One of the most striking findings of the ISO 500 2024 study was the sharp decline in industrial sector profitability. This decline was driven by both weak sales due to stagnant domestic and external demand, and rising costs.
Operating profit of the ISO 500 fell by 31.6% in 2024, from TRY 937 billion to TRY 641 billion. Correspondingly, the operating profit margin declined by 6.3 percentage points, from 12.5% to 6.2%. This figure is significantly below the 2014–2023 average of 10.4%.
The total pre-tax profit/loss for the ISO 500 also fell by 58.5%, from TRY 645 billion to TRY 247 billion. The return on sales (ROS) declined from 8.6% to 2.6%, well below the ten-year average of 7.1%.
The limited impact of inflation accounting is evident in the TRY 65.2 billion net inflation adjustment loss, which contributed to the pre-tax profit/loss decline. However, its impact on ROS was only 0.6 percentage points. In other words, even without the adjustment, the ISO 500’s ROS would have been 3.2% instead of 2.6%.
Another key profitability metric, EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization) showed a weak increase of 12.1%, rising from TRY 1.2 trillion to TRY 1.3 trillion. This limited growth caused the EBITDA margin to fall by 2.9 percentage points, from 15.7% to 12.8%. This margin also remained below the 2014–2023 average of 13.7%. As such, all profitability indicators of the ISO 500 displayed a negative outlook in 2024.
EN
