The State Agency for Tourism Development has agreed to provide services for the popularization of river tourist routes in Ukraine for UAH 2.5 million.
According to the agreement, the text of which was published on the ProZorro portal, according to the results of tenders, State Agency for Tourism Development agreed with the private enterprise Ischuk Serhiy Mykolaiovych to provide services for the popularization of river tourist routes Kyiv-Kaniv-Kyiv and Kyiv-Chornobyl-Kyiv for UAH 2,498,144.
The aim is to organize promotional river tourist trips Kyiv-Kaniv-Kyiv and Kyiv-Chornobyl-Kyiv (four trips each) and organize focus groups to prepare research on attracting investments for organizing regular transportation.
The service includes renting a motor ship for 35 seats, catering for the participants of the promotional tour, guided tour, filming two promotional videos, PR support for the event, conducting a study of interest in the tourist product and developing investment proposals.
The Black Sea Trade and Development Bank (BSTDB, Thessaloniki) intends to achieve an annual increase in the value of its portfolio by 5-7% in 2021-2030 and increase its volume to EUR 4 billion from the current approximately EUR 2.3 billion, President of the bank Dmitry Pankin told reporters at the conference in Thessaloniki (Greece), which takes place on August 27-28.
“In June 2021, the bank approved a long-term strategy for 2021-2030. Among the goals are signing 30-35 projects per year, increasing commitments (on projects) for the year to EUR 1.7 billion from the current EUR 800 million, in order to achieve EUR 12 billion,” Pankin said.
The President also said that in the face of lower interest rates and increased availability of borrowed funds in most markets where the bank operates, the BSTDB also decided to strengthen its potential for generating projects and subsequently organizing their financing and become a cheaper competitor to leading consulting companies and investment banks.
“Traditionally, development banks have offered long-term cheap financing, but now everyone is ready to provide it. Therefore, our 10-year strategy involves reorienting the bank to a project organizer, a provider of feasibility studies and risk calculation,” Pankin explained.
He added that, unlike consulting companies, BSTDB is ready to take risks in such projects.
In connection with this new strategy, the bank will hire specialists of appropriate qualifications, as well as people for the potential sale of part of the portfolio in order to free up capital for new operating activities, which will also become new in the work of the BSTDB, the president of the bank said. According to him, the BSTDB intends to become more active in marketing and in the search for new projects, whereas clients themselves come to him more often today.
Talking about other institutional goals of the new strategy, Pankin said that the bank would continue to maintain a diversified and balanced portfolio of operations with a public sector share of about 30%, more actively connect to the fast-growing class of “green” investors and remain open to new shareholders – sovereign states and development institutions.
The BSTDB President recalled that member states of the Black Sea Economic Cooperation Organization (BSEC) may become the bank’s shareholders. Since 2014, Serbia has become a member of the BSEC, which has not yet participated in the bank, and since 2021 – Macedonia. According to Pankin, discussions and negotiations are underway with them, but they are still far from over.
Within the framework of the medium-term strategy for 2019-2022, the BSTDB puts an aim of an annual growth of more than 12% and exceeding EUR 2.5 billion of the portfolio at the end of the period, promoting the export of goods and services with a focus on small and medium-sized enterprises, with a special focus on the real economy and infrastructure, including energy, transport and communal infrastructure.
In 2020, the bank signed projects for EUR 624 million, and allocated EUR 785 million for them and for previous projects, increasing the portfolio by 12%. Net profit increased to EUR 14.2 million from EUR 13.7 million in 2019, and the share of bad loans in the bank’s balance sheet is 0.2%.
BSTDB is an international organization uniting 11 states of the Black Sea Economic Cooperation organization. The shares of Turkey, Russia and Greece in the capital are 16.5% each, Romania – 14%, Ukraine and Bulgaria – 13.5% each, Azerbaijan – 5%, Albania – 2%, Armenia – 1%, Georgia and Moldova – each 0.5%. The bank aims to promote economic cooperation, trade and cooperation of the countries of the Black Sea region. The bank’s paid up authorized capital is EUR 0.69 billion, and its long-term credit ratings are “A-” from S&P and “A2” from Moody’s.
