1. Could you briefly introduce your company and talk about your activities in the energy sector? Could you tell us about your company's objectives and energy generation capacity? What are your medium and long term goals?
As Kazancı Holding, we are an international group of companies, whose strength is recognized all over the world today, with more than half a century of experience in the field of energy, operating in 22 countries on 4 continents with more than 8,500 employees and exporting to 173 countries. We operate with our Aksa branded group companies in almost every field of energy, with energy generation, electricity distribution and sales, natural gas distribution, gen-set production and sales, as well as in agriculture and tourism sectors. The successes of our companies enable them to take a leading position in their sectors.
Besides being the leader of the generator market in Turkey, Aksa Power Generation is among the top five gen-set manufacturers in the world, and today it sells gen-sets to 173 countries. Aksa Natural Gas is Turkey's largest private natural gas distribution company with a 23% market share. Aksa Electricity provides service to a total of 5.5 million subscribers in distribution regions. As one of the strongest brands in the Turkish energy sector with its customer-oriented and innovative approach, Aksa Electricity provides electricity sales and consultancy services throughout Turkey, and is the electricity supply company in charge in 9 provinces in the Çoruh and Fırat license regions.
In addition to its activities in the energy sector, Aksa Agriculture also operates in the tourism sector with its two farms in Samsun and Tekirdağ in the field of animal husbandry and dairy farming in compliance with EU standards, and Aksa Tourism with its hotels in Antalya, Kemer-Göynük and Kayseri-Erciyes.
With Aksa Energy company, Turkey's largest independent electricity producer, we have built and operated more than 30 power plants using various energy sources such as coal, fuel oil, biogas, natural gas, wind and hydroelectricity since 1997. We share our knowledge and experience on this subject abroad with power plant installations in countries with energy needs. So far, we have established power plants in three African countries with construction times as short as 6-9 months using our own equipment. Today, our company operates actively abroad with our 370 MW power plants in Ghana, 66 MW in Madagascar and 60 MW in Mali
“Our investments in Uzbekistan are the largest power plant project of our company abroad, and it is the longest-term dollar-based purchase guarantee agreement we have signed so far.”
With our current business model, our power plants with an installed capacity of 740 MW, which we are establishing in Uzbekistan, have been completed at a rate of 70%. This investment is our company's largest power plant project abroad and is the longest-term dollar-based purchase guaranteed agreement we have ever signed. With the commissioning of these power plants, which we will operate for 25 years, we will increase our installed capacity to 2,706 MW. Thus, approximately half of our installed capacity will be in Turkey and the other half will be abroad, making us the largest company in terms of installed capacity among publicly traded Turkish companies operating in the field of energy generation abroad.
With our experience and expertise in the sector, we will continue to grow with new investments in a wide geography from Africa to Asia, adding value with our investments both in our country and in the regions we operate.
2. Can you tell us about your energy investment projects that are currently in progress and / or are in the planning phase? Can we learn the size of these projects and the budget allocated? Could you share with us your 2021 year-end and future energy investments?
With our Aksa Energy brand, which continues to implement its geographical diversity strategy successfully, we will soon commission 3 different natural gas combined cycle power plants with a total capacity of 740 MW in 2020 in Tashkent, the capital of Uzbekistan, and also in Bukhara. This project is now approximately 70% complete. Our two power plants in Tashkent have a total capacity of 470 MW, our power plant in Bukhara will produce in Uzbekistan with a capacity of 270 MW.
In addition, we are about to complete the rehabilitation of the 50 MW natural gas power plant in the Republic of Congo. By increasing the capacity of this power plant by 50 MW, we aim to reach a total installed power of 100 MW in Congo by 2022. In Mali, on the other hand, we have commissioned 17 MW of the additional 20 MW capacity. Apart from that, we signed a memorandum of understanding to undertake the engineering, procurement and construction(EPC) services of a power plant in Libya. In Eastern Europe, we signed cooperation agreements for two separate combined cycle power plant projects in the cities of Izmail and Odessa in Ukraine. We plan to continue our energy trade activities, which were commenced, in Iraq and Georgia in different countries.
In addition to our investments abroad, we also evaluate investment opportunities in the country, especially in the field of renewable energy. In line with these objectives, we won the Mini YEKA-GES tenders in Bingöl, Yozgat and Kırşehir, and we will start operating again in the field of renewable energy with a total 35 MW SPP portfolio. In Bolu, in order to reduce carbon emissions within our power plant site, we decided to establish a solar power plant with an installed power of 35 MW and realize the hybrid transformation of our power plant.
By the end of 2021, we expect our turnover to reach 7.8 billion TL with an increase of 7%, and our EBITDA to reach 1.8 billion TL with an 18% increase. We foresee an investment expenditure of 1.6 billion TL, most of which will be allocated to our Uzbekistan investment.
3. How did your company spend the first 8 months of 2021? Could you brief us about your company's energy generation capacity and turnover? Could you share your target energy capacity with us?
As Aksa Energy, we continue our profit-driven investments ceaselessly also this year. In the first half of 2021, we more than doubled our net profit compared to the same period of the previous year, achieving a revenue of 488 TRY million, and set a new record in the history of Aksa Energy. Thanks to the FX-based revenues we obtained from our overseas operations and the positive contribution of our domestic power plants, our Earnings Before Interest, Depreciation and Taxes (EBITDA) reached 1.1 TRY billion, an annual increase of 55 percent. In addition, the ratio of our net financial debt to EBITDA was 1.53 multiplier, which is below thesector average.
Our successful operational and financial performance also reflects positively on the capital markets. As of the end of May, we are the only energy sector representative in the MSCI (Morgan Stanley Composite Index) Turkey index. In addition, as of July 2021, we took our place in the BIST 50 and Corporate Governance Index.
"Aksa Energy is the largest publicly traded Turkish energy company operating globally in terms of installed capacity and investment size abroad”
