Haci Ömer Sabanci Holding A.S. (SAHOL) Earnings Call Transcript & Summary

Good afternoon, good morning, everyone, depending on where you are. Welcome to Sabanci Holdings Second Quarter Results Webcast. Before we begin, please refer to our disclaimer. We have a full house today with our CEO, Kivanc Zaimler, joining us, together with Mustafa, our newly appointed Group CFO, who joins us from Cimsa after spending 13 years within the Sabanci Group. With that, let me hand over to our CEO. Kivanc?

Thank you, Karem. Good afternoon, everyone, and thanks for joining us. I will keep my part to the strategic picture. Then our CFO, Mustafa, who joined us from Cimsa following Orun's valuable contributions, will take you through the numbers in detail afterwards. I would like to start with a brief overview of what we achieved in the first half of the year. Let me start with the environment. 3 things stood out. First, trade and geopolitics remained fragmented. Supply chains are still being revived. And in that setting, portfolio diversity and strategic flexibility become more essential, not less. Second, the cost of capital stayed high. That puts us even greater premium on disciplined capital allocation and on returns. And third, at home, normalization progressed but at varying speeds, as you will see in the indicators in the macro section. In periods of uncertainty like this, what we hold on to is disciplined execution. This is the frame for everything I will say today. Let me turn to the portfolio. One of our main priorities has been to make our portfolio simpler, stronger and more focused. We completed 2 full exits during the period, Akcansa in the second quarter and more recently, Carrefoursa. Akcansa was concluded at a USD 1.1 billion enterprise value at a very attractive valuation multiple. Carrefoursa was a strategic exit from a business that was not core to us. These steps have improved the overall quality of our portfolio. These exits converted into a material cash inflow, and that gives us optionality. But cash is the only half of the story. Recent exits lifted our nonbank EBITDA margin by more than 120 basis points, increased bottom line by around 25%, improved return on equity by 90 basis points, reduced leverage by 80 basis points, and increased the share of hard currency revenues by roughly 250 basis points based on first half annualized figures. So recent exits change also the quality of what remains. And from here, our approach is straightforward. We will hold capital to the high return thresholds we have deliberately set. We will keep the balance sheet flexible. and we will redeploy into businesses where we have already have an edge or where we have the right to win. In this environment, optionality is worth something, and we are comfortable holding it for a while. And optionality on one side, predictability on the other side. And both matter, and our portfolio carries both. At the same time, we continue to strengthen our core businesses. One of the defining strengths of our portfolio is our electricity distribution business, which continues to provide predictable and resilient growth through a regulated inflation-linked framework, supported by a constructive new tariff period and strong first half execution. Enerjisa Enerji recently raised its full year guidance, giving us even further confidence in its ability to deliver sustainable growth and value creation over the long term. That is the predictable end of our portfolio. At the other end, sit the businesses where we are actively deploying capital and building materials is the clearest example. Our growth in building materials is now concentrated on Cimsa, a more global, more scalable platform, with hard currency revenues and defensive positions in niches where Turkiye can lead. The second quarter brought several steps that strengthened that platform further. The company acquired the remaining stake in Mannok in Ireland, taking the full ownership at an implied valuation multiple of 5.7x, which reflects our approach of increasing exposure to businesses we know well at attractive valuations. It increased calcium aluminate cement clinker capacity by 50%, again, a niche where global leadership is achievable and where pricing is in hard currency and it commissioned a waste heat recovery facility in Turkiye in Eskisehir, expected to meet around 40% of that plant's annual electricity needs and to strengthen its cost competitiveness further. While we are sharpening our position in building materials, we also continue to scale our energy platform. At our electricity generation company in Turkiye, Enerjisa Uretim, our installed capacity is now above 4.6 gigawatts. Enerjisa Uretim secured USD 1.4 billion of financing in the period. That completes the funding of our 1 gigawatt YEKA-2 wind portfolio. In practical terms, we are scaling wind energy along Turkiye's Western corridor, the part of the country with the strongest and most consistent wind resource and close to demand. And the more important characteristic of Enerjisa Uretim's fleet is how it's run, a digitally enabled operating model with industry-leading remote operation capabilities and unmanned facilities. Enerjisa Uretim now benefits from one of Turkiye's most diversified