When revenue grows but the company still loses money, the reason should be sought not only in volumes, but also in the very structure of the reporting. Three audited reports of Sary-Arka Airport JSC allow us to trace how profit turned into loss, where the positive equity of 2024 came from, and why some of the 2025 figures do not reconcile with each other.
WHAT THE THREE REPORTS SHOW
Revenue of Karaganda International Airport amounted to KZT 7.5 billion in 2023, KZT 9.4 billion in 2024 and KZT 9.9 billion in 2025. Gross profit, that is, revenue less direct costs, equalled KZT 1.1 billion, KZT 1.4 billion and KZT 316 million. Profitability on this measure fell from 14.3% to 3.2%. Operating profit of KZT 1.1 billion in 2023 shrank to KZT 410 million in 2024. Net result over three years: profit of KZT 373 million, then losses of KZT 912 million and KZT 1.05 billion.
2023 PROFIT: A ONE-OFF EFFECT
The 2023 profit was largely due to an event outside core operations. Other income (KZT 877 million) includes the write-off of a debt to Reward LLC of KZT 725.5 million. Without it, the loss before tax would have been about KZT 121 million. On the same day, a loan from the former founder of KZT 240 million was written off, but it was reflected not in income, but in equity. The reporting does not explain why different accounting methods were chosen for the two write-offs.
HOW EQUITY BECAME POSITIVE AND WENT BACK INTO THE RED
In May 2024, the private company Turlov Private Holding Ltd. acquired 60% of the parent company Sky Service LLP. The reporting names Timur Turlov as the ultimate controlling person, with a further 35% held by Yerlan Ospanov and 5% by Aidan Akanov. The airport placed bonds worth $23 million on the Kazakhstan Stock Exchange (KASE) with a 15-year term and a coupon of 0.6% per annum. The market rate at that time, according to the company's estimate, was 7.3%. Therefore, the securities are carried at fair value of $9.3 million, and the difference of KZT 6.1 billion was recorded in equity.
It was this entry, not profit, that raised equity from −KZT 5.1 billion to +KZT 108 million. Without it, it would have been about −KZT 6 billion. In 2024, the airport repaid early its debt to ForteBank (KZT 4.6 billion) and Crios Ltd (KZT 4.9 billion), and total debt fell from KZT 10.5 billion to KZT 6.6 billion. In 2025, a similar entry on loans of KZT 415 million did not keep equity afloat: it again went negative and amounted to −KZT 528 million.
WHY REVENUE GROWTH DID NOT SAVE THE RESULT
In 2025, revenue grew by 5.7%, while cost of sales grew by 20.9%. Salaries within cost of sales added 31.9% (to KZT 2.1 billion), and depreciation 45% (to KZT 472 million) after major capital expenditure in 2024. Revenue from airport services fell by 11% after growth of 40% a year earlier. Discounts on these services grew from KZT 1.3 million (2023) to KZT 208.8 million (2024) and KZT 234 million (2025). The gap between fuel revenue and fuel costs narrowed from 25.7% to 19.4%. Administrative expenses amounted to KZT 502 million, KZT 948 million and KZT 1.4 billion, of which consulting accounted for KZT 51 million, KZT 158 million and KZT 330 million.
The 2025 balance sheet also changed. Inventories grew from KZT 541 million to KZT 1.3 billion, and customer advances from KZT 659 million to KZT 1.5 billion. Net receivables fell from KZT 862 million to KZT 451 million. At the same time, half of gross receivables (KZT 450 out of KZT 901 million) is covered by a provision, and KZT 491 million relates to related parties.
WHAT DOES NOT RECONCILE IN THE FIGURES
In the 2025 reporting, the loss is stated as KZT 1.051 billion in the main statements and as KZT 1.083 billion in the going concern note. The difference of KZT 31.5 million matches the difference between finance costs in the income statement (KZT 427.2 million) and in note 24 (KZT 458.7 million). Loans in the balance sheet equal KZT 7.2 billion, while in the risk note they are KZT 7.7 billion.
Loans from individuals in the related parties section (KZT 2.9 billion and KZT 2.8 billion) are not comparable with the single individual lender in the loans note (KZT 331 million and KZT 344 million). And purchases from related parties for 2024 and 2025 are given as identical figures (KZT 109.5 million).
WHAT THIS MEANS
Suppose the airport remains dependent on its shareholder. Turlov Private Holding undertook to support the group financially. In 2025, it provided a loan with a limit of KZT 699.4 million, the rate on which was changed on 4 February 2026 from 0.6% to 19% with retroactive effect. A further KZT 500 million was issued at the National Bank base rate plus 2%. Interest on them is paid upon repayment, so in 2025 only KZT 70.9 million of interest was paid against KZT 1.1 billion in 2024. Debt servicing costs are accumulating.
The second scenario rests on the company's strategy. In 2025, the airport's territory was included in the Saryarka Special Economic Zone (SEZ), and the stated goal is to bring cargo turnover to 100 thousand tonnes in 2026. Separately, it is worth noting that the notes to the 2025 report retain a "material uncertainty" regarding going concern.
Recall that FBK previously analysed the reporting of Nursultan Nazarbayev International Airport JSC for 2024. There, the auditor refused to vouch for 80% of assets, the airport lost a court case to the state for KZT 395.4 million, and the difference between the amount of the debt and its present value due to the instalment plan was reflected as income.
We recently analysed the reporting of Almaty International Airport JSC. For three years in a row, the airport's reporting has grown in revenue, but a line-by-line comparison of the reports for 2023, 2024 and 2025 reveals not just growth, but a set of details that migrate from document to document unchanged, including the wording about an expired licence and the amount of the liability for the construction of a new terminal, which has been frozen at one value while the terminal itself has already been built and opened.
In the reporting of Khiuaz Dospanova International Airport JSC, our editorial team discovered a recurring error in the calculation of earnings per share and inconsistencies in the notes to the reporting, which Atyrau airport later acknowledged and promised to correct in its next reporting.
FBK also analysed the financial statements of Shymkent Airport JSC, where over three years revenue grew almost fivefold, although the company's net profit over the same period not only failed to grow proportionally, but collapsed to fractions of a percent of revenue. And in the notes to the latest reporting, figures are found that do not reconcile with each other within the same document.
The same three reporting years for Aliya Moldagulova International Airport JSC in Aktobe turned out to be completely different in terms of financial result. The company went through a net loss and an auditor's qualification, then through a sharp jump in profit and the appearance of borrowed funds, and after that through an increase in equity of almost half a billion tenge.
