Dear Stakeholders,
The year 2023 has undoubtedly been one of difficulties in many respects, both for Türkiye and the world.
The successive global financial difficulties of the past few years, high inflation affecting almost all global economies, and the geopolitical risks arising from the war between Russia and Ukraine and the conflict between Israel and Palestine have created a serious environment of uncertainty with significant effects on the corporate operating environment. Therefore, swift adaptation to prevailing conditions and agility came to the fore rather than medium- long-term foresight and planning.
Unfortunately, Türkiye started 2023 with one of the biggest earthquake disasters in its history. The disaster, which affected 11 provinces, deeply affected the whole country. As the Doğuş Group Family, we were active in the region from the first day, with all our resources working to heal the wounds.
In 2023, which we started with cautious optimism, we also faced important economic tests. While growth and workforce-oriented monetary and fiscal policies and increasing market regulations and controls shaped the economy in the first half of the year, gradually tightening monetary policy was followed in the second half. The steps taken since the second half of the year have been very important in reducing inflation, ensuring exchange rate stability and sustainability in exports, and creating general stability and balance. We believe that continuing these steps with determination, the effects of which we will feel more towards the end of the year will be important for institutions in almost every sector to grow and create added value.
As Doğuş REIT, we have successfully performed despite such a challenging year. We quickly adapted to prevailing conditions with our agile and flexible structure, which has become part of our company culture and reflects Doğuş Group values. In addition to maintaining operational profitability through effective cost management, we accelerated our growth while strengthening our balance sheet quality. The fact that we have successfully weathered these challenging conditions, transformed, and progressed has been an important indicator of our resilience.
The number of visitors at Gebze Center Shopping Mall, which is in our company's portfolio, set a record at 11.5 million in 2023. While the occupancy rate at the Mall was 99%, it increased to an average of 99.3% in all our other real estate.
As a result of the above, as of the end of 2023, the total leasable area of Doğuş REIT’s investment real estate portfolio consisting of Doğuş Center Maslak, D-Ofis Maslak, Doğuş Etiler Sports Center, Gebze Center Shopping Center, Gebze Center Hotel and Gebze Center Automotive Showroom and Service was 195 thousand m2 and the total appraisal value thereof was TL 9.88 billion.
In 2023, rental income from our real estate was TL 548.5 million, our operating profit was TL 1.9 billion, and our net profit was TL 1.8 billion.
In 2023, our industry witnessed a profoundly transformative shift towards sustainability, reflecting a broader global trend around environmental, social, and governance (ESG) topics. Investor demand, laws and regulations, and increasing social awareness of climate change have also accelerated the processes of reflecting sustainability practices to sector companies' operations, including them more strategically across investments.
As Doğuş REIT, we continued our sustainability effort, which is our focus, with determination in 2023 and even advanced it by structuring our Sustainability Working Group. Under the leadership of this group, we held the Double Significance Workshop with the participation of all company employees. We determined the focus areas that will form the basis of our company's future sustainability strategy. By adapting to changing standards, we accepted Climate Change as a key stakeholder for the first time. As our work proceeded step by step, we continued to monitor the impact of activities within our real estate portfolios, as well as topics for which we assessed materiality in environmental and social areas.
With climate change posing an undeniable risk for real estate assets, in 2024, REITs will make more detailed climate risk assessments to protect the real estate properties in their portfolio against extreme weather events and long-term climate changes and to comply with the laws and regulations as well as voluntary codes regarding climate change. As Doğuş REIT, we published our climate change policies and quickly started our work on measurement, evaluation, and target-setting systems in this field. We will deliver the results to our stakeholders in 2024.
In 2023, our Corporate Governance Compliance Rating reached 9.53, marking the highest score in our history. Our 2022 annual report, in which we transparently reveal all our financial, operational, and corporate activities, was deemed worthy of two awards: "Platinum Winner Worldwide" and "Top 100 Reports Worldwide" in the Vision Awards Competition organized by the League of American Communications Professionals (LACP). It was also deemed worthy of the Achievement Award in the Annual Report Design category at the 42nd Graphic Design Competition organized by the Professional Association of Graphic Designers this year.
2023 was a challenging yet meaningful year. We proudly celebrated the 100th anniversary of the Republic of Türkiye. And as we decorated our real estate with images of Mustafa Kemal Ataturk and Turkish flags, we shared a common enthusiasm through the events we organized to celebrate the 100th anniversary of our Republic at Gebze Center Shopping Center.
On behalf of Doğuş REIT, I thank all my colleagues who contributed to this year, which, despite many risks and difficulties, we closed with a successful performance; our main shareholder, who has always supported us, and all our stakeholders who have trusted us.
In the second century of our Republic, we will continue to work and create value for our country in the awareness that success is a journey, not a destination. I hope 2024 proves to be a successful year for our country, industry, and company.
Yours respectfully,
Çağan Erkan
General Manager