generation portfolios, combining baseload, flexible, and renewable assets that add resilience across market cycles, and that resilience is not only operational, a significant portion of forward EBITDA is now already locked in as our wind portfolio carries hard currency linked fixed pricing. If we come to United States, Sabanci Renewables secured a USD 533 million financing package for the additional 286 megawatts of solar in Texas with the output contracted under a long-term power purchase agreement with Meta. That gives us a larger and fully contracted and reputable U.S. platform. It also tells you something about where demand is heading. Data centers are lifting demand for clean firm power and they want it contracted long term. We are positioned at that intersection and we intend to stay selective about how we participate in it. So overall, the first half was another important period of execution for Sabanci. We simplified the portfolio, strengthened our core businesses and increased our financial flexibility. On the financial picture briefly, you will see the detail later in this presentation, but consolidated net income reached to TLR 14.5 billion in the first half against a loss a year ago. And this is not only a one-off story, even setting aside the contribution from the portfolio transaction, underlying profitability held up well. Momentum accelerated through the second quarter, particularly across our nonbank businesses, margins widened and banking delivered a stronger contribution to earnings. I would also note our sustainability performance because it belongs to the same discipline. recognition for a third consecutive year, including CDP leadership at a Double A, LSEG at A minus, inclusion in the S&P Global Yearbook and the top 10 position in the Turkish BIST Sustainability 25 Index. Now I'm giving the floor to Mustafa for his presentation. Again, welcome, Mustafa to the team.

Thank you. Thank you, Kivanc Bey. Hello, everyone. Welcome to Sabanci Holdings Second Quarter Results Webcast. First of all, it's a real pleasure for me to be joining you on the holding webcast following my time at Cimsa. And I'm also really excited and honored to contribute and be part of the achievements at holding level going forward. Following Kivanc Bey's strategic overview, let me start with the macro environment before moving into our financials. As you know, the first half was shaped by elevated geopolitical uncertainty and continued volatility in energy markets. For a diversified portfolio like ours, these dynamics affect business in different ways. Globally, volatile energy markets continue to influence inflation dynamics, particularly in Turkiye, its weighed on the pace of the inflation -- disinflation. Meanwhile, stronger hydrology led to lower electricity price, supporting parts of our domestic industry portfolio through lower energy costs. It also highlighted the strength of our diversified electricity generation portfolio which can adapt to changing price and demand conditions. Beyond energy, geopolitical developments also affected logistics, fuel, and raw material costs. In response, our portfolio companies positioned themselves through pricing discipline, cost management, and operational flexibility. On the domestic side, this inflation continued, but policy rates remained high, keeping short-term TL funding costs elevated that affected funding condition, banking profitability, and interest sensitive demand across the portfolio. At the same time, inflation-adjusted return profile of electricity distribution and insurance operations, particularly in life and pension, remained well positioned in this environment. Meanwhile, the gap between inflation and devaluation of Turkish lira limits the contribution of our export-oriented business in the first half of this year. As being one of the leading conglomerates in Turkiye, we are pleased to have delivered a notable improvement in our operational performance during the first half despite a highly volatile and challenging macro environment. This achievement reflects the strength of our diversified portfolio and our culture of disciplined execution. With this backdrop, let me now move to our financial performance. On Page 7, you see in the second quarter, the top line remained under pressure. Our combined revenues declined by 10%, reflecting lower contribution from both bank and nonbank business. While Karem will discuss the underlying drivers in more detail at the business unit level, the revenue performance mainly reflects the operating environment across our portfolio. In particular, TL depreciation remained below inflation, as I mentioned before, which limits the contribution of the export-oriented business, also creating a less supportive backdrop for, as I mentioned, the export-oriented companies. IFRS classification differences also weighed on bank's revenue at holding level. The picture was more constructive at the EBITDA level with combined EBITDA increasing 13% year-on-year. The bank's EBITDA rebounded strongly from a low base, supported by a significant recovery in net interest margins. Nonbank EBITDA continued to strengthen with margin expanded by more than 160 basis points year-on-year, which gained momentum after the first