Zorlu Group in 2021

“In 2021, we have undertaken works and projects that create value for all our stakeholders and provide social benefits.”

Ahmet Zorlu, Zorlu Holding Chairman of the Board

As Zorlu Group, in 2021, we have worked and continued to do our best to serve the world, our country and our society in the best way possible, remaining firmly attached to each other as always. With our over 60 companies and over 33 thousand coworkers, we have undertaken works and projects that create value for all our stakeholders and provide social benefits. With our dream of a more livable world, being aware of our responsibility for today and our future, we produced together to deliver a performance that creates environmental, social and economic value.

In 2022, with your valuable contributions, efforts and devotions, we will act with all our strength to ensure the sustainability of our activities and to build a more livable world. We thank all our coworkers for their contributions to our Group, sincerely wish everyone a happy new year and hope 2022 brings peace, abundance, success and especially health to you and your loved ones.

Ömer Yüngül, Zorlu Holding CEO

As we take firm steps towards a better future for our planet, our country, and all living things in the new year, we believed in the determination, dedication of our coworkers, who are our most valuable stakeholders, and their passion for innovation and productivity. We have expanded our sphere of influence by creating value for the society, the environment and the ecosystems in which we live, with the steps we have taken with a focus on technology and innovation, our understanding of new generation competition powered by cooperation, our practices and projects for the solution of global issues, which are the main sources of our Smart Life 2030 strategy. We have developed products, services and solutions for a sustainable and smart life. We continued our growth with the investments we made with the perspective of a new generation of stakeholder economy, based on renewable resources and circular economy.

In the new year, we have brand new opportunities to do what is better for our country, our society and the world. In order to build a more livable world not only for ourselves but also for future generations, we have to work tirelessly by sticking to these goals so that we can see better days together. I wish the Zorlu Group family a happy new year with and wish you a year full of health, happiness and success.

Turan Erdoğan, Vestel Company Group CEO

As Vestel, we have left behind another year in which we maintained our stable success rate, created economic value with our exports, and made innovations by focusing on sustainability.

When we look at the general economic conjuncture, 2021 was a very rough period for both international and national markets due to the volatility in the exchange rate and the ongoing effects of the coronavirus pandemic. As Vestel, we have overcome the effects of the pandemic process with successful results, thanks to our competencies, comprehensive risk management, and agile and flexible company structure. Our diversified supplier network played an important role in overcoming the supply problems, especially from the Far East.

We had the pride of being the export champion of our industry for the 23rd time in 2021, which we started fast. In particular, Vestel Beyaz Eşya increased its sales in countries outside the European region, including the American market, with long-term contracts. Accordingly, we started our new dishwasher factory and capacity increase projects in 2021. We continued our growth in both electronic and major appliance sales in the domestic market. We completed our VSA (Vestel Strategy in Action) work in 2021 and determined Vestel’s roadmap until 2025.

We took to the next level our activities in the field of automotive electronics for electric and autonomous vehicles, which we believe will be one of the brightest areas of the future. We signed an agreement with German company E.ON, one of the largest energy companies in the world, in August 2021. We produce the charging stations to be used at 28 thousand electric vehicle charging points to be located in Germany, where the use of electric vehicles is increasing day by day. We also started producing the first domestic electric bicycle battery the hardware, software, mechanical designs, production and testing infrastructure of which were completely developed by Vestel.

We took our place in the project as a design-in for in-car screens for Turkey’s electric car, which will be produced by Turkey’s Automobile Joint Venture Group Inc. (TOGG). We developed our cooperation with all operators and produced new devices in the telecom field and improved our competence in this field.

The digital transformation of Vestel on all its levels has taken place to a large extent and will continue. We have successfully conducted the first trials in our supply chain with blockchain technology.

Sustainability, which is on the agenda of the whole world, is also our most important agenda item. We realize all our investments around sustainability. We made the first green bond export in TRY, approved by Turkey’s international rating agency. We use the funds obtained from the exports for our R&D studies and eco-friendly technology investments that contribute to areas such as the protection of water resources, carbon reduction, energy efficiency and waste reduction. In 2022, we will publish our integrated annual report, which reveals our sustainability vision, covering all our activities.

