Türkiye’s food giant Yıldız Holding has undertaken a radical transformation to alleviate its debt burden in global markets.
Yıldız Holding Board Member and pladis Chairman Murat Ülker made striking statements to the economic press while examining the company’s UK operations on site. The holding, which came to the fore with the “debt restructuring” process carried out with banks in 2018, has completely changed its financial statements in the past 6 years.
Yıldız Holding, which sent letters to banks in 2018 and requested to restructure its debts, took off its debt burden of 7.5 billion dollars at that time. This debt, which was a hot topic at that time, is almost over.
According to the news of Dilek Güngör from Sabah, Murat Ülker stated that the debt had decreased to 500 million dollars and gave the following message: “The entire debt ends in 2030. If a new opportunity comes our way, we will buy a company.”
Paying off this huge debt was not easy. The holding sold assets in order to grow without shrinking. Murat Ülker announced that they disposed of more than 30 factories and companies to pay off the debt.
Stating that he does not regret his sales strategy with the words “There is no factory that I wish I had not sold”, Ülker emphasized that the facilities they sold continue production with their new owners: “To date, none of those who bought the factories from us have come to our door saying ‘I bought an egg, but the yolk did not come out’. I say thank God.”
“Competitors are declining, our market share is increasing”
Murat Ülker also made a candid analysis of how the high inflation environment in Türkiye affected the company. Referring to a dialogue he had with President and AKP Chairman Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, Ülker stated that they took measures according to the programs announced by the government.
Ülker stated that crisis periods can turn into an advantage for large companies with the following words: “In fact, in such periods, competitors decline in the market and this benefits us. Our market share increases.”
“Grocery stores do not earn 5 percent”
Regarding market prices, which is the biggest complaint of the consumer, Murat Ülker defended the sector through the example of Şok Marketler, which is within their own structure. Ülker implied that the target of criticism should be the producers, not the markets, and claimed that the profit margins were not as high as expected.
Ülker’s defense of the market is as follows: “The labor, capital and distribution costs of the market are 20-25 percent. It has to put it above the cost of the product and sell it… Markets do not earn 5 percent, there are those who earn 3 percent, there are those who earn 2 percent… They have no place to make sacrifices.”
Details of the news also included the UK launch of Ülker’s global brand pladis. The company, which has pressed the button on a new investment of 68 million pounds in England, is modernizing century-old factories. It was stated that full automation was implemented in the factory in Harlesden, robots baked biscuits in 6 minutes and 62 tons of production was made per day.
Source: Newspaper Oxygen
