Sabancı eyes increase in sales

Speaking Friday in Istanbul at the conglomerate’s annual press conference, Güler Sabancı said the group plans to increase its consolidated net sales 17 percent to 23 billion Turkish Liras this year, despite the downturn.

Ahmet Dördüncü, chief executive of the conglomerate, told journalists that Sabancı expects operational profits to rise to about 3 billion liras ($1.9 billion) this year from 2.4 billion liras in 2008.

As the domestic economy contracts and global demand wanes, Sabancı will try to "keep exports at 2008 figures," Dördüncü said. "In 2009 we are aiming for $1.3 billion worth of imports and $1 billion in exports" he said.

Sabancı is the majority stakeholder in Akbank, Turkey’s biggest bank by market value, and operates companies in various industries, including cement, retail, energy and automotive. Akbank’s profits will account for between 55 percent and 60 percent of Sabancı’s total profits this year, about the same as in 2008, Dördüncü predicted.

The Sabancı CEO said the key focus for the group this year would be retail, energy and financial services. Investments in energy, including wind and hydroelectric power, will total almost 1 billion liras, Dördüncü said. He also announced that the group might bid for the Yeşilırmak electricity distribution grid in the northeast of the country.

Sabancı has joint ventures in retail with France’s Carrefour, in energy with Austria’s Verbund, and in automotive with Japan’s Toyota Motor, currently the biggest auto company of the world.

Dördüncü said the global downturn has had minimal effect on insurance.

Premiums at insurance unit Aksigorta, excluding life insurance, rose 1.5 percent in the first two months of 2009, compared with an overall contraction in the industry of 2 percent, he said.

Güler Sabancı, meanwhile, highlighted the problem of unemployment as the most alarming issue.

One in four individuals between 15 and 24 years old are unemployed, she said, predicting that overall unemployment would continue to rise from its current level of 15.5 percent.

Sabancı plans to increase its workforce by 11 percent to 56,800 people this year, Dördüncü said, adding that the group is not planning for any acquisitions this year.

Sabancı said she found the government prediction of a 3.6 percent contraction this year as "realistic," adding that the economy will grow "modestly" next year.

"By 2010, global growth will stand at between 3 percent and 3.5 percent, which gives us hope," she said.