Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for standing by. I'm Poppy, your Chorus Call Operator. Welcome, and thank you for joining the Koç Holding conference call and live webcast to present and discuss the third quarter 2022 financial results. At this time, I would like to turn the conference over to Ms. Sinem Baykalöz, IR Manager at Koç Holding. Ms. Baykalöz, you may now proceed.
Hello, welcome, and thank you for joining us today. This is Sinem, IR Manager of Koç Holding. I have here with me our CFO, Mr. Polat Şen, our IR Coordinator, Ms. Nursel İlgen, our Finance Coordinator, Mr. Fatih Sertemir, and our IR Manager, Ms. Cansev Atak, 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 see it 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 Mr. Polat Şen to start the presentation. At the end of the presentation, we will have a Q&A session. Polat, please.
Thank you, Sinem. Welcome, everyone. Thank you very much for attending our earnings call. So let's start with where we are going to see some key indicators of Koç Holding in slide four. I'm proud to share that we had a solid first nine months despite all the challenges. Since our last webcast in August, we observed further deterioration in the global economic conditions. China's zero-COVID policy still affects the global supply chains. On the other hand, escalated geopolitical risks inevitably remain as significant challenges for the global economy. Now, many countries have to deal with record-high inflation and tight monetary policies. All these led to a changing scenery in which the global markets face the U.S. dollar's strength against major currencies and an increased global recession risk. In Turkey, economic activity started to show signs of slowdown in the third quarter.
Tight credit conditions and erosion in purchasing power of the households affected domestic demand. We also observed a slowdown in Turkey's exports, mainly due to the downturn of the European economy since summer. I believe, as Koç Holding, we have proven a track record of successfully managing the volatility. Our resilience, strong financials, and intact fundamentals are the reflection of our diversified portfolio structure, agile management, and prudent risk policies. On the left, you can see the sectoral breakdown of our diversified business portfolio as end of September. The major change versus the previous quarter is our higher effective ownership in Tüpraş by around 3 points to 42.07% after the transfer of Entek shares to Tüpraş. As a reminder, in the second quarter, we purchased additional 18% shares of Yapı Kredi, which explains the increased share of the finance segment. 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 in Turkey, with our exports accounting for around 7% of Turkey's total exports. In terms of the composition of our own revenues on a combined basis, 29% is coming from the international sales. If we also include Tüpraş, which is an FX-linked commodity business, approximately 56% of our revenues can be considered in hard currency. Moving on to slide five, you can see the evolution of our net cash in the first nine months of this year. At the end of last year, we had $275 million of net cash position at the holding level.
Considering our dividend income, dividend payments, and other items such as management fees, operating and financial expenses, and currency conversion impact, and purchase of additional 18% Yapı Kredi shares, our net cash position at the end of the third quarter became $104 million, including Yapı Kredi AT1 investment. Please note that we will receive the second dividend from Ford Otosan, amounting to TRY 773 million, which is Koç Holding's share, in the fourth quarter. On slide six, you can see the main pillars of our solid balance sheet. As you all know, prudent management has always been a key focus area here. In the third quarter, we've preserved and even improved our conservative levels of liquidity, leverage, and foreign exchange position. All of our $1.3 billion gross cash is in hard currency, including the Yapı Kredi AT1. It's $1.5 billion.
Keeping an efficient level of liquidity has always been our approach, and it always allows us to maintain our resilience. With our agile management, we sustained our healthy balance sheet despite the headwinds of the market volatility. In terms of our funding at Koç Holding level, the only debt we have is the two Eurobonds outstanding as of the end of September. We strictly apply and regularly monitor our prudent risk management policies at each underlying company on a combined basis. On a combined basis, our current ratio is 1.2x , and our leverage is at 0.7x . In terms of FX, we have a policy of keeping a neutral position, and we remain well within our risk management rules. Now, I'd like to hand over to Nursel for performances of our business.
Thank you, Polat Bey. Okay, let's move on to sectoral developments in the first nine months of the year. I'll start with the energy and Tüpraş on slide eight. The energy segment's contribution to Koç Holding's consolidated net income is solid in the first nine months thanks to resilient domestic demand, robust crack margins, and widening differentials, despite sharp hikes in energy costs and malfunction in the İzmit refinery RUP unit. The domestic demand for refined products maintained its resilience in the first eight months of 2022. Jet fuel sales surged 45%, gasoline sales increased 15%, while diesel sales declined 6%. In the first nine months, Tüpraş's domestic and international sales volume were up 9% and 26% respectively, resulting in 13% higher total sales volume. Net refining margins reached record high levels driven by the historically high crack margins.
