In the fourth quarter of 2024, telecommunications holding VEON received revenue of $998 million, which is 4.7% more than in the same period of 2023, the company reported.
The holding’s EBITDA in the reporting period increased by 11.3% to $408 million. The EBITDA margin amounted to 40.9% compared to 38.5% in the fourth quarter of 2023.
In local currencies, VEON’s revenue increased by 10.3% and EBITDA by almost 19%.
The holding’s telecommunications and infrastructure revenues amounted to $872 million, showing a year-on-year increase of 0.8%.
VEON’s revenues from its business in Ukraine increased by 15.9% and in Pakistan by 18.8%; revenues from its business in Kazakhstan decreased by 7%, in Bangladesh by 18.6% and in Uzbekistan by 6.8%.
The holding’s mobile subscriber base decreased by 2.7% to 152 million in the fourth quarter. The 4G user base grew by 5.3% to 99.2 million.
In the fourth quarter, VEON recorded a net profit of $93 million against a loss of $3.5 billion a year earlier.
As of the end of 2024, VEON’s CAPEX amounted to $826 million, up 27% since 2023. Net debt amounted to $2.9 billion, down 0.5%.
At the end of 2024, VEON’s revenue increased by 8.3% (12.8% in national currencies) to $4 billion. EBITDA amounted to $1.7 billion, showing an increase of 4.9% (10% in local currencies). In 2025, VEON expects to increase its performance in local currencies by 12-14% in terms of revenue and 13-15% in terms of EBITDA.
The largest mobile operator Kyivstar has announced that it has signed an agreement to buy 97% of the online taxi service Uklon, which it plans to expand to new markets with the help of its parent company VEON.
The deal is worth $155.2 million and is expected to close in April 2025.
After the deal is signed, Kyivstar and Uklon will remain separate businesses. The Uklon team will continue to work under the leadership of the current CEO Sergey Grishkov.
For Kyivstar, the investment in Uklon was a logical step in building an integrated digital ecosystem, as well as an important stage in the inorganic growth and scaling of the business on the way to fulfilling VEON’s investment commitments of $1 billion over 2023-2027, the company said in a statement.
“Our strategy involves not just providing communication, but creating a comprehensive digital environment where electronic communications are the basic platform for innovative services. Uklon is one of the leading players in its field… We have a lot in common, so by joining forces we will be able to strengthen each other and create even more innovative services, investing in the Ukrainian economy together,” said Kyivstar CEO Oleksandr Komarov.
The investment is fully in line with VEON and Kyivstar’s strategy of building a digital operator, added Zoya Dronshkevych, Kyivstar’s Director of Business Development and Corporate Strategy.
“After closing the deal, we will invest in expanding the ecosystem of Uklon services and products, including multifunctional applications for passengers and drivers, in developing synergies between our businesses in Ukraine, in further expansion of Uklon to other countries where VEON operates, as well as new markets where there is potential to create value for customers and shareholders,” she said.
The deal opens new development horizons for Uklon: from increasing strategic investments in digital services and creating additional jobs to entering new markets with the support of global digital operator VEON, the parent company of Kyivstar, the statement said.
“We have always had ambitions to move on, both in Ukraine and in new markets. I am confident that with the support of Kyivstar, Uklon will gain additional capabilities and expertise to further improve our service and products to provide even more value to all our users and partners,” Uklon co-founder Dmytro Dubrovsky said, as quoted by the press service.
The deal is an important signal for Ukrainian and international investors who are ready to join the rebuilding of Ukraine despite the ongoing war, Kyivstar emphasized.
Dragon Capital acted as the exclusive financial advisor to Uklon in the deal.
Commenting on the deal price at Concorde Capital’s request, Oleksandr Parashchiy, head of research at the investment company, said it corresponds to about 20 times EBITDA, based on Uklon’s Ukrainian financial statements.
“It’s not much for this sector, but it’s very generous for Ukraine. The main thing we don’t know for an adequate assessment is what growth rates the company is planning for,” the analyst added.
