Istanbul Chamber of Industry (ISO) President Erdal Bahçıvan stated that 152 of Türkiye’s 500 largest industrial enterprises recorded losses last year due to the effect of disinflation policies, high interest rates and increasing financing burden; He said that the delay in the normalization of monetary policy also caused the financing pressure on the real sector to continue.
Bahçıvan said that “resisting inflation and resisting interest rates” show that this negative situation in financing will continue in 2026.
Speaking at the meeting where the “Türkiye’s 500 Largest Industrial Enterprises Research-2025” report prepared by ISO was announced, Bahçıvan said, “The resilient course of domestic demand in 2025, the time it took to improve inflation expectations, price rigidities in the service sector and financial fluctuations experienced from time to time slowed down disinflation. This delayed the normalization in monetary policy and caused the financing pressure on the real sector to continue.”
Emphasizing that high interest rates and access to financing conditions put serious pressure on companies, Bahçıvan said, “The disinflation policies implemented in 2025 and the stagnation in foreign markets put pressure on sales revenues. In addition, high interest rates and increasing financing burdens continued to limit profitability indicators.”
Bahçıvan stated that according to the pre-tax period profit/loss item, 152 companies made a loss in 2025, and this number is the same as 2024, when the record level was reached after the 2001 crisis.
He pointed out that although there is a nominal recovery in the profitability of gardening companies, all profitability ratios in 2025 remain below the averages of the last 10 years.
EVEN IF NOMINAL PROFITS INCREASED, THEY ARE BELOW THE 10-YEAR AVERAGES
According to the report; While the operating profit of the ISO 500 increased by 57 percent to 1 trillion lira in 2025, operating profitability increased from 6.2 percent to 7.7 percent. The total profit and loss before tax increased by approximately 65 percent, reaching 441 billion liras.
Bahçıvan said, “There has been a nominal recovery in profitability indicators in the ISO 500 in 2025. However, these indicators, which remain below historical averages due to high financing costs and weak demand conditions, show that profitability in industrial enterprises is still under pressure.”
Bahçıvan also pointed out that the fact that the profits in 2024 were realized at a very low level was also effective in the nominal improvement in profits in 2025.
According to the report, financial expenses increased by 38 percent last year, reaching 855 billion lira; The ratio of financial expenses to net sales increased from 6 percent to 6.6 percent. The ratio of financial expenses to operating profit was 84.9 percent.
While the equity capital of the ISO 500 increased by 15.8 percent in 2025, the increase in total debts was much higher at 30.8 percent. According to the report, the total debt of the ISO 500 was 7.6 trillion lira; The year 2025 was a period in which the weight of short-term liabilities in the debt structure of companies increased again. Accordingly, while long-term financial debts increased by 38.6 percent, the increase in short-term financial debts was 44.6 percent.
Stating that the problem that industrialists feel most at this point is the high financing costs, Bahçıvan said, “Financing costs, which have been at very high levels for the last two years, are not just an item reflected in the balance sheets; they are a fundamental reality that affects all segments of the industry, from production to investment, from employment to competitiveness.”
“FACTORS THAT INCREASE CREDIT COSTS SHOULD BE REVIEWED”
Expressing his suggestions for solutions that will reassure industrialists, Bahçıvan said, “All factors that increase credit costs and limit access to finance, including export loans, need to be reviewed, especially considering the most affected sectors.”
Noting that the industrialist’s “deferred VAT” problem should be solved urgently, Bahçıvan said, “We consider the deferred VAT problem as our industrial enterprises providing financing to the state with zero interest and indefinite maturity. In other words, our industrialists who produce, invest, create employment and export cannot use the resources they deserve; this resource is actually kept by the public for a long time and without any cost.”
According to the information provided by Bahçıvan, the deferred VAT amount of ISO 500 companies increased by 42.1 percent in 2025, reaching over 120 billion lira.
On the other hand, according to the ISO 500 research, Türkiye’s largest industrial enterprise in terms of sales from production in 2025 will be Tüpraş with 699 billion lira; This was followed by Ford Automotive with 538 billion lira and Star Refinery with 328 billion lira. The first three places did not change compared to the previous year.
