Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for standing by. I am Maria, your Chorus Call operator. Welcome and thank you for joining the Koç Holding conference call and live webcast to present and discuss the Q1 2023 financial results. At this time, I would like to turn the conference over to Mr. Polat Şen, CFO, Mrs. Nursel İlgen, Head of IR, Mrs. Özge Esim Eriman, Finance Director, Coordinator, excuse me, and Mrs. Cansev Atak, IR Manager. Mrs. Nursel İlgen, you may now proceed.
Thank you, Maria. Hi everyone, welcome and thank you for joining us today. This is Nursel speaking. I have here with me our CFO, Polat Bey, and our Finance Coordinator, Özge Esim Eriman, to go over the presentation and answer your questions during the Q&A session. I would like to note that our presentation and the Q&A session might contain forward-looking statements and assumptions based on our business environment as we discuss today, and they might be subject to change. Please remember, you can access the replay of the webcast on our website after the call. Now, I would like to hand over to Polat Bey to start the presentation. At the end of the presentation, we'll have a Q&A session. Polat Bey?
Thank you, Nursel İlgen . Welcome everyone. Thank you for joining us for our earnings call, quarter one 2023. Before we begin, I'd like to share that we feel deeply sorry about the earthquakes on February 6th. Our country was shaken by one of the biggest natural disasters in our history. The Koç Group, along with all of our companies, teams, colleagues, have been on the ground since the first day following the devastating earthquake. We have been working comprehensively to heal the wounds of the earthquake disaster. In the first instance, our priority was to rescue citizens alive from the rubble and send emergency supplies to the earthquake area quickly. Using our trucks, we met the hot food, laundry, cleaning needs of the region. We also remained diligent in our efforts to develop the living quarters, which will comprise of 5,000 containers and housing for around 20,000 people.
For the implementation of the container city project, we have assembled a project team of around 600 people from a range of expertise fields. Despite their temporary duration, our goal is to help a happy and sustainable life in these quarters rather than simply building settlements. We are planning management of the social units in collaboration with relevant government agencies. The support of local and international non-governmental organizations, social responsibility initiatives of our companies, and voluntary participation will help our objective to turn these social units into centers of sustainable social benefit. We are putting together specialized initiatives with a focus on education, health, social and cultural activities, sports, and employment as well, in response to the needs of these vulnerable populations. Fortunately, Koç Group has the will and the means to do all that is necessary.
At Koç Holding, as you know, we have a diversified business portfolio, and the effect of the earthquakes on each business is quite different than each other. None of our group companies had any production suspension. Some of our bank branches had disruption in terms of the service that they are giving to the field, but we are using some temporary facilities for the banking needs of the population there. Our group companies have already taken various actions to mitigate the impact of the earthquakes. For the time being, we do not see any underlying company to be in need of direct support from the parent company. Having discussed about the main event affecting our country in the Q1 of the year, let's look at the highlights.
Let's go to slide three, which you'll see today's agenda, and I'll start with slide five with some key indicators of Koç Holding. We are in a world marked by increasing volatilities, which require meticulous attention, while the risks and opportunities we face are constantly evolving and diversifying. International supply chains are leading to sharp volatility in energy and food prices, as well as other commodities and logistic costs, increasing the pressure on inflation. In the wake of a series of hikes in policy rates as central banks try to tackle the inflation, we have entered a year where the global growth will slow.
We believe, in line with our approach of achieving growth by creating value and benefit for all of our stakeholders, we will continue to create value for our country with our leading practices in the fields of environmental, social, and governance, along with our diversified portfolio structure. On the left, you can see the sectoral breakdown of our diversified business portfolio as of end of March. On the right, you can see the revenue breakdown. Our portfolio diversification is not limited with sectors, but also includes international positioning. We are the largest exporting group, as you all know, with our exports accounting for around 7% of Turkey's total exports. In terms of composition of our own revenues on a combined basis, in the Q1 of 2023, 31% is coming from international sales.
If we also include Tüpraş, which is an FX-linked commodity business, approximately 52% of our revenues can be considered in hard currency. On slide six, you can see our dividend income and payments. So far this year, our dividend income was solid and amounted to approximately TRY 12.4 billion, excluding potential dividends for the remainder of the year from some of our companies as our past year practices. Our dividend income reached an all-time high figure and showed a major recovery compared to last year's dividend income of TRY 6 billion for the whole year. This was a very good testament to our diverse portfolio, enabling a sustainable dividend flow. Tüpraş has reinstated dividend payments after three years following the recovery of the accumulated losses. Yapı Kredi Bank's dividend payout was at 15%, higher than the previous two years' 10% payout.
Note that Arçelik has postponed its dividend payment to September this year, which is not included in these figures. As a reminder, the majority of our dividend income is derived from the companies with FX or FX-linked revenues. In 2023, our AGM resulted in a distribution of TRY 4.4 billion in dividend payments, corresponding to around a 6% payout ratio. This seems lower than our historical payout ratio, yet the dividend yield is close to the last five years' average dividend yield of 2.3%. Moving on to slide seven, you can see the evolution of our net cash in the Q1 of this year. At the end of last year, we had $74 million of net cash position at the holding level.
