Turkey's largest industrial holding Petkim, a subsidiary of SOCAR Turkey, has announced its financial results for 2021, Report informs, citing the State Oil Company of Azerbaijan (SOCAR).
Petkim ended 2021 with a record profit in both the dollar and the Turkish lira (TL) and made a net profit of 5.5 billion Liras. Compared to 2020, Petkim increased its total sales by 137% to 28.7 billion Liras in 2021.
Noting that Petkim's product portfolio has played a major role in this success, Anar Mammadov, Chairman of SOCAR Turkey's Refining and Petrochemicals Business Unit and Director-General of Petkim, said that the demand for hygiene, especially packaging materials, increased in 2021, as in 2020: "Thanks to the continuous production of the STAR Refinery, the utilization rate of Petkim's production potential grew from 87.9% in 2020 to 92.6% in 2021. Despite the COVID-19 restrictions, we continued to supply, especially to local exporters, so as not to delay production operations."
Compared to the previous period, Petkim increased sales of products, as well as commercial sales. Commercial sales accounted for more than 33% of total sales and generated $ 65 million in revenue. Anar Mammadov said that to be prepared for the current uncertainties related to the pandemic, they strengthened liquidity in 2020, reduced financial costs by optimizing liquidity in 2021, thus, decreased short-term debt by $ 460 million compared to the previous year: "Last year, we managed to lower our net interest expenses by effectively managing financial risks. Another factor contributing to this success is that we boosted the value creation and optimization initiatives program."
"We have created a crucial financial value for the Turkish economy with a corporate tax of 1.1 billion Liras calculated on our annual profit. One of the gratifying events of the last year was the increase in the duration and volume of the strategic investment promotion document. We also managed to be included in the list of the top 10 companies globally in the relevant category in the ESG rating," Mammadov said.