One of the most respected publications in the financial sector, The Achievement Awards 2022, hosted by EMEA Finance, have found their owners. At the ceremony in London, Hitit was awarded Best IPO in CEE Mid-Market of 2022 in the Central and Eastern European region. In the public offering led by ÜNLÜ & Co, Hitit made 27.6% of its shares available on the Istanbul stock exchange.
June 9, 2023 / LONDON – The EMEA Finance Achievement Awards 2022, organized by EMEA Finance, one of the leading financial magazines in the European, Middle Eastern and African markets, was held on June 8. The Awards, organized annually by EMEA Finance, a respected publishing organization that reports on developments and achievements in the international finance sector and analyzes important actors, is closely followed by the industry. Hitit was the winner of the “Best IPO in CEE Mid-Market of 2022” award where many IPOs made in the Central and Eastern Europe region were evaluated. At the ceremony held in London, Sezer Tuğ Özmutlu, Chief Financial Officer and Nevra Onursal Karaağaç, Chief Sales & Marketing Officer, received the award on behalf of Hitit.
The Growth After The Pandemic
Speaking at the award ceremony, Sezer Tuğ Özmutlu, CFO at Hitit, said: “At the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic, air transportation was interrupted all over the world and we had a period full of uncertainties. Despite this situation, we ended 2020 with a growth of 50% and 2021 with a growth of 36% in the number of Partners we serve with the new agreements. With the decision to further build upon these achievements with new investments, Hitit made its public offering in March 2022. We made a remarkably successful entrance into Borsa Istanbul with the IPO where 48,300 investors were present, was an indicator of their confidence in our company. At Hitit, we are actively involved in the development of advanced airline and travel software solutions that are exported to 47 countries. Our revenue structure reflects that 67% of our total earnings come from exports, while a significant 85%of our revenue is generated in foreign currencies.
Innovative Technologies to Benefit from Allocated IPO Proceeds
Explaining the business activities carried out after the IPO, Nevra Onursal Karaağaç, CMO at Hitit, said: “We accelerated our R &D investments covering AI applications, cloud technologies and new business lines with a significant part of the income we received from the IPO. We continued to develop new software solutions and expand to new markets. Through 16 new partnership agreements, we strengthened our presence in established regions and successfully entered untapped territories. We have also made a quick entrance to 2023 in terms of investments. In Q1 2023, we made an R&D investment of US$ 2.1 million with a license and hardware investment of US$ 200,000. This has accelerated and continues to accelerate the expansion of our company in the international market.”
Hitit, which is traded on Borsa Istanbul with the HTTBT code, was offered to the public in March 2022 with a consortium consisting of a total of 36 institutions under the leadership of ÜNLÜ Menkul Değerler A.Ş. The size of Hitit's initial public offering at the time of issuance was TL 431 million. The post-issuance free float rate was 27.6%. 40% of the company’s shares offered to the public were distributed to domestic individual and highly applied, 35 % to domestic corporate, and 25% percent to foreign institutional investors.