quarter, especially in the second quarter. Energy and Material Technologies were the main contributors to this performance in this quarter. On the right-hand side of this slide, you see consolidated net income, which significantly increased to TLR 14.2 billion in the quarter. As Kivanc Bey mentioned, we have recorded one-off gain from Akcansa exits amounting to TLR 8.9 billion. Excluding this one-off impact, our consolidated net income doubled, mainly driven by stronger EBITDA performance, further supported by lower monetary losses despite higher tax expenses depending on increasing operational profitability. One point to keep in mind in this both -- our first and second quarter results were also impacted by the suspension of the inflation accounting in the statutory financials. This led to a higher tax expense compared to the same period last year when this was not effective. I will not go into further details here as Karem will cover those in segment section. Overall, the quarter reflected a significant recovery in banking operation alongside the continued operational resilience, cost discipline and portfolio quality of our nonbank businesses. In a nutshell, we are very pleased to see positive momentum across all of our segments, providing a solid start to the second half of the year. On the next page, moving to the first half results, the trend in both revenue and EBITDA is broadly consistent with what I discussed on the previous slide. The first half numbers make the momentum gained in the second quarter more visible. Nonbank EBITDA margins continued to expand while the recovery in banking profitability became more apparent. Nearly 90% of first half bank's net income generated in the second quarter alone. Excluding the gain from Akcansa exits, we also see a meaningful improvement on the nonbank side with the year-on-year comparison, clearly highlighting the recovery from the last year losses. If we move to Page 9, starting with the cash flow. Operating cash flow was lower compared to the last year despite the improvement in EBITDA. Underlying operational contribution remained positive. The negative impact mainly comes from working capital movements between year-end and the end of the first half. Since this is largely timing differences, we would expect this effect to gradually reverse over the course of the year. So I would keep the focus here on the strong recovery in returns while noting that cash generation remains an area we continue to manage closely through working capital discipline. On the right-hand side, the improvement in ROE is obviously visible after the bottom line turnaround we just discussed, consolidated ROE recovered significantly in the first half being fivefold of 2025 year-end figure. If I can take you to the next page, Page 10, you can see that our balance sheet position also remains strong. Following the proceeds from Akcansa exit and the net dividend flows, holding-only net cash reached a record high level. This figure does not yet reflect the subsequent initial Carrefoursa closing impact even after considering that, our cash position would remain broadly above TLR 30 billion and still at a historically highest level. So from a holding-only perspective, we continue to have a significant flexibility as we evaluate capital allocation alternatives and value-accretive growth opportunities. On the leverage side, net debt to nonbank EBITDA remained below our policy threshold of 2x even as we continue to invest across the portfolio. The increase in CapEx to sales mainly reflects this ongoing investment cycle, particularly in energy, including generation capacity, regulated network investment, and climate technologies in the U.S. So we are preserving financial discipline while continuing to fund our strategic growth agenda. Overall, the balance sheet continues to support our strategy with record high holding-only cash, prudent nonbank leverage and flexibility for disciplined growth and portfolio actions. On the next page, Page 11, you see net asset value and discount picture. The discount is still at a high level, and this is clearly something we monitor closely. As of today, we know that the discount rate is almost 58%. And we lead this together with the broader market environment and continued uncertainty. And also, we don't see this level of discount as a reflection of the underlying corridor or the direction of our portfolio. You can also see that the net asset value composition has changed with the recent portfolio actions. Material Technologies now has a lower share following the Akcansa exit, while the Carrefoursa exit also affected the other segment. At the same time, cash has became a more visible part of our net asset value in line with the stronger holding-only the cash position we have just discussed. So the focus for us is very clear: continue to simplify the portfolio, preserve liquidity, and allocate capital more selectively. The recent exits are steps in that direction. Our strong cash give us optionality. And given the current level of discount, we are carefully evaluating all available alternatives to create sustainable value to our shareholders. With that, I'll hand over to Karem to walk you through the segment performance in more detail. Karem?

