following the initiation and implementation of cost and investment policies in 2014, we foresee faster growth in 2015.

Mr. Mehmet Tutuncu, Chief Executive Officer of Ulker, commented about the performance of Company:

The successful results that were delivered in the second quarter of 2015, confirms the timing of our actions and planning was right , while indicating we have accurately set our year end targets.

Despite that the neighbor countries still struggle with instabilities, volatility in the currencies and political uncertainty in Turkey, our strong brand and operational structure enable us to take necessary precautionary steps and allow us to operate successfully.

In particular, in the second quarter of the year both our sales revenue and profitability substantially increased. Our export sales performed better than the first quarter on the back of our intensive and efficient practices, while its profitability increased. Based on the preliminary figures, we believe the export operations will gain momentum in the second half of the year.

In addition, I am pleased with our operations in domestic market. The domestic operations continue to grow at double digits and persisted its growth trend in the first half of the year.

Operating profit increased by 33% to TL 187 million thanks to our intensive efforts to focus in efficiency and managing the  channels effectively.

We will continue to add value to our consumers, clients and all stakeholders through costumer centric, competitive, efficient and innovative approach of ours. Following the initiation and implementation of cost and investment policies in 2014, we foresee faster growth in 2015.