Another market participant, who asked not to be named, cited Kyivstar’s likely desire to complete the deal before its SPO on NASDAQ and the mobile operator’s significant free cash flow due to currency restrictions imposed by the National Bank as factors that influenced the deal and its price.
Earlier, the Antimonopoly Committee of Ukraine (AMCU) granted Kyivstar permission to acquire online taxi service Uklon: Tech Uklon LLC, Uklon Corporation and Uklon Ukraine. Kyivstar also applied to the AMCU with a second application for the purchase of MTPK LLC, which owns the online service of the price aggregator for medicines Tabletki.ua.
“Kyivstar is the largest mobile operator in Ukraine with about 24 million subscribers. The company’s digital services portfolio includes the digital medical platform Helsi with a registered base of 28 million users and the film and television platform Kyivstar TV. “Kyivstar bought a 69.99% stake in Helsi in August 2022 for UAH 555.74 million.
Kyivstar’s revenue in January-September 2024 increased by 4.7% to UAH 26.86 billion, while in dollars it decreased by 4% to $674 million. For 9 months of 2024, the company reduced EBITDA by 2.6% to UAH 15.13 billion.
Uklon, according to the company, operates in 27 Ukrainian cities and the Bukovel tourist complex and unites more than 100 thousand active partner drivers on the platform, who together fulfill more than 10 million orders per month. In 2023, the company began international expansion by launching an online car ordering service in Uzbekistan.
According to YouControl, Uklon Ukraine LLC ended 2024 with revenues of UAH 1 billion 717.8 billion, which is twice as much as in 2023, and its net profit amounted to UAH 232.3 million against a net loss of UAH 45.4 million in 2023.
The owners of the company are Dmytro and Victoria Dubrovsky – 38.46% each, Vitaliy Dyatlenko and Serhiy Smus – 11.54% each.
On Wednesday, VEON’s share price fluctuated between $45.3-47.0, but overall the change was insignificant – only a 0.09% decrease to $45.94 per share.
In January-February this year, Ukraine increased exports of ferroalloys in physical terms by 35.5 times compared to the same period last year, up to 19.170 thousand tons from 540 tons.
According to statistics released by the State Customs Service (SCS) on Tuesday, exports of ferroalloys increased 11 times in monetary terms to $19.775 million.
The main exports were to Algeria (32.16% of supplies in monetary terms), Poland (25.61%) and Italy (18.92%).
In addition, Ukraine imported 7.962 thousand tons of these products in 2 months of 2015, a decrease of 53.5% compared to January-February 2014. In monetary terms, imports fell by 49.8% to $14.210 million.
Imports were mainly from Norway (32.25%), Kazakhstan (16.80%) and Armenia (7.62%).
As reported, Pokrovsky Mining and Processing Plant (PGOK, formerly Ordzhonikidze Mining and Processing Plant) and Marganetsky Mining and Processing Plant (MGOK, both in Dnipropetrovska oblast), both part of Privat Group, stopped mining and processing of crude manganese ore in late October and early November 2023, while NFP and ZFP stopped smelting ferroalloys. In the summer of 2024, ferroalloy plants resumed production at a minimal level.
In 2024, Ukraine reduced exports of ferroalloys in physical terms by 4.45 times compared to 2023 – to 77.316 thousand tons from 344.173 thousand tons, while in monetary terms, exports decreased by 3.4 times – to $88.631 million from $297.595 million. The main exports were to Poland (27.40% of supplies in monetary terms), Turkey (21.53%) and Italy (19.82%).
In addition, last year Ukraine imported 82.259 thousand tons of these products compared to 14.203 thousand tons in 2023 (an increase of 5.8 times). In monetary terms, imports increased by 3.3 times to $140.752 million from $42.927 million. Imports were carried out mainly from Poland (32.71%), Norway (19.55%) and Kazakhstan (13.90%).
Prior to the nationalization of the financial institution, PrivatBank organized the business of ZZF, NZF, Stakhanovsky ZF (which is on the NKT), Pokrovske and Marganetske GOKs. Nikopol Ferroalloy Plant is controlled by EastOne Group, established in the fall of 2007 as a result of the restructuring of Interpipe Group, and Privat Group.
