Kalekim Continues Its Growth

Kalekim Continues Growth Kalekim maintained its growth trajectory in the first quarter of 2022. The company shared its achievements since the IPO programme at a press conference it held. Kalekim, a subsidiary of Kale Group, completed 2021—a year overshadowed by pandemic, energy crisis and supply chain disruptions—with results exceeding targets. The company presented the outcomes of its public offering programme to the public at a press conference. At the 2021 Performance Review Meeting attended by Kale Holding CFO Haluk Alperat and Kalekim General Manager, information was provided on the company's performance in the previous year, investments implemented, the contribution of these investments to turnover, results achieved in the first quarter of 2022 and targets and expectations for the coming period. Karaoğlu, noting that they successfully managed challenging processes, stated: "While dealing with raw material and supply chain difficulties worldwide, the precautions we took in advance and our well-timed strategic moves minimised the impact of the crisis. Particularly thanks to the strong relationships we have built with our suppliers, we managed to deliver our products and services to our customers without disruption, keeping the supply chain intact. We reaped the fruits of our efforts during this extraordinary period in the figures we achieved by the end of 2021. 2021 was a year in which our company increased both sales and market share, achieving results above our targets in general. Since May 2021, when we carried out our IPO programme, we have continued our consistent growth, taking our success a step further each quarter," he said. Karaoğlu, noting that they successfully completed 2021 exceeding targets, stated: "We increased our net profit from approximately TRY 84 million in 2020 by 158.5%, raising it to TRY 213.2 million in 2021. During this period, we increased domestic sales by 43.8% and foreign sales by 78%. Thus, in a year when the construction sector shrank, we achieved significant success by growing both locally and globally. The leading countries where we increased foreign sales most were Iraq and France. Iraq, which accounts for 60% of our exports, is foremost among our strategically important markets, both due to its potential and its proximity to our country," he said. Karaoğlu concluded his remarks: "Success is valuable only when it is consistent. Following 2021, we also maintained the success we achieved in the new year consistently. In the first quarter of 2022, we increased our net period profit by 194% compared to the same period of the previous year. With this increase, we raised our net period profit from TRY 24.1 million in the first quarter of 2021 to TRY 70.8 million in the same period of the new year. We also improved our gross profit margin by 300 basis points, increasing it from 37.3% to 40.3%. The improvement in our EBITDA margin, which was 23.1% during this period, amounted to 580 basis points. Our net sales in the first three months of the year reached TRY 302.4 million with a 111% increase. We increased our domestic sales by 80% and foreign sales by 190% compared to the previous year, continuing our successful trajectory in the new year as well. Now we continue on our path with the same determination alongside this consistent success. In this success we have achieved, in addition to the company's experience, potential, production and financial strength in the sector, the dedication and commitment of our employees and the contributions of our business partners, stakeholders and investors play a major role." Kale Holding CFO Haluk Alperat, noting that many crises negatively affected the business world during the pandemic period, stated: "The pandemic caused significant crises in energy, production, raw materials and supply areas in many sectors in 2021 as well. Particularly with the added volatility of the exchange rate in our country, significant increases in costs were experienced. Looking specifically at construction materials, according to the latest data announced by TURKSTAT, the construction cost index in March 2022 increased by 9.58% compared to the previous month and 101.57% compared to the same month of the previous year. Alongside this cost increase, the domestic construction sector was also negatively affected by high interest rates and declining purchasing power. While the Turkish economy grew by 11% in 2021, the construction sector completed the year with a contraction of 0.9%. Nevertheless, we expect the recently announced Housing Finance Package to bring significant activity to the sluggish domestic market. This will also have positive implications for the construction materials sector," he said. Alperat, noting that they accelerated their investment plans with the IPO process, stated: "First, we made an additional line investment of TRY 23 million at our plant in Mardin to produce concentrated products needed for our foreign investments. We attach great importance to this investment due to Iraq being an important export market for us and its proximity to the Middle East region, which is our target area. In addition, we continue our investment and cooperation efforts with Africa and Central and Eastern Europe as part of our foreign investments. Following the investments in 2021, we also began 2022 with another significant acquisition investment. In line with our targets for the domestic market, we acquired a 75% stake in Lyksor Kimya A.Ş. for TRY 140.6 million. We expect Lyksor Kimya A.Ş., which operates in the field of construction chemicals and concrete technologies, to contribute TRY 325-350 million to our turnover in 2022. We will continue our work on new investments and partnerships both domestically and internationally in the period ahead. Our goal is to diversify our product range with these new investments and further expand our production and area of influence. Thanks to all these investment and partnership efforts, we managed to increase our net profit by 158.5% compared to the previous year in 2021, a year when the construction sector contracted by 0.9%. We regard these figures we achieved during this difficult period as a significant success," he said.