Thank you, Mustafa. Let me start with the Bank. The operating environment remained more challenging than initially anticipated with higher for longer funding costs, delaying margin expansion and the recovery in [ VLRE ]. Despite this backdrop, the long-term direction remains intact, and the Bank's focus continues to be on strengthening the balance sheet. Throughout the first half, Akbank remained disciplined in managing its balance sheet and continue to reshape its asset mix towards higher-yielding assets while maintaining selective and risk-adjusted loan growth. This approach translated into quarterly market share gains in its key strategic growth areas with gradual optimization of security portfolio continued to support margin resilience. On the funding side, disciplined liability management and the strength of its customer franchise enabled 120 bps quarterly increase in 0 cost TL demand deposit market share. The Bank's prudent approach to risk management remained unchanged. Akbank preserved resilient provision buffers with Stage 2 and 3 loans limited to 11.5% of the total loans and Stage 2 and 3 coverage remaining robust at 28.1%. At the same time, 380 bps improvement in NPL market share since the beginning of 2025 further reflects its disciplined underwriting and effective risk management. The strength of its customer franchise continued to support resilient fee generation with its quarterly fee to OpEx ratio reaching 101%, keeping the bank on track for full coverage of operating expenses while supporting strong operating leverage. Most importantly, its robust capital position with 16.4% capital adequacy ratio, 13.3% Tier 1 and 11.3% CET1, supported by risk return focused loan growth and active risk-weighted asset optimization provides the strategic flexibility to navigate the current environment while remaining well positioned to capture future growth opportunities. Heightened geopolitical uncertainty and tighter funding conditions continue to weigh on the margins during the quarter. However, Akbank's proactive and disciplined balance sheet management helped contain the pressure to some extent. As a result, swap adjusted net interest margin declined by a moderate 25 bps to 3%, primarily reflecting higher TL funding costs. Backed by risk return focused loan growth, continued risk-weighted asset optimization, and gradual easing of quarter-specific adverse effects, including operational risk adjustment and dividend payments, the capital adequacy ratio expanded to 16.4%, providing flexibility to capture growth opportunities while remaining resilient across cycles. During a complex external environment, the bank's strong capital, adaptive balance sheet management, disciplined risk framework, and selective growth strategy continue to support its financial strength. On the Financial Services segment, life and pension remain the key support areas in the second quarter. The business maintained its leadership among private companies in both private pension assets under management and life and personal accident premium production. Pension assets under management continued to grow strongly, while gross written premium was mainly supported by return of premium and pension. EBITDA growth has driven by technical contribution from these products and the expanding pension fund size, together with Medisa's incremental positive contribution compared to last year. On the non-life side, Q2 premium momentum improved with resumption of growth in the motor segment, the focus stayed on technical profitability, portfolio quality, and capital resilience. Non-life capital adequacy ratio remained strong at 153%, supporting this disciplined approach. Looking at the financial performance of the segments. On an inflation-adjusted basis, top line growth prevailed in the second quarter with balanced growth between life and non-life businesses, while EBITDA was mainly supported by life segments. In the non-life business, EBITDA reflected temporary headwinds, including restructuring-related costs and continued focus on disciplined underwriting rather than volume growth. At the bottom line, net income remained under pressure. In life business, higher monetary losses and tax expenses limited the full EBITDA pass-through. In non-life, Q2 net income was mainly pressured by weaker EBITDA, while lower tax expenses and improved monetary gain provided some cushion to offset on a 6-month basis. Let me continue with our largest nonbank segments. Before discussing the financial performance, let me briefly outline the operating environment in the second quarter. Generation volumes were down 13% year-on-year, reflecting lower natural gas contribution while generation mix remained diversified with higher share from wind and hydro, supported by recent wind capacity additions and favorable hydrogen regime. Market conditions remained challenging in the second quarter. Spot electricity prices declined by 60% on a year-on-year basis in TL terms. As of April -- as of early April, the regulated price gap increased by 32% from TLR 3,400 to TLR 4,500, while natural gas prices for electricity generation companies were up by 20%. Yet the portfolio continued to benefit from its diversified structure. While natural gas generation was lower, the flexibility of the other assets supported dispatch revenues. Commodities performance was solid, owing to effective positioning in a volatile environment. Capacity growth continued with installed capacity now reaching 4.6 gigawatts with 56% share of renewables. Recent wind investments and the broader generation mix further strengthened the resilience of the platform. To fund this growth, net debt-to-EBITDA increased to 3.8x while remaining at a reasonable level compared to peers that are pursuing similar