Energy sector makes mark in top firms’ list

ISTANBUL - Hürriyet Daily News

Workers installing a new reactor at Turkey’s leading oil refiner and crude exporter Tüpraş’s İzmir facility are seen in this file photo. DHA photo

Energy firms left their marks on the Fortune 500 Turkey list as they accounted for almost one third of the sales of 500 companies, while Turkey’s oil refiner Tüpraş again ranked as the top firm.

The list, which is annually published by the business magazine Fortune, ranks the top 500 companies in Turkey on the basis of their turnover and profits, and this year’s showed that local firms managed to raise their sales and profit in 2012 despite the slowed down growth.

Energy firms occupied the highest proportion of ranks since they accounted for most of the sales – 179.7 billion Turkish Liras – while Tüpraş became the highest earning company for the second consecutive year, further widening the gap between itself and the second company.

Tüpraş received the crown thanks to a 15.4 percent rise in its sales which reached 47.1 billion liras. The company which processed 22 million barrels of crude oil last year, multiplied its exports by 23.8 percent, to 10 billion liras, as well, elevating it to the second largest exporter spot.

Moreover, seven of the 10 top companies in the list are operating in the energy or oil sectors.
OMV’s Petrol Ofisi also kept its spot in second place after Tüpraş with net sales of 20.2 billion liras, while Turkish Electricity Distribution, an electricity grid, entered into the 2012 list in third place, rising one notch.

Overall, the energy, oil and electricity sector firms in total accounted for 30.4 percent of the net sales of 500 companies.

When energy sectors were compared among each other, oil companies, dealing with oil derivatives or distribution, have the highest share with 17.4 percent. Meanwhile, the other energy sectors have raised their share by 4 percentage points from 2011, to 13 percent.

THY top exporter

Turkish Airlines (THY) has been another shining star of the list as it kept its place as the top exporter – the title it received four years ago and never lost – and ranked fifth for overall sales.

THY’s overseas success remained unchanged as it managed to increase foreign sales by 11.8 percent to 12.6 billion liras.

The foreign exchange revenue THY earned from its service sale abroad is not regarded as export since there are no goods involved and its foreign sales are not tracked by the Turkish Exporters Council (TİM) which reveals local firms’ export data.

The list that ranks Turkey’s top 500 companies revealed that overall net sales of these 500 companies soared by 11.2 percent to 615 billion liras, surpassing the country’s 2.2 percent growth.

However, the magazine’s data indicate that the top Turkish companies failed to maintain their high export performance in 2011 despite the government’s and firms’ great efforts to avert the impact of the crisis in Europe, which has been the main market for Turkish goods and services.

The Fortune 500 companies’ total exports rose by only 1.2 percent, reaching 52 million liras. The number seems even smaller when compared to last year’s 39 percent exports growth.