Ongoing supply-demand imbalance, supply issues stemming from the Russia-Ukraine war, and increasing refining costs continue to keep mid-distillate crack margins up. Diesel crack margin increased to above its last five years' first nine-month average, with robust demand excluding China. Post-pandemic demand recovery continues, and supply shortages exist, with decreasing Russian exports to Europe. Similarly, jet fuel cracks increased to above its last five years' first nine-month average, supported by limited mid-distillate supply. Gasoline cracks were also strong, with some softness in the third quarter, mainly due to lower demand in the U.S. during driving seasons with recession fears and improved inventory levels. In the first nine months, Tüpraş's overall net refining margin amounted to $14.9 per barrel versus $4.3 per barrel during the same period of last year, mainly due to better cracks, wider differentials, and higher capacity utilization despite significant hikes in energy prices.
Tüpraş's capacity utilization rate reached 94% in the first nine months despite suspension of production in İzmit refinery group unit for four weeks. On the LPG side, total consumption decreased 5% due to a 14% decrease in cylinders, while demand for auto gas was down 4% in the first eight months. Total sales volume of Aygaz, the leading player in the LPG sector, was 3% lower in the first nine months, mainly due to a 14% decrease in cylinder sales. In Bangladesh, the LPG license was obtained as of August, which was required to start operations, and accordingly, LPG filling activities began in August. Let's move to slide nine and discuss the developments in the auto segment. Our companies sustained their strong performance in the first nine months of the year. Auto segment's contribution to consolidated net income was TRY 9 billion .
The main drivers of the stellar performance were favorable product mix, solid export contracts, as well as OpEx control and pricing discipline, despite softness in both domestic and export markets. In the first nine months, we witnessed a 5% decrease in domestic auto sales, mainly due to accessibility issues for semiconductors, tight credit conditions, and erosion in purchasing power of the households. Compared to the first nine months of last year, passenger car sales and light commercial vehicle sales decreased 8% and 2% respectively, while heavy commercial vehicle sales were 24% up. In the first nine months, our market share in the domestic market increased 3 percentage points to 28%, mainly on the back of market share gains of Tofaş in the passenger car segment and Ford Otosan in the commercial vehicle segment.
On the export side, in the European markets, we saw a 10% decrease in passenger car sales and a 21% decrease in light commercial vehicle sales in the first nine months. This weak performance was mainly due to ongoing supply chain disruptions' impact on production and headwinds in the macro environment. Our group market share in the exports increased one percentage point to 45% on the back of market share gains of both Ford Otosan and Tofaş. In the first nine months, Ford Otosan's export sales volume was 4% higher than for exports from Turkey, while Tofaş witnessed 6% growth in its export volumes. Favorable product sales mix, pricing discipline, and currency turbulence due to weak Turkish lira supported total revenues of both Ford Otosan and Tofaş. Ford Otosan's revenue growth was 143%. Tofaş realized 115% growth in revenues. Export revenue growth was also strong for both companies.
Ford Otosan registered 148% growth in export and international revenues, incorporating Craiova consolidation for the first time, while it was 109% at Tofaş. International revenues were supported by euro-based cost-plus contracts and, in the case of Tofaş, also by take-or-pay. Total revenues of TürkTraktör, our tractor company, increased 82% in the first nine months. TürkTraktör registered a strong performance in the export market with a 10% increase in volumes and a 104% increase in the revenues. Yet, its sales volume in the domestic market was 21% down, whereas the domestic sales revenues booked an increase of 72% with the contribution from non-tractor business. Otokar, the leading bus and defense company in our portfolio, booked a strong first nine months. Otokar's domestic revenues more than doubled and booked a 118% increase, while its international revenues were 79% up. Share of international revenues constituted around 63% of total revenues.
Overall, total revenue growth was 92% in the first nine months. In light of the recent developments, our auto companies updated their 2022 guidance. For the details, please see slide 20 of the presentation. I'm moving on to slide 10 to look at the consumer durable segment. Consumer durable segment contribution to consolidated net income was flattish at around TRY 1 billion. Revenue growth continued to be strong, and contribution of newly acquired operations was supportive. However, increased costs due to global challenges were reflected on margins. Turkish white goods sales decreased 5% in the first nine months, while the export markets were flat. In the third quarter, we observed flattish unit sales in the wholesale market, while retail was weaker, mainly due to consumers changing spending priorities and decreasing purchasing power. Let's dive deeper into Arçelik.
