“Previously, we went public with shares of Ülker Bisküvi [the biscuit manufacturing branch of the holding]. There is also a short-term plan for launching an IPO for Ülker Çikolata. In principle, we may go public with our larger and more important companies in time, but there are no plans to launch an IPO for the parent company, Yıldız Holding,” Sözen said in an interview with Today’s Zaman.
The recent global financial crisis did not have much impact on the food sector, he said. Sözen stated that as a holding they are optimistic about 2010 and are expecting further growth in their group of companies. He also predicted that their companies would perform even better in 2011. Sözen said the group had continued to establish partnerships with international companies last year, too. “Yıldız has recently opened a new factory in cooperation with Danish Gumlink A/S [the world’s leading supplier of chewing gum] in Çorlu in Tekirdağ. We believe that this factory will emerge as a trade center with an annual export level of $220 million. The holding also established a partnership to expand into tea production a few months ago. We are also planning to export Ülker Hero Baby to neighboring countries. With a planned TL 20 million investment in Lüleburgaz, the holding’s milk company will also employ some 200 workers.”
Belgian chocolate maker Godiva, which Yıldız acquired in March 2008, will open two new stores in İstanbul within the year, Sözen said. Touching on new jobs Ülker has created, he noted that 22,500 people currently work for the holding’s food giant and they expect this figure to rise by 1,400 this year. However, he said the employment a food company creates is nearly fourfold that of its total employees since it requires more labor from supplying raw materials to logistics and sales and marketing.
