Turkey's petrochemical raw material producer, Petkim, managed to increase its net profit from TL 44.4 million ($15.99 million) in the first quarter of 2015 to nearly TL 188 million in the second quarter.

Petkim increased its net profit four times to TL 232.3 million in the first six months of 2015 compared to the same period of the previous year. The company's gross profit, which made a turnover of TL 2.83 billion in the first six months of this year, was TL 290 million. When depreciation expenses are included Earnings Before Interest Taxes Depreciation and Amortization (EBITDA) was TL 252 million. The net profit margin, which was 2.3 percent in the same period of the last year, increased fourfold, reaching 11.2 percent.

Petkim General Manager Sadettin Korkut said that they are shooting for a sustainable profitability level by using high capacity in the upcoming period. "Recoveries and productivity growths we carried out in the previous periods have started to reflect on our profitability in 2015. We were prepared for this process at the beginning of 2015. At the same time our work to increase operational productivity, our sales policies taking the needs of the market into consideration and process recoveries affected our costs, energy being in the first place, in a positive way and increased out profitability." SOCAR Turkey Chairman Kenan Yavuz said on July 23 that SOCAR, the Azeri energy giant, is considering selling some of its shares in Petkim, but it does not plan to allow its stake in Petkim to fall below the 51 percent controlling level. SOCAR President Rovnag Abdullayev, on the other hand, has said: "We bought a 10 percent stake from the state and purchased the remaining stakes from the market. Petkim's share price rose to TL 4.35 per share from TL 1.8 in the past two years, and that's why we would like to sell some of our shares."