Message from the CEO

Dear Stakeholders,

We commenced the year in a state of heightened excitement, marking the first year of the second century of our Republic and the 65th year of our Group. 2024 was a year characterised by significant global changes in political and commercial spheres. The ongoing wars and elections in many countries were a contributing factor to these changes. The Trump administration, which was elected for a second term in the USA, initiated decisions on imports and customs duties immediately after taking office. While these decisions initially targeted neighbouring countries, particularly China, their repercussions are predicted to extend globally.

According to the figures announced on 2 January 2024, Türkiye’s exports in 2023 reached USD 255.8 billion, thus setting a new record in the history of the Republic. While the growth figures announced in the first three quarters of the year were encouraging, they were not particularly high due to the ongoing disinflation programme. This growth was also acknowledged by global rating agencies, who upgraded Türkiye’s credit rating from B to B+ with a positive outlook.

These developments were influenced by the economic model that has been successfully implemented in Türkiye since mid-2023. With the changing monetary policy, there was a significant improvement in Türkiye’s risk perception and score for foreign investors, and with this, interest in Turkish assets increased considerably. However, even though high inflation, which is one of the most important problems of Türkiye, decreased, it could not reach the targeted levels. However, it is encouraging to note that despite the disinflation policy having a negative effect on growth rates, unemployment rates did not increase.

We are successfully closing a challenging year with our well-designed strategy

At Doğan Holding, we have the capacity to successfully navigate challenging periods by implementing a well-defined strategy, maintaining a diversified portfolio, and implementing timely strategic actions. Our balanced and diversified portfolio structure, which we have developed through the effective implementation of our strategy to create sustainable value, enables us to adapt to evolving economic conditions and hence, positively impacted our results. 2024 was a year that presented numerous challenges. The rise in the Turkish Lira costs and the exchange rate remaining below inflation were some of the issues that we had to deal with. Furthermore, we were impacted by the cost pressures in the industrial and automotive sectors. Despite these challenges, we successfully achieved our 2024 targets, with many of them being met.

We simplified our portfolio with the exits we made at Doğan Burda and DMC. In accordance with our strategic direction, we have prioritised the consolidation of our existing business segments, namely renewable energy, industry/electronics, automotive, insurance, and investment banking. This has been achieved through both organic and inorganic investments. Notably, we have made strategic investments in the mining sector, with the objective of fostering the development of future technologies and promoting the green economy. These investments are expected to contribute to the reduction of Türkiye’s current account deficit. The adaptability of our portfolio, which can adjust to evolving economic conditions, has been a key factor in the success we have achieved this year.

In this context, our consolidated revenues for 2024 increased by 12% compared to the previous year, reaching TRY 84.5 billion. In 2024, our net profit for the period reached TRY 4.3 billion, demonstrating a strong performance. This success was achieved thanks to our portfolio optimisation strategy, which we have been implementing since 2019. Despite the challenging operating environment and macroeconomic and regulatory challenges, particularly affecting our publicly traded subsidiaries, the Net Asset Value (NAV), which was USD 2.3 billion in 2023, reached USD 2.6 billion by the end of 2024. As a result of our dynamic asset purchase and sale actions, our cash position at the holding level reached USD 671 million, compared to USD 695 million a year ago. In terms of our performance in the stock market, Doğan Holding shares returned 31% in 2024, in line with the Borsa Istanbul 100 index.

We Will Keep Working For Our Future Goals

At Doğan Holding, we are committed to simplifying our portfolio structure further, a strategy that has proven successful in challenging periods. In 2025 and beyond, we will continue our actions to increase the share of our publicly traded companies in the NAV. We will continue to prioritise sustainable NAV growth and lower NAV discount.

Our insurance business, which operates under the financial services sector, plays a pivotal role in achieving Doğan Holding’s strategic objectives. It has undergone substantial growth, contributing significantly to the company’s overall success. Hepiyi Insurance, Türkiye’s first end-to-end digital insurance company, has made a notable impact within the digital insurance sector. The Company’s rapid growth has led to a substantial increase in revenues within our financing and investment segment.

