My number one priority

SABANCI'S INVESTMENT YEAR
Sabancı Holding, which is one of the leading groups in Turkey, has codenamed 2011 as an "investment year." CEO Zafer Kurtul says that the most important items on his agenda for the period ahead are related to investments. He underlines that they are aiming to increase sales and adds: "Our net sales will continue to increase in 2011. We forecast that our net sales of TL 20.6 billion in 2010 will increase by 11 percent in 2011 to TL 22.8 billion." Kurtul is targeting a significant increase of 83 percent in investments and notes that he expects to sign off on $2.061 billion worth of investments. He says that the most important investment item will be energy and sums up the important place that energy will have on his agenda in the time ahead in the following words: "We shall allocate $1.4 billion, approximately 70 percent of our total investments of $2.061 billion, for investments in energy. Demand for electricity in Turkey is expected to rise by an annual average of 7 percent over the next ten years. Our target is to increase the share of the
energy group in our total turnover to 15 percent by 2015."

CONTINUING TO FOCUS
It is well known that, in the last few years, the "focusing strategy" applied by Koç Holding has resulted in a significant consolidation in the number of its companies. CEO Turgay Durak says that the positive results of this focusing strategy have shown themselves in several fields. Indeed, Durak indicates that, for this reason, they continue to faithfully apply the same strategy in the future, and he adds:
"We are looking to the future with confidence. The sectors and markets on which we are focused are both areas in which we are very competitive and ones in which there are important opportunities. At the end of 2002, we had a market value of $2.1 billion. At the end of 2010, this had risen to $12 billion. Our discount rate in terms of the new active value of our market value has been reduced to zero. This is a very important performance indicator for a holding company on a global platform." Durak notes that, in line with their investment plans, in the future they will launch new automotive models on the market, that they will invest $160 million in consumer durables and they will increase the number of their stores in retailing.

THE TARGET IS TO EXCEED $4 BILLION
Borusan Holding has some important future goals. The holding is targeting increasing its turnover by 15 percent this year to over $4 billion. Naturally, the most important item on Agah Uğur's agenda is achieving this target. "We shall continue with our investments without any deviation in order to be able to achieve this target," says Uğur, noting that they have very ambitious targets for the future. He adds: "For example, when it comes to profitability, our target is for our profits in 2015 to be triple their level in 2010. This is a very difficult target to achieve... In line with this, over the next five years, we shall focus on increasing our operating revenue and regional sales, particularly of our companies which are active in steel and the logistics sectors in North Africa, the Middle East and Asia.~

BOYDAK OPENING UP TO THE WORLD
Last month, Boydak Holding was in the news as a result of the investments it made in the Russian and Ukrainian market. This giant group has bought two factories in the region and in the future it is going to turn its attention increasingly to the foreign markets. It is striking that this investment is the first that the Boydak Group has made in furniture outside Turkey. Boydak Holding Board Chair Hacı Boydak says that they are closely following the global economy and the dynamics of the country's economy. "It was because we had generally experienced problems in terms of furniture exports to Russia and Ukraine but believed that there was great potential in these markets that we decided to make investments there. This is the reason that Boydak Holding has chosen these regions for its first furniture investment outside Turkey. Our goal is to preserve our market share in Turkey, where we are the market leader, increase our brand awareness in the global arena and become an important player in the world furniture market. I believe that our human capital, our sectoral experience, our current position and the investments we have made will enable us to achieve our goals in the near future."