Dear Shareholders,
Customers and Stakeholders,
The past year has been quite turbulent for all sectors and markets. A global economic crisis that hit the finance sector of developed countries, in particular the United States, soon spread to the developing countries and left its mark on 2008. The crisis, which accelerated in the third quarter of the year, enveloping the world and impacting other sectors in addition to the financial sector, has been accepted as the world's worst economic disaster since the crashof 1929.
Starting with the financial sector, the crisis then spread and wreaked havoc over the automotive industry, damaging the locomotive sectors of the real economy. The result of this was that the world's biggest economies began to fall into recession one by one. Coming into its own as part of the globalizing world economic environment in the 2000's, Turkey's real sector, too, was inevitably impacted by the crisis. It is unfortunate that neither the global agenda nor the domestic situation was in a position to support the textiles sector. The Turkish textile industry's performance and competitive power was noticeably affected by structural failings. On a strategic level, if industrial and sector zones had undergone planning that would have created added value and synergy, Turkey's share in world textiles and apparel markets could have been elevated to over 10%. What is more, when seen from a strategic angle, the failure to create complementary sectors caused life cycles of textiles and apparel sector products to diminish and also impeded competitive capacities. If complementary sectors had been created in Turkey, the competitive power of the Turkish textiles and apparel industry could have made Turkey a leader in the field.
A fall in all raw material prices was experienced when the crisis spread from the finance sector into the other sectors. With the drop in oil prices in the last period, prices of ACN, the petroleumbased main raw material of acrylic fiber, also fell, causing price constrictions between replacement fibers and acrylics to turn in favor
of acrylics.
Despite the turbulence and structural failings, Aksa has maintained its position in the acrylic fiber-based product sector of synthetic fiber family as a clear and indisputable leading exporter. In addition, Aksa has made a significant contribution to creating employment opportunities for 250,000 in the acrylic fiber sector. The world's largest acrylic fiber manufacturer operating under one single roof, Aksa maintained its market share in 2008, operating at maximum capacity utilization.
Providing services for the industries of more than fifty countries spread over five continents, Aksa's share in the world market was increased from 8.25% in 2003 to 12.5% at the end of 2008. An investment of USD 87,771,445 has been made for 99 projects that the Company has undertaken in the strategic areas defined in 2008.
In search of new areas of business, Aksa's chosen priority is the manufacture of carbon fiber. However, the Company also holds an interest in creating other types of business opportunities such as its planned long term investment in the area of polymer science. Efforts are already underway with this investment. Aksa continues to undergo structural transformations and as such, will be exhibiting a much better performance in the next five years compared to the companies in the ISE 100 Index.
Aksa foresees that the financial crisis will be overcome in 2009 and during this year, the Company will continue its efforts to accelerate the momentum of projects geared to reduce costs and increase productivity.More speed will be given to energy production projects, carbon fiber capacity increases and operational excellence in production.Aksa has a strong future ahead of it and this strength stems from the power of its past.
Ömer Dinçkök
Chairman