We must work harder in 2022, both as an institution and as a country. Otherwise, it is not possible to close the gap between us and developed countries. While the region we live in grants us opportunities, on the other hand, it creates problems that are difficult to foresee. As Vestel, we understand the importance of seeing the whole world as a market and planning accordingly better these days. As Vestel members, we take pride in increasing our exports and being beneficial to both our institution and our country. I wish 2022 brings health and happiness to all of us.

Necat Altın, Zorlu Textile Group CEO

2021 has been an unpredictable year, full of uncertainties. The pandemic which is still ongoing despite the widespread vaccination, increases in energy and raw material prices, and problems in the supply chain continued to strain the global economy. However, the gap in the market, originating especially from China, created an important opportunity for a country like ours, which exports a significant part of its exports to the EU market. Under these challenging conditions, as Zorlu Textiles, we acted by focusing on the opportunities that emerged. We had a very positive year by making good use of the advantages provided by the rising Far East freight prices and the broken supply chain. We finished the year with figures above our budgets. While the issues that challenged us the most during this period were the increasing prices of raw materials, energy, chemicals and packaging materials, the impact of the ongoing pandemic on our workforce and the limited contact we could have with our customers were among the issues that caused us trouble.

Unfortunately, we are entering the new year with global and local uncertainties too. The rapid spread of the emerging new variant raises concerns all over the world. In some countries, there are lockdowns again; decisions are taken to limit flights. The predictions that the global inflation may not be temporary add yet another question mark to the economy. In addition, the instability in the exchange rates and high volatility in the last few months in the country have disrupted the price stability, which has put companies in a difficult position. I hope that with the measures taken, this process, making it difficult to calculate costs and give prices, will end with a balancing in the first months of the new year. However, the fact that global product prices and Far East freight rates will remain high for a while will support us in terms of exports in this period. As Zorlu Textiles, we are confident that we will successfully overcome this challenging period with our quality, closeness to the customer and the service we provide, as always.

Sinan Ak, Zorlu Energy CEO

2021 has been a fast-paced year for the energy sector. With the resurgence of economic activity around the world, the demand for energy has increased. Production of hydroelectric power plants being affected by climate change, new drilling investment plans could not be carried out during the pandemic process, and the fossil fuels not meeting the supply due to the political export preferences of some producing countries had a significant impact on the energy market.

Despite the negative growth experienced on a global scale, the Turkish economy continued its rapid recovery in 2021. Additionally, the developments in the health sector, the increase in vaccination rates and the support of tourism contributed to the recovery of external balances. The effect of this growth was also observed in energy demand. The data reveal that our consumption in 2021 has increased by about 8 percent compared to last year. More than 35% of the electricity produced came from renewable energy sources. Our country, which holds roughly 12% of the total global installed power, especially in geothermal energy, took its place in the fourth place in the world and the first in Europe. As Zorlu Enerji, we are happy to represent approximately 20% of our country’s production in this niche field that requires great expertise.

In addition to the electricity generation and distribution business in the energy sector, a new energy system is being established in the world. One of the important elements of this system is electrification. Electric vehicles continued to grow within the total vehicle market and to be the subject of works focused on carbon reduction in cities. While the total automotive market in Europe shrank by 20% last year, the electric vehicle market grew by 117%. Today, about 10 of every 100 vehicles sold in the world are electric and it is estimated that 4.4 million electric vehicles have been sold all over the world by the end of 2021. Electric vehicle sales are expected to reach 14 million by 2025. It is believed that by 2030, 1 out of every 3 vehicles sold around the world will be electric and the sales of internal combustion vehicles will end by 2035.

Electric charging stations also experienced rapid growth due to the use of electric vehicles. Globally, the market grew by 21.8% in 2021, from $2.23 billion to $3.94 billion. With our brand ZES, we provide service with electric vehicle charging stations in more than 1,000 locations in 81 provinces. We accelerated our growth steps in this area. In order to expand ZES abroad, we established 6 different companies in total; in Bulgaria, Israel, Croatia, Italy and Montenegro following the Netherlands.