At Doğan Group, we are delighted with the achievements and pioneering advances of our organic companies and those that have recently entered the sector. In this context, Doğan Investment Bank, which is only 3 years old, expanded its service areas in 2024. It commenced supporting the activities and financing needs of its customers through lease certificate issuances and murabaha transactions. The Bank successfully intermediated a murabaha financing transaction between the Turkish Wealth Fund (TWF) and Sharjah Islamic Bank. It also acted as financial advisor and coordinator in the USD 25 million investment loan obtained by Galata Wind, one of our group companies, from Proparco. We also acted as an intermediary in Tekfen Holding’s first financing bond issuance, with a nominal value of TRY 500 million, thus adding a new funding source to its funding sources with its first lease certificate issuance through its own asset leasing company.

Galata Wind, a key player in our strategic renewable energy sector, is of significant importance to us. By the end of 2024, Galata Wind’s capacity had reached approximately 297.2 megawatts. We are committed to the continued growth of Galata Wind, both domestically and internationally, with a particular focus on solar energy projects in Europe. Our medium-term strategy aims to increase the Company’s total installed capacity to 1,100 MW, through the execution of carefully planned projects.

Despite encountering negative impacts due to intensified competition and evolving regulations within the automotive sector, we remain committed to this segment. Our activities in the automotive sector are not limited to passenger cars; they also include motorcycles and marine engines. Alongside Suzuki and MG, we hold the distributorship rights for renowned motorbike brands such as Kymco and Piaggio. In addition to commencing motorbike production in this segment, we are conducting ongoing search and evaluation studies for automotive production. Our motorbike production investment in İzmir has been completed and pilot production  has commenced, with plans to initiate mass production in 2025.

In 2024, we continued to invest in the future, especially in our industrial sector companies, where we experienced pressure on TRY-based costs. With Karel, our technology company that has all processes from design to production in R&D; we operate in the fields of Communication Systems, Defence Industry, Corporate Projects, Automotive Electronic Technologies and Electronic Card Production. Despite facing challenges due to the contraction of the white goods market, the exchange rate fluctuations between USD and TRY, and inflation in TRY, as well as an incident at our factory, we remain optimistic about Karel’s prospects. We are committed to ongoing modernisation investments. In collaboration with Daiichi, a subsidiary of Karel, we have strengthened our position in the rapidly expanding automotive electronics sector, thanks to its strong international structure. This strategic partnership has enabled us to enhance our offerings in the consumer, defence and telecom electronics domains. We are delighted with the positive response to the products offered by Daiichi.

We expect profitable growth in our new mining sector

In 2024, we made an ambitious move in the mining sector by acquiring 75% of the shares of Gümüştaş Mining and Doku Mining. Our goal is to become a leader in the production of strategic ores, including lead, zinc, and pyrite. We aim to contribute to Türkiye’s economic growth and sustainable development targets by demonstrating our growth vision in this field. Over the next 4 years, we plan to invest USD 100 million in plant and underground mining investments in the Niğde Bolkar field alone, and we will continue our growth target with capacity increase investments in the mining sector.

As a 65-year-old organisation, we continue to pursue our mission with a focus on the value-added approach, encompassing the enhancement of both our investments and our people. The establishment of a sustainable human resources structure is the primary objective of our Group. To this end, we are working to improve the entire employee experience, from systematic and fair performance management systems to 360-degree evaluations, from recruitment and orientation processes to development programmes, from coaching programmes to social activities. We have received positive feedback from these efforts, and while many of our subsidiaries received Great Place to Work certification, Doğan Holding was selected as one of the best employers by Great Place to Work Türkiye. In addition, we established a Voluntary Employee Council called Rota, which enables our colleagues to take responsibility for improving the working climate and culture and to participate in management.

Sustainability remained our compass

At Doğan Group, sustainability remains a core principle guiding all our endeavours, with its principles embedded at the board level. We approach sustainability from multiple perspectives, including ‘Investing in the Planet’, ‘Investing in an Inclusive Society’ and ‘Investing in the Future’. We also prioritise raising awareness and fostering development regarding sustainability within our Group. To this end, we launched our Sustainability Transformation Ambassadors Programme in 2024, which is open to all Group employees.

Dear Stakeholders,

At Doğan Group, we are proud to promote the value of ‘Achieving Together’ across all units and levels of our organisation. I would like to thank all our stakeholders and employees who have contributed to this success.

We will continue to invest in the future, guided by the values of the Republic and our 65-year history.

Kindest regards,

Çağlar GÖĞÜŞ
Chief Executive Officer