The energy firm Energy Exchange Istanbul (EXIST) has captured the top spot in Fortune magazine’s top 500 Turkish companies list in terms of net sales, displacing fellow energy giant TUPRAS, which fell to second place.
EXIST’s sales totaled TRY 105.8bn (USD 15.07bn) in 2020, up 20.3% on a yearly basis, according to a statement issued by the magazine.
TUPRAS, number two on the list, posted sales of TRY 63.24bn (USD 9bn) in 2020, down 29.4% year-on-year.
Amid the pandemic – which led to lockdowns of most stores except for supermarkets – discount grocery store chain BIM was third, up from sixth place in 2019, with its net sales of TRY 55.49bn (USD 7.9bn), rising 38% year-on-year in 2020.
The average USD/TRY exchange rate in 2020 was 7.02.
Total sales
Rounding out the top 10 on the list were auto firm Ford (USD 7bn), flag carrier Turkish Airlines (USD 6.6bn), oil provider Petrol Ofisi (USD 6.22bn), jewelry firm Ahlatci (USD 5.9bn), major appliances producer Arcelik (USD 5.8bn), and oil provider Opet (USD 5.21bn).
Total net sales of the top 500 companies in 2020 reached TRY 1.94tr (USD 276bn), up 6.3% year-on-year, according to the statement.
EXIST’s share in the total net sales of the 500 companies was 5.5%, the magazine noted.
It said: “The number of companies with a net sales income of over TRY 1bn (around USD 142m), which was 323 in 2019 list, increased to 353 in 2020 list.
“The number of companies with net sales revenues of more than TRY 10bn (USD 1.42bn) increased from 33 to 37.”
– Exports
Amid the conditions of the pandemic, the 500 firms’ total exports – TRY 471bn (USD 67bn) – dropped 26.1% on a USD basis and 8.7% on a TRY basis.
“While 75.7% of the net sales of Fortune 500 companies in Turkey consisted of domestic sales, the share of exports decreased to 24.3%,” it stressed.
The 500 firms made up 32.9% of the country’s overall exports of USD 204.1bn in 2020.
Flag carrier Turkish Airlines was the largest company on the list in terms of exports, followed by Ford and Arcelik.