Considering our dividend income and other items such as management fees, operating and financial expenses, and currency conversion impact, our net cash position at the end of March 2023 has reached $352 million, including Yapı Kredi 81 investment. On slide eight, you can see the main pillars of our solid balance sheet. As you all know, prudent management has always been a key focus area. As we have just discussed, our net cash position stood at $352 million, including Yapı Kredi 81. Around 96% of our $1.1 billion of gross cash is in hard currency. At the holding standalone level, we like to keep some liquidity to serve as a war chest against volatility, as well as a firepower in case of investment opportunities. In terms of funding at Koç Holding level, the only debt we have is the $750 million Eurobond outstanding as of the end of March.
We paid down our Eurobond issued in 2016 in March this year. Following this, our gross cash has decreased as much, while this has no impact on our net cash, as you know. We strictly apply and regularly monitor our prudent risk management policies at each underlying company and on a combined basis. In terms of liquidity, leverage, and foreign exchange position, we preserved and even improved our conservative levels. On a combined basis, our current ratio is 1.3, and our net financial debt to EBITDA, excluding the financial segment, is 0.5 times. In terms of FX, we remain well within our risk management rules. As the largest investment holding company in Turkey and being active in diversified sectors, we manage our balance sheet to ensure that we always remain resilient against the market volatility.
Now, I just want to hand over to Nursel İlgen to go through the highlights and sectoral developments of this quarter.
Thank you, Polat Bey. I'll start with energy and Tüpraş on slide 10. The energy segment's contribution to Koç Holding's consolidated net income is solid in the Q1, thanks to resilient domestic demand, strong crack margins, and wider differentials, despite lower capacity utilization. The domestic demand for refined products was resilient, as I said, in the first month of the year. Jet fuel sales surged 19%, gasoline sales increased 18%, and diesel sales grew 5% year- on- year. In the Q1, Tüpraş' domestic sales volume was up 3%, while international sales were down 22%, resulting in a 3% lower total sales volume. Looking at the refining margins, we see Med Complex margin increasing to $2.7 per barrel from around $9.5 per barrel in the Q1 of 2022, thanks to strong crack margins and wider differentials.
Middle distillate and gasoline margins remained above the previous year's levels, despite some softness in middle distillate cracks quarter- on- quarter. Diesel crack margin was materially higher at $30.8 per barrel, with better demand in Europe ahead of the price cap decision for Russian products. Similarly, jet fuel cracks averaged $29.7 per barrel, with global jet fuel demand approaching 2019 levels. Gasoline cracks were exceptionally strong at $21.8 per barrel, with the increase in gasoline blending costs due to decreased Russian imports, capacity outages with winter storms in the U.S., and relatively strong demand. In the Q1 of the year, Tüpraş' overall net refining margin amounted to $9.3 per barrel, compared to $5.2 per barrel during the same period of last year, mainly due to better cracks, wider differentials, despite lower inventory effect, higher energy prices, and also lower capacity utilization.
The capacity utilization was 71% in the Q1, mainly due to scheduled maintenances. On the LPG side, consumption was also strong, increasing 45% in the first month of the year. Aygaz's domestic retail sales volume was up 39%, and including wholesale as well as contribution from Bangladesh, total sales volume growth was 83% in the Q1. Okay, let's move to slide 11 and discuss the developments in the auto segment. Our companies sustained their strong performance in the Q1 of the year, and the second contribution to consolidated net income was TRY 4.8 billion. The main drivers of this robust performance were stellar domestic market performance, recovery in export markets, solid export contracts, OPEX control, and pricing discipline, despite ongoing supply chain and logistic issues. In the Q1 of this year, we witnessed a 55% surge in domestic auto sales.
While passenger car sales were up 50%, commercial vehicle sales increased 68%. Our market share in the domestic market improved 6 percentage points to 31% compared to the same period of the previous year. On the export side, European auto sales had a strong start to the year, mainly due to last year's low basis. The European passenger car market registered 18% growth, while the commercial vehicle market realized around a 9% increase. Our group market share in the exports, however, decreased 8 percentage points to 38%. For the Otosan's export sales, volume was 9% higher in the Q1, while Tofaş witnessed a 52% decrease in its export volumes, mainly due to discontinuation of Doblo production for export markets. Strong domestic sales, pricing discipline, as well as currency turbulence, supported total revenues of both Ford Otosan and Tofaş, and they increased 138% and 76% respectively.
Export revenue growth was also strong for Ford Otosan, with 126% growth in international revenues, including contribution of Craiova, while it was down by 34% at Tofaş, mainly because of Doblo, as I mentioned. So Türk Traktör, our tractor company, enjoyed strong domestic sales in the Q1, with 36% higher sales volume, mainly due to subsidized agricultural loans at low interest rates. The company's export sales volume was also strong, growing at 15%. Türk Traktör's total revenue surged 139%, and the company's net income almost tripled to 1.4 billion TRY. Otokar, our leading bus and defense company with superior R&D capabilities and prosperous products, realized 96% growth in revenues. The domestic revenues of the company increased 150%, and international revenues grew 66%, while the share of international revenues constituted around 54% of total revenues.