investments. In the climate technologies, EBITDA contribution became more visible during the quarter. Volumes continue to build from capacities we commissioned over the last year, while profitability benefited as these assets moved beyond their initial ramp-up phase. We also saw support from a favorable pricing environment in the U.S. Enerjisa Enerji delivered another strong solid quarter. Distribution performance continued to benefit from regulatory framework, supported by higher regulated asset base and stronger financial income contribution while retail performance improved compared to last year. Investment activity is expected to remain elevated in the remainder of the year, supporting continued growth in regulated asset base. As evidenced by the updated guidance by the company, the outlook has become more constructive, supported by financial income due to higher inflation and indexation of regulated asset base. Looking at the overall performance of the Energy segment, top line declined by 10% year-on-year in Q2, mainly reflecting lower generation and lower retail revenues. Despite this, EBITDA margin expanded by more than 250 bps, supported by both generation and distribution. At the bottom line, the improvement was supported almost equally by EBITDA performance and items below the EBITDA. Generation benefited from higher monetary gains and tax income, while distribution saw support from higher financial income. Hedge-related impacts pressured net income of both businesses, while higher tax and monetary loss limit the contribution from distribution. Climate technologies bottom line contribution dropped year-over-year, mainly due to the step-up gain recorded in the same period last year. Bus operations contributed positively to the bottom line growth, supported by improved operational profitability and monetary gains. In building materials, Cimsa remained the main growth driver, benefiting from expanding international footprint and better product mix. Strong volume growth and profitability in operations abroad more than offset softer domestic markets, where demand continued to normalize following last year's earthquake-related activity and pricing remained challenging. On the other hand, increased alternative fuel usage and continued operational efficiency initiatives supported margins. Akcansa contributed to the quarter only through April and May and will no longer be a recurring contributor going forward. As a result, the segment will increasingly reflect Cimsa's international footprint and higher-margin businesses. In Tire & Tire centric solutions, the replacement market remained the key growth driver, supported by both passenger and commercial tire demand as well as low base from last year. Brisa further strengthened its leadership in the higher-end diameter segment, while a favorable product mix, pricing actions and disciplined cost management supported margin recovery during the quarter. In Kordsa, the composite business continued to lead performance, driven by strong demand from commercial aerospace programs as well as advanced materials used in energy storage and AI-related infrastructure. While tire reinforcement operations continue to face challenging market conditions, particularly in EMEA and North America, cost optimization efforts and the recovery in Asia Pacific operations following last year's floods helped overall performance. Looking at the overall performance of the Materials Technologies segment, EBITDA growth was driven by a positive contribution from items below EBITDA, which resulted in higher bottom line performance. Higher monetary gains and lower financing expenses, particularly at Cimsa, contributed positively to the bottom line, while Kordsa recorded a one-off gain from the disposal of noncore real estate assets. At Brisa, the competition authority provision partially offset its positive momentum. Following the reduction in the corporate tax rates for manufacturers, tax impacts varied across companies but remained positive at the segment level. To complete the segment overview, let me turn to the Digital and Other segments. In retail electronics, consumer spending remained subdued in the second quarter. However, the online channel continued to demonstrate resilience despite weak demand conditions. Although the highly competitive environment remained challenging, ongoing efficiency measures and disciplined cost management supported a gradual improvement in operating profitability. In food retail, revenue generation remained under pressure in the second quarter amid soft consumer demand and the lower store counts compared to last year. Alternative channels, franchise operations and active customer growth partially offset the top line pressure. Note that we won't be consolidating Carrefoursa starting from August. Finally, regarding the financial performance of these segments. In digital, revenues declined year-over-year despite lower revenue base, EBITDA improved by cost discipline and operational efficiency. At the bottom line, net loss narrowed compared to last year, yet net financing items continue to pressure the performance. In the Other segment, revenues remained under pressure, reflecting the challenging consumer environment and ongoing store network optimization efforts across retail operations. This was also reflected at the EBITDA level with both electronics and food retail contributed negatively. At the bottom line, weak profitability in retail operations and higher financing expenses continued to affect results. However, in the second quarter, the gain recognized from the Akcansa divestment more than offset these pressures, resulting in a positive net income for the segment. So this concludes our segment overview. Let me open the floor for Q&A.

