Oil company TUPRAS tops Turkey's Fortune 500 list

By Aysu Bicer

ANKARA (AA) - Turkey's leading petroleum company TUPRAS on Wednesday topped Fortune magazine's top 500 Turkish companies list in net sales.

TUPRAS's revenues were 89.6 billion Turkish liras ($13 billion) in 2019, up 1.2% versus the previous year, the magazine said on its website.

The Turkish Energy Stock Market (EPIAS) was the second company on the list with its 87.9 billion ($13 billion) net sales.

Turkey's flag carrier Turkish Airlines ranked third by the magazine. Its net sales were 75.1 billion Turkish liras ($11 billion), up by 19.6% in 2019 compared to 2018.

Total net sales of the 500 companies on the list rose by 14.9% to 1.8 trillion Turkish liras ($262.6 billion) year-on-year in 2019.

The net profit of these companies also increased 44.5% to 78.1 billion Turkish liras ($11.4 billion), the magazine noted.

Meanwhile, 500 companies' exports jumped by 14.6% on the basis of Turkish liras, while decreasing by 2.7% by US dollars -- 515.8 billion Turkish liras and $90.9 billion, respectively.

The most exporting companies were Turkish Airlines, automotive company Ford, major appliances producer Arcelik, construction company Ronesans and TUPRAS.

A total of 323 firms' net sales among 500 companies reached over 1 billion Turkish liras ($147 million) each as of the end of the last year, and net sales of 33 companies each exceeded 10 billion Turkish liras ($1.5 billion).

A total of 402 companies declared profits, while 98 announced losses.

Total employment created by these companies hit 1.24 million, compared to the last year's figure at 1.15 million.

The 500 companies' share in Turkey's GDP was 46.2% in 2019, remaining stable compared to 2018.

The Fortune 500 list, of which the 13th edition was released on Tuesday, covers the energy, manufacturing, commerce, services and construction sectors.