Dear Stakeholders,
As we all follow closely, the world economy in 2023 was influenced by the slowdown of the post-pandemic recovery, the fight against rising inflation, rising interest rates, and geopolitical tensions.
Low PMI indices in Europe and the USA, the slowdown in the Chinese economy, sanctions imposed on Russia, OPEC decisions affecting oil prices, and Israel-Palestine events led to changes and uncertainties in the global economy.
In Türkiye, the adverse effects of the earthquake disaster, which occurred on February 6, 2023, and deeply wounded a significant part of the country, affected all sectors throughout the year. In the first half of 2013, before the elections, an expansionary policy was pursued, but after the elections, there was a shift in strategy towards a tight monetary policy. As a result of these new measures, interest rates increased, and inflation rose. However, positive developments were observed during the year in the country's credit default swap (CDS) and the portfolio investments of foreign investors.
Difficult conditions that changed the world's economic balance caused stagnation in the textile industry, as in all other sectors. Rising costs deeply affected our country's competitiveness and caused severe losses in export markets.
Despite all the adverse conditions in the global economy in 2023, our Company continued to grow thanks to its new investments and capacity expansions. It reached the highest shipment amount in its history.
Despite stagnation in the sectors in which we operate, our Company reached a 90% capacity utilization by effectively managing the value chain. With a record shipment of 318 thousand tons and capturing an 85% market share in the Turkish market, the Company successfully concluded the year.
Looking at the raw material side, we have maintained our cost advantage due to the significant bottlenecks not experienced in ACN (Acrylonitrile) supply and our high-capacity utilization and scale. Our Company, which has been distributing a portion of its earnings to investors as part of its profit distribution policy for many years, has decided, by the decision of our Board of Directors, to propose a gross dividend of 5 TL per share from the 2023 profit for the approval of our shareholders at the General Assembly.
On the other hand, the most striking positive development in 2023, nationally and globally, was the growing awareness of the economic effects of climate change. This growing awareness has spurred investments in renewable energy and green technologies worldwide. Investments in these areas, combined with digitalization and sustainability trends, have emerged among the priority agenda items of the business world.
In our sustainability initiatives, our efforts at Aksa aim to prepare the Company for the future in a more competitive structure. Our ongoing success in the industry is built on providing safe and innovative products that contribute to human health and the environment.
In 2023, with the implementation of the Aksa Experience Area (AEA) project, we successfully expanded the awareness of sustainability and our practices to a broader audience. On the other hand, following the significant earthquake disaster in 2023, Aksa Akrilik continues collaborating with Akkök Holding group companies to provide permanent and long-term solutions in the affected region.
In 2024, We will focus on increasing our capacity utilization rate, growing the share of our unique products in our turnover, and expanding our global commercial network with new products by using the competitive advantage provided by our scale, efficiency and cost structure. Moreover, as we leave behind the 100th anniversary of our Republic, with the strength we derive from our half-century deep-rooted past, we will continue to add value to our Republic, Türkiye, and the global economy for a bright new century.
In the successful performance of Aksa for years, I would like to thank our employees, who have the most crucial share with their talent and dedication, our business partners, our customers and all our stakeholders, who add strength to our strength with their trust they place in us.
Sincerely,
Raif Ali DİNÇKÖK
Chairman of the Board of Directors