On the other hand, in the Q1, net income was negative, mainly due to weaker operational performance, in addition to higher finance and tax expenses. Moving on to slide 12, let's look at the consumer durable segment. Consumer durable segment contribution to consolidated net income was up 2% year on year to 579 million TRY. The performance was driven by strong domestic revenues with the support of currency turbulence for international revenues, as well as softness in raw material prices, despite weakness in international markets and pressure from OPEX. Turkish white goods unit sales increased 10% in the Q1, while the export sales were weak and decreased 14%. The domestic market was quite strong, as in the case of the auto sector. That's mainly because of the customers' expectation of further hikes in product prices.
Looking at Arçelik figures in the Q1, domestic revenues increased 70% to 90%, thanks to effective pricing and increase in unit sales, and similarly, international revenues constituting 62% of the total increased 26% on the back of FX impact and inorganic growth, despite a decrease in like-for-like sales. Arçelik managed to attain the key metrics at healthy levels, and the company's working capital to sales ratio became 22.7%, mainly as a result of higher receivables. Leverage stayed at comfortable levels, with a net debt to EBITDA ratio of 2.6 times, as it increased funding needs. Finally, let me also briefly talk about the finance segment and the developments at Yapı Kredi on slide 13. The finance segment was the largest contributor to consolidated net income, with a 52% share, and the contribution to consolidated net income was realized at TRY 8.8 billion.
The bank recorded a robust profitability with strong fundamentals, and according to BRSA Financials, the bank's net income increased 74% year- on- year to TRY 12.6 billion in the Q1, while return on average tangible equity was realized at 39.7%. Net fees registered a substantial 103% growth, with stellar performance across the board. Loan yields were under pressure, and funding costs were in an increasing trend due to regulations. Despite challenging conditions, Yapı Kredi managed to preserve its loan-to-deposit spread in positive territory. The increase in operating costs was mainly business growth-related, including inflation pass-through impact and earthquake-related costs. Turkish share-driven lending growth continued in both loans and deposits. In the Q1, total performance cash loan growth was 7% quarter- on- quarter, and total customer deposits growth was 12% quarter- on- quarter.
The bank's strategy to focus on value-added segments, such as TL small ticket lending and sticky individual demand deposits, continued. Share of retail loans increased to 60% in total FX adjusted loans, while the share of demand deposits in total customer deposits remained at a high level with around 40%. Net cumulative cost of risk, including currency hedge, was at 38 basis points, mainly due to limited NPL inflows and strong collections, as well as front-loaded provisions. Conservative coverage levels were preserved across all stages, and the total coverage was 5.4% on a consolidated basis. Yapı Kredi remains comfortable in terms of liquidity. Total liquidity coverage ratio of the bank stands at 177% as of the end of March. In terms of capital, Yapı Kredi continued to operate with more than 450 basis points buffered on its capital ratios compared to regulatory requirements, while internal capital generation contributes.
CAR and Q1 ratios stood at 16.5% and 14.8% by March end, respectively. If we move to slide 14, I'll walk you through the overall group, incorporating all of the segment trends that we just discussed. On a combined basis, Koç Group registered TRY 373 billion in revenue, TRY 38.4 billion in profit before tax, and TRY 31.6 billion in net income. Consolidated net income amounted to TRY 16.8 billion, with a 150% year-on-year growth. Now, I would like to leave the floor to Polat Bey for concluding the demo.
Thank you, Nursel İlgen . On slide 18, you'll see the evolution of our net asset value discounts. Although we have maintained our strong financial profile and prudent approach with a track record of sound liquidity, our NAV discount is wide. We believe that this is unwarranted, and it does not really reflect the strength of our fundamentals. As discussed previously with a couple of you, we are not happy with this deeply disconnected valuation. We hope to converge back to our historical NAV discount levels with improvements in Turkey's risk premium and also higher share of foreign investors in free float. In summary of what we have just explained, we maintain our disciplined management approach. Our balance sheet is strong with a solid net cash position, and our portfolio structure and diversification ensures resilience against volatility.
Value creation, extending our global footprint, and diversifying our businesses further are always the key priorities for us. Overall, we are well prepared and with our solid and diverse businesses, and also, going forward, we have the potential to further diversify our positioning both domestically and internationally through our investments while sustaining an efficient level of liquidity. Thank you for listening. Now we can open the floor for the questions. Thank you. I guess there are no questions.
No, there are no questions, so I will hand over for any closing comments. Thank you.
All right. I assume that all of our subsidiaries have already done their earnings call, which was very explanatory. And I assume, again, we were explanatory enough not to get any questions today. So I would like to thank everyone who was online. Hope to see you in good Q2 results in July. Thank you.