After a difficult and challenging year, I wish to spend a year in which health, climate and economic problems are resolved. I would like to thank all our teams for their contributions.

We will focus on three main areas in 2022. The first is geothermal. We have great experience in this field. We make use of the suitable investment climates. When there are opportunities that will pave the way for our licenses or new investment plans, we will evaluate new investments both in our country and in nearby regions.

Another is electrification-focused work, and we are currently taking steps towards becoming an international brand thanks to our experience in Turkey with our brand ZES. We are working with the goal of generating 80% of our ZES revenue from overseas operations in the next ten years.

We follow new developments in the field of digitalization closely. In our lines of business, we have also initiated software-driven transformation to adapt technologies such as big data, IoT, artificial intelligence and blockchain. These technologies will become more prevalent as the driving force of transformation in both consumption and trade in the energy sector. We too have drawn a roadmap for ourselves in this field. We will continue to focus on projects and investments that will carry our business to these platforms.

Billur Demet Atan, Zorlu Real Estate Group Vice-President

As Zorlu Real Estate Group, we continued to produce and develop projects that will add value to our country, despite being affected by the pandemic that affected our country as much as it did the whole world.

Within the framework of the Smart Life 2030 vision of Zorlu Holding, which we are under the umbrella of, we have made sustainability a way of doing business, and we have accomplished world-class projects with an innovative and perfectionist approach.

Within the scope of the sustainability approach, as Zorlu Center, we have certified the energy we use with the International Renewable Energy Certificate (I-REC) in cooperation with Zorlu Energy. With this certificate we have received, we have certified that Zorlu Energy uses the green energy it produces at Alaşehir I Geothermal Power Plant. We encourage the production and use of renewable energy for a sustainable life. In addition, we have been awarded the Zero Waste Certificate by the Ministry of Environment and Urbanization with the Zero Waste Management System we have implemented recently. With the system we have established, we aim to minimize our damage to the environment. In addition to all these, we launched a brand new festival at Zorlu Center. The ‘Eco Love Fest’ will raise awareness in the field of sustainability and circular economy.

I hope that 2022 will be a year in which all companies reconsider their way of doing business and carry out all their business by observing sustainability principles, in order to leave a more livable world to future generations, for there is no other way to achieve a livable and sustainable world.

We have accomplished many successful works during the pandemic period which brought many sectors to a standstill. The extraordinary dedication of our coworkers has a great share in all the successes we have achieved. I would like to thank them all very much and state that I believe we will achieve many more successful projects together.

Filiz Ova, Zorlu PSM General Manager

As we have done for the last nine years, we completed 2021 by continuing to shape Turkey’s cultural and artistic life with our Group’s strength and support. We have contributed to the spreading of the healing and transformative effect of art, by embracing all segments throughout the year. We created inspiring art experiences in times when we couldn’t leave our homes and continued to bring world-famous artists together with art lovers. We stood by our audience 24/7 with the content we published on our digital channels.

On the other hand, returning to physical activities in our 9th season, which we started as of September by saying #ChangeYourWorld, gave much hope to all of us. We had missed being together, laughing together, thinking, exploring, being inspired by each other and art. So we started our new season by inviting everyone to leave behind the mood caused by the pandemic, to discover new experiences and to change by sharing these experiences together. We dynamically completed the last quarter of 2021 by bringing together important musicians from Turkey and the world, plays with experienced staffs, and our co-productions with art lovers.

After a long period full of expectations, we now have a year full of brand new goals before us. The importance of being together was once again understood in this process where people became introverted and lonely. One of the most important agenda items of our group is to undertake activities that will create benefits as an institution. As Zorlu PSM, we strive to become a center that contributes to the sustainability of culture and art in 2022, and to establish stronger ties with new talents for this purpose. While we applaud today’s artists, we offer tomorrow’s artists creative opportunities to develop their imaginations, and try to be with them on their fascinating journey of art. I wish all of us a healthy, successful, happy year full of art in which we will undertake works that are more sensitive to society and the environment, and create value in their own field.