ISTANBUL - Turkish conglomerate Sabanci Holding posted on Friday a first-quarter net profit of 210 million lira ($160 million), 10.5 percent higher than it reported a year earlier.
Sabanci, which did not give a comparative figure for the bottom line, said sales rose 15 percent to 4.4 billion lira.
It said its operating profit came in at 652 million lira, but a full set of results has not yet been published.
Sabanci is one of Turkey's largest conglomerates with businesses ranging from banking -- it owns private lender Akbank along with Citigroup -- to energy and retail.
Akbank had already posted a 24 percent fall in first-quarter results to 448 million lira, hit by a one-off gain last year and slowing loan growth. A more than 4 percentage point rise in benchmark borrowing costs last year has trimmed demand for credit, but the economy is still targeted for 5 percent growth this year.
Shares in Sabanci Holding have risen 10 percent this year, underperforming a 19 percent rise on the main index.