Esteemed investors, business partners and valued employees,

2020 was an especially difficult year marked by extraordinary developments the world over.

The COVID-19 pandemic, raging across the globe since the early days of the year, adversely affected the health of millions while upturning everyday life and economies worldwide. We experienced periods when physical borders of different geographies were closed. The movement of people and goods ceased completely from time to time during the year.

It was inevitable for Turkey to be affected by such a major and wide-ranging global crisis. Especially in the second quarter of the year, issues and uncertainties experienced in the operating environment had a significant impact on Turkey’s economy. However by third quarter, domestic economic activity started to rebound. The resilient attitude shown by Turkish industry in this challenging time limited the economic impact of the global crisis on our country in spite of partial shutdowns and standstills.

At Sabancı Group, we specified our strategy around the awareness that the health and well-being of our employees is our top priority. Monitoring our employees’ health closely and continuously, we did not leave anyone behind at Sabancı Group. We continued our business operations by implementing anti-COVID-19 measures at the highest level. We also maintained our strong financial performance in this extremely challenging year thanks to the outstanding efforts of our employees.

Owing to our investments in digital transformation of recent years, we significantly reduced many of the challenges brought about by the pandemic. In fact, Sabancı Group recorded many successes in 2020 in line with its long-term strategy.

We are investing in renewable energy while maintaining our efforts to boost operational excellence. In our Industrials business, Kordsa became one of the world’s leading companies in advanced material technologies. Today, we are delighted to see Kordsa as a major global player in space technologies. Following the completion of the Buñol plant acquisition in 2019, Çimsa is set to become the world leader in the white cement market. In addition to this acquisition, we established a new organizational structure abroad to further consolidate Çimsa’s global corporate identity. In 2020, Sabancı Ventures, our corporate venture capital fund, completed its first investment as the new entrant to the Turkish entrepreneurship ecosystem.

Always seeking the better, pursuing quality, development, and transformation and adapting to ever-changing conditions are Sabancı Group’s core values which constitute our corporate culture. This forward-looking approach made our major successes possible in this reporting period.

We are working to transform Sabancı Holding into a Group that creates more value for its investors, customers and business partners both in 2021 and also in the future. We prioritize providing benefit to society and the world as much as achieving commercial success. We are committed to demonstrating Sabancı Group’s vision of being “exemplary” and a “pioneer” in all aspects of sustainability.

I would like to extend my gratitude to our employees, business partners, customers and stakeholders for their valuable contributions to our successful results in 2020.

Güler Sabancı
Chair