Energoatom has announced the actual completion of the splash pool construction project at South Ukrainian NPP, which will help increase electricity production at the plant.
“We have actually completed one of the priority areas of work – the construction of splash pools in full. Now we are putting them into operation, which will increase electricity production at existing facilities by reducing the temperature of the water in the reservoir, which we use to cool the condensers of NPP turbines,” said Energoatom CEO Petro Kotin during a working visit to the South Ukrainian Energy Complex on Tuesday.
According to him, the completion of the work will also help improve the environmental situation in the region where the plant is located.
Energoatom currently operates nine power units at South Ukraine, Rivne and Khmelnytsky NPPs with a total capacity of 7,880 MW located in the government-controlled territory.
Zaporizhzhia NPP with six VVER-1000 power units with a total capacity of 6,000 MW has not been generating electricity since September 11, 2022, after its occupation on March 3-4, 2022.
In Ukraine, the domestic processing of soybeans continues to demonstrate the high rates, in particular, in February 2025 the country processed the absolute monthly maximum of 320-330 thsd tonnes of soybeans, up 27% compared to January of the current year, APK-Inform news agency reported.
The analysts noted that in 2024/25 marketing year (MY, September-February) Ukraine processed the record almost 1.45 mln tonnes, up 57% compared to the same period last season and 43% compared to the previous high of 1 mln tonnes in the first half of 2019/20 season.
“Such a significant increase is primarily due to the fact that large mills started processing soybeans due to difficulties with sunflower procurement. However, the active export of soybean meal against the background of the attractive price for importers contributes to the high processing rates for several months in a row,” the experts explained.
APK-Inform forecasts that in total, in the season-2024/25 Ukraine can process up to 2.2-2.3 mln tonnes of soybeans, which is about 36% of the total supply of the crop, compared to 33-35% in the previous two seasons. At the same time, the share of soybean exports, despite the increase in physical terms, may decline to 57% in MY compared to 58-60% in previous seasons.
Prospects for soybean processing in the second half of the current season look a bit pessimistic, analysts say.
The world market expects a record soybean harvest in South America, increased processing in Argentina and increased supply in the soybean meal sector, the balance of which has been overloaded in the last few seasons. Increased tensions in trade relations between the US and the EU, as well as tariffs imposed in the soybean sector by China, may contribute to the continued high demand in the foreign market for Ukrainian raw materials, which encourages traders to increase sales of raw materials that will not be processed, the analytical agency explained.
In January-February 2025, imports of passenger cars, including cargo and passenger vans and racing cars (UKT FEA code 8703), decreased by 7.8% in monetary terms compared to the same period last year to $719.92 million.
According to statistics released by the State Customs Service (SCS) of Ukraine, in February, imports of passenger cars to Ukraine were 3% higher than in February 2014, up to $385.94 million, while in January there was a 17.8% drop compared to January 2013.
In January-February of this year, the top three largest suppliers of cars to Ukraine were Germany, the United States and Japan, while last year it was the United States, China and Germany.
In particular, car deliveries from Germany increased by almost 40% to $152.15 million, and their share in the structure of car imports amounted to 21.13% compared to 13.94% a year earlier.
Ukraine imported $122.13 million worth of cars from the United States (15% less). Japan, which last year was not among the top three countries with the largest car imports, supplied $79 million worth of cars in two months this year.
Notably, China is not among the top three, with imports amounting to $114.88 million a year ago (second place after the United States).
In general, imports of passenger cars from other countries amounted to $366.63 million in the period under review, compared to $413.87 million in January-February last year.
At the same time, in January-February this year, Ukraine exported such vehicles for only $1.9 million, in particular to the UAE (67% of exports), the Czech Republic and Moldova, while a year earlier the country sold them to foreign markets for $3.8 million, mainly to Canada (47.7%), the United States (26.8%) and Moldova.
According to the State Customs Service, in the total structure of imports of goods to Ukraine in January-February, the share of passenger cars was 6.37%, in the structure of exports – 0.03%.
As reported, in 2024, Ukraine imported passenger cars worth $4.385 billion, 8% more than a year earlier, and exported $10.1 million (2.7 times less).
