•    Hitit (HTTBT), one of the world's leading companies in airline and travel technologies, successfully completed its first year on the Istanbul Stock Exchange. Continuing its expansion in international markets, Hitit signed 16 new agreements in 2022, increasing its export markets to 47 countries.

•    As of the end of 2022, Hitit started working with 64 Partners from six continents. The company reflected its successful growth in its financials: Revenues increased 30% to US$18.8 million, while EBITDA margin grew by 43%.

•    The company, which mainly uses the revenues obtained from its successful global growth and public offering to fund research & development studies; accelerated investment into Artificial Intelligence applications, Cloud technologies and new business lines.

•    By the end of 2023, Hitit is projected to grow in the range of 33%– 38% in revenue, 43%-48% EBITDA margin and a 25%–30% net profit.

Hitit (HTTBT), Türkiye’s largest exporter of airline and travel technologies, continues to grow at a stable rate worldwide. By signing 16 new partnership agreements in 2022, the company expanded its reach to 6 continents and 64 airlines and travel companies, whilst strengthening its place on the world ranking. Covering all continents from the Americas to Australia, Hitit managed to increase its revenue by 30% in 2022 to 18.8 million dollars and its EBITDA margin to 43%.

64 partners in 6 continents from Americas to Australia

Emphasizing that they achieved the fastest growth in partners in the company's history in 2022, Hitit's CMO Nevra Onursal Karaağaç said:

“We won 50% of the tenders we entered last year, an unusually large percentage for our sector. In 2022, we signed 18 new agreements, of which 16 are new Hitit Partners and two are technology consultancy / software projects. By signing our first partnership agreement in Australia, we spread our export footprint to six continents. 

We started to export software to 64 partners in 47 countries. We completed the system transition of 14 new partners and made them generate recurring revenue in the SaaS model. We have completed and implemented another new partner system transition to Crane PSS in Western Europe. 

Within the framework of ADS developments, we have completed the establishment of a Partner for the agency distribution platform and signed a new agreement. In 2022, the number of passengers, which is the basis of our SaaS revenues, increased YoY by 42% in real terms compared to the same period last year. 

The growth in existing Partner business volumes, as well as the acquisition of new partners, has had a significant positive impact on increased annual revenues."

Research & Development investment realized as 34 percent of sales revenue

Ms. Karaağaç stated that Hitit, which went public in Q1 2022, uses capital from its IPO offering to fund ongoing innovative technological development. Karaağaç added that they spent US$6.4 million on Research & Development last year – and US$3.8 million dollars purchasing requisite hardware, fixtures, and licensing agreements. Explaining that they have identified three key areas for investment as: 

•    "Better customer experience"
•    "Operational excellence" and 
•    "Revenue increasing activities"

Ms. Karaağaç continued, "The company continues to expand its cooperation with leading providers of Cloud infrastructure. To date, our improvements in optimization algorithms have been well-received and used by our Partners. We have transferred our experience in the field of Artificial Intelligence to other investments. To switch to dynamic pricing, we have integrated with two different AI suppliers apart from our own solution, and two of our Partners switched to dynamic pricing using different methodologies. Additionly, we started our test studies with one of our Partners. As of Q3 2023, we will begin to see the effects of our investments in this area: reduced costs and increased revenues.”

Meanwhile, Hitit’s CFO Sezer Tuğ Özmutlu pointed out that by the end of 2022, both revenue and EBITDA had surpassed their 2019 levels. She said: “Our sales revenues were 14% higher than in 2019—which was the pre-Covid period. By the end of 2022, Hitit’s cash and cash equivalents totaled US$20.4 million. Cash amount – excluding bank loans and financial leasing liabilities for the same period – amounted to US$18.2 million . Our EBITDA, meanwhile, increased YoY by 6% compared with the same period of last year; and it was also up by 2 percentage points over 2019—the last pre-Covid year. As a result of our international growth strategy, 85% of our revenues were based on foreign currency and 15% based on the Turkish Lira (TL). About 83% of our costs were realized in TL. This creates a protective shield for us against future currency-based turbulence.
 
The target for the end of 2023 is 33-38% growth in turnover and 43-48% in EBITDA.

Ms. Özmutlu also gave information about Hitit's future expectations, stating that by the end of 2023 Hitit is expecting a revenue growth in the range of 33% - 38%, with an EBITDA margin at 43% - 48% and net profit margin of 25% - 30% - all in USD terms. Ms. Özmutlu noted that the investment / turnover ratio is again targeted in a range of 30% - 35%, explaining: "We follow the developments regarding our forecasts meticulously, and will announce updates to our investors when necessary."