Turkey's leading petroleum company TÜPRAŞ has topped the Fortune magazine's top 500 Turkish companies list in terms of net sales, it was announced Tuesday.

TÜPRAŞ revenues reached TL 88.5 billion in 2018, up 64.1 percent from the previous year, the magazine said on its website.

Energy Exchange Istanbul (EXIST) was the second company on the list with its TL 63.8 billion net sales, which increased by 55 percent year-on-year in 2018. Turkey's flag carrier Turkish Airlines (THY) ranked third by the magazine. Its net sales were TL 62.8 billion up by 58 percent in 2018 compared to 2017.

The total net sales of the 500 companies on the list rose by 31.84 percent to TL 1.59 trillion year-on-year in 2018, while the net profit of these companies decreased 16.63 percent to TL 54 billion, the magazine noted. "Fortune 500 companies' financing expenses rose by 125.79 percent to TL 139.2," it said. Meanwhile, the 500 companies' exports jumped by 57 percent on the basis of the Turkish lira, while their exports soared by 19 percent on U.S. dollar basis, TL 450 billion and $93.5 billion, respectively.

Exports' share in the 500 companies' total sales reached 28.33 percent in 2018, up from 23.78 percent in 2017.

Turkish Airlines came on top with TL 54.8 billion exports in 2018. Automotive company Ford ($5.66 billion), major appliances producer Arçelik ($3.6 billion), construction company Rönesans İnşaat ($3.3 billion) and another automotive manufacturer Tofaş ($3 billion) followed the carrier.

The first 10 companies' net sales constituted 30.1 percent of total net sales of 500 firms in 2018, while this figure was 27.2 percent in 2017.

The 279 firms' net sales among the 500 companies reached nearly TL 1 billion each as of the end of the last year, and net sales of 29 companies each exceeded TL 10 billion. While the last company's net sales climbed over TL 500 million, 119 firms declared losses in 2018. Among the 500 companies, 271 firms were active in the manufacturing sector, 118 in commerce, 85 in services and 26 in construction. The companies created a total of 1.24 million jobs, while Turkey's total employment was 28.7 million, as of the end of the last year.

The 500 companies' share in Turkey's GDP was 38 percent in 2017, and it reached 42.9 percent in 2018.

The 12th edition of the Fortune 500 list, which was released Tuesday, covers manufacturing, commerce, services and construction sectors. The average U.S. dollar/Turkish lira exchange rate was 4.82 during 2018, according to Turkey's Central Bank data.