[Operator Instructions] The first question comes from Henrik Kellinger. Could you please provide additional color on the Carrefoursa divestments? Based on my reading on the available information, it appears Sabanci made $85 million payment to the buyer, effectively resulting in a negative purchase price outcome. Could you help us understand what led to this structure and why it was considered preferable from a shareholder value standpoint relative to alternatives such as liquidation?

Thank you, Henrik, for that question. Actually, as you know, that we announced the Carrefoursa exit the main strategy in line with our long-term strategy. You know that especially in our target, we focused on the sectors that we are -- that we focused in our long-term strategy. At this stage, as you know, that Carrefoursa have some, let's say, net debt position approximately at the end of the first half, the gross debt is approximately $520 million. And depending on the agreement with the buyer, this was subject to the adjustment. according to the initial adjustment, we paid $85.5 million. At this stage, it is not possible to give a specific estimate of the additional cash impact in the next quarter because it depends on the closing adjustment, but we have already booked an initial outflow. In the first half, as you know, that Carrefoursa has TLR 3.6 million loss. And Carrefoursa had been carrying an annual negative impact of 90 bps on ROE and 120 bps in nonbank EBITDA margin, while its TL denominated revenue base was diluting our hard currency revenue mix by 250 bps. From a strategic perspective, the portfolio now carries a stronger earnings profile, and this is in line with our strategy, the main reason for this exit.

Thank you, Mustafa. The second question comes from Uzger. Considering strong cash position, do you plan on any capital injection on any subsidiary?

Let me try to answer this question. At this stage, we do not have any announcement or decision regarding a capital increase in any of our companies, but we always assess our company's capital needs and consider different alternatives where necessary. And as always, any material development will be communicated to the market in line with our obligations and regulations. But for the time being, there is nothing specifically I can share. Thank you, Uzger Bey.

Thank you, Kivanc. [Operator Instructions] There is a follow-up question from Henrik. Management has articulated the capital allocation philosophy centered on sustainable shareholder value growth. With SAHOL's shares trading at a 60% discount to NAV, share repurchases would appear to offer an attractive low-risk mechanism to drive meaningful growth in the NAV per share. Why aren't you being more active in the share buyback side in the face of what looks to be a significant valuation dislocation.

Thank you, Henrik. As I mentioned in my presentation, as you know, that we don't -- current discount level is approximately 58% level, and we don't believe the current discount fully reflects the quality of our portfolio, the portfolio actions we have taken or the value creation potential ahead. Share buyback remains one of the tools, as you know, that available to us. We have used it before, and we continue to evaluate it alongside other capital allocation alternatives, particularly when the discount is at these levels. We put every alternative on the table. Our main priority currently is to improve the portfolio's return profile and earnings quality through execution. As you have seen in our recent action to simplify the portfolio, we will continue to allocate capital more efficiently as these are the most sustainable levers to create shareholders' value over time. And ultimately, the more fundamental way to address the discount. And let me hand over to our CEO, Kivanc Bey, to share his answers to you. Kivanc Bey?