In the first nine months, domestic revenues increased 90% thanks to effective pricing, despite a 10% decrease in unit sales. Similarly, international revenues, constituting 70% of the total, increased 116% on the back of FX impact, inorganic growth, and also organic growth. As a separate note, in the first eight months of this year, Beko captured the market leadership position in Europe with a higher market share. Looking at the key risk metrics, Arçelik managed to attain healthy levels. The company's working capital to sales ratio became 26.3%, and leverage stayed at comfortable levels thanks to strong cash generation in the third quarter, with a net debt-to-EBITDA ratio of 2.7x . Regarding 2022 expectations, Turkey revenue growth expectation has risen upwards from around 70% to more than 70% on solid positioning in the domestic market.
In order to reflect softness in demand and high inflation, Arçelik revised its EBITDA margin guidance to around 9.5% from around 10% before. Finally, let me also briefly talk about the finance segment and the developments at Yapı Kredi on slide 11. The finance segment was once again the largest contributor to consolidated net income with TRY 20.8 billion . Yapı Kredi recorded an outstanding core revenue evolution on the back of strong margin expansion and stellar fee performance. NIM improved 438 basis points year-to-date, while the bank's ability to leverage its digital capabilities led to a fee growth of 86%. Operating expenses were contained at 93% in an inflationary environment. Accordingly, the bank's net income reached TRY 35.3 billion in the first nine months. Return on tangible equity was 55% in the same period. Turkish lira-driven growth continued in both loans and deposits.
In the first nine months, the bank recorded above-sector growth in strategic areas and booked a TL loan growth of 59% year-to-date. Growth in customer franchise supported the funding base, and TL customer deposits growth was 109% year-to-date. The bank's strategy to focus on value-added segments such as TL small ticket lending and [FIKI] individual demand deposits continued. Net cumulative cost of risk, including currency hedge, was at 91 basis points. Conservative coverage levels were preserved across all stages, and the total coverage was 5.5% on a consolidated basis. Yapı Kredi also remains comfortable in terms of liquidity. Total liquidity coverage ratio of the bank stands at 163% as of the end of September. In terms of capital, Yapı Kredi continued to operate with more than 560 basis points buffers on its capital ratios compared to regulatory requirements, with around 530 basis points contribution from internal capital generation.
CAR and Tier 1 ratios stood at 17.6% and 15.5% by September end, respectively. Yapı Kredi revised up its TL loan growth and P&L guidance while keeping the net cost of risk guidance at its conservative level. For the details, again, please see slide 20 for 2022 guidance. If we move to slide 12, I'll walk you through the overall results of the group, incorporating all of the segment trends we just discussed. On a combined basis, Koç Group registered TRY 986 billion in revenues, TRY 96.8 billion in profit before tax, and TRY 83.7 billion in net income. Consolidated net income amounted to TRY 42 billion, with a 346% year-on-year growth. This concludes my part. Now, I would like to leave the floor to Polat Bey for concluding remarks. Polat Bey?
Thank you, Nursel.
On slide 14, you'll see the evolution of Net Asset Value discounts, which we believe to be unwarranted given our strong fundamentals that we have just discussed. Although we maintained our strong financial profile and prudent approach with a track record of sound liquidity, our NAV discount has been widening significantly. Unfortunately, Koç Holding's current NAV discount and discount to its listed assets do not reflect the strength of our fundamentals. As discussed previously, we are not happy with this deeply disconnected valuation. Yet, we will continue to focus on value-accretive projects at Koç Holding via active portfolio management. We believe that all our strategic initiatives and investments, in line with our global growth vision, will further reinforce our position and be reflected to our share performance once the external factors related to headwinds settle down.
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 market volatility. Our performance in the first nine months is a testament to the resilience of our diversified portfolio, supported by our prudent management approach. Going forward, we will continue to prioritize maintaining the solidity of our balance sheet, no matter how challenging the market conditions are. I'd like to thank you all. We can move on to the Q&A session. I understand there are no questions.
Yes, at this time, we do not have any questions.
All right. Thank you very much. I mean, I think we were clear enough so that we didn't get any questions. Thank you very much and have a nice weekend.