Tüpraş tops Fortune 500 list

ISTANBUL - Hürriyet Daily News

The massive complex of the Tüpraş oil refinery at Aliağa in northwestern Turkey is seen in this photo. Tüpraş has increased its sales revenues by 58 percent since last year earning it the top spot on Turkey’s Fortune 500 list. DHA photo

Turkish firms increased their net sales by 22 percent in 2011 to 553 million Turkish Liras despite the effects of the European economic crisis.

According to the Fortune 500 Turkey list, Turkey’s oil refiner, Tüpraş, topped the list with the highest turnover, while Turkish Airlines jumped five notches from the year before to reach sixth spot, with the largest number of sales registered as export revenues. Tüpraş was able to maintain its leading spot on the Fortune 500 list by boosting its sales revenues by 58 percent to 41.4 billion liras. Turkish Airlines, which brought in 11.8 billion liras in revenues, was able to achieve 11.3 billion liras of this in export revenues.

The net sales of all the firms on the list hit 419 billion liras, of which 133.5 billion liras were from sales abroad, indicating that a large portion of sales were to foreign buyers. In 2011, domestic sales were up 17 percent, while exports were up 39.4 percent.

With the increase in oil prices, all of Turkey’s major energy firms were able to enter the Fortune 500 list. In 2010, Petrol Ofisi, which was in fourth spot in 2010, moved up to the second spot in 2011 with 19.5 million liras in revenues. Similarly, Opet in seventh spot in 2010, came in at third place in 2011 with 14.9 billion liras in revenues. Energy firms made up 28 percent of the total 155 billion-lira total sales revenues. Eight of the top 10 firms appearing on the Fortune 500 are energy firms.

However, it is noteworthy that while the total turnover of the companies making it on the Fortune 500 list saw an increase, their net profits witnessed a decrease. Of the 394 firms announcing their earnings, 106 registered a drop in net profits. The number of firms recording losses in 2010 had only been 67.

Meanwhile, the companies on the list also increased the number of their employees. In 2009, in the midst of the global economic crisis, Fortune 500 companies in Turkey laid off 43,000 workers. However, they hired an additional 117,232 workers in 2010 and 74,897 workers in 2011. Therefore, over the past two years, companies have hired more than 192,000 new employees, creating new employment opportunities.

Exxon leads US Fortune 500

Exxon Mobil tops the U.S. Fortune 500 list $452.9 billion in sales revenues. Wal-Mart comes in at second place with $446.9 billion while Chevron is in third place with $242.6 billion. The total sales revenues of all the companies appearing in Turkey’s Fortune 500 list were at $330.9 billion for 2011, which is only around 73 percent of Exxon Mobil and Wal-Mart’s total sales revenues, but more than Chevron’s.

It is becoming increasingly difficult for companies to make it into the Fortune 500 list. In 2007, the company in 500th spot on the list had net sales revenues of 89.6 million liras.

In 2008, this number was 78.2 million. In 2009 it jumped up to 88.7 million liras and then up even more to 127.3 million liras in 2010. In 2011, it increased by 51 million liras to 178.3 million liras.