The Bank provides medium and long-term corporate loans for up to 10 years, and for project financing – up to 15 years. In the case of the private sector, the volume of a loan can be up to EUR 90 million, for the public sector – EUR 120 million.
At the end of 2020, the largest volume of BSTDB projects was in Turkey – 23.14%, followed by Greece – 18.38% and Russia – 15.6%, while Ukraine accounted for 11.62%, Bulgaria – 7.58%, and Romania – 5.86%.
They were followed by Azerbaijan – 5.09%, Georgia – 4.88%, Armenia – 4.4%, Moldova – 1.77%, and Albania – 1.67%.
The agro-industrial group of companies Ovostar Union, one of the leading producers of eggs and egg products in Ukraine, in January-June 2021 received $1.62 million in net profit, which is 34% less than in the same period in 2020, its EBITDA decreased by 27% – up to $3.5 million.
According to the company’s report, published on the website of the Warsaw Stock Exchange on Friday evening, Ovostar’s revenue in the first half of 2021 increased by 37.6% to $61.42 million, its gross profit decreased by 13.8% to $6.24 million, operating profit doubled to $1.37 million.
“Since the third quarter of 2020, the Ukrainian egg industry has been decreasing in terms of the total number of laying hens and production volumes. A poor harvest last year led to an increase in the prices of the main components of the feed mixture, which subsequently increased the cost of production. This, along with the very unfavorable dynamics of the selling prices for eggs, caused huge losses to the industry. Many egg producers are cutting their herds,” the report says.
The report indicates that the company’s net debt as of June 30, 2021 increased by 20% compared to the same date last year, to $8.9 million, while the total volume of new or refinanced loans amounted to about $4.0 million. Long-term debt of Ovostar’s liabilities as of the indicated date increased by 43.2% – to $7.15 million, and the current ones – by 47.1%, to $23.86 million.
The total amount of the company’s assets as of June 30, 2021 increased by 8% compared to the same date in 2020 – to $141.2 million, mainly due to an increase in the fair value of Ovostar’s biological assets.
“Against the backdrop of the COVID-19 pandemic and the general unfavorable situation in the agro-industrial complex, it was decided to focus on operational efficiency and suspend the investment program until further notice. Thus, in the reporting period, only minor investments were made in production capacity and infrastructure,” the message says.
Average retail prices for gasoline in Ukraine in the period from August 20 to August 28 fell by UAH 0.40-0.50 per liter, according to the data of the A-95consulting group (Kyiv).
In particular, the prices for gasoline grade A-92 fell by 1.4% (by UAH 0.42), to UAH 28.89 per liter, A-95 – by 1.7% (UAH by 0.51), to UAH 29.71 per liter, premium A-95 – by 1.6% (by UAH 0.51), to UAH 31.62 per liter.
In addition, the average price of diesel fuel for the week fell by 1% (by UAH 0.29), to UAH 27.93 per liter, while the price of LPG grew by 0.1% (by UAH 0.02), to UAH 17.48 per liter.
As reported, the Ministry of Economy of Ukraine on August 26 announced the cost of gasoline to be UAH 25.53 per liter and diesel fuel – UAH 21.11 per liter, from which the price caps for fuel at filling stations are calculated at the end of August and beginning of September.
Taking into account the trade margins, the price cap for “ordinary” gasoline for its sale through the filling station network shall not exceed UAH 30.53 per liter, for “ordinary” diesel fuel – UAH 28.11 per liter. Compared to the middle of August, the average price for gasoline fell by UAH 0.53 per liter, for diesel fuel – by UAH 1.14 per liter.
The setting of the price caps does not include “branded premium fuel” with improved quality indicators.
The area of newly completed housing in Ukraine in January-June 2021 grew by 29.5% compared to the same period in 2020, to 4.797 million square meters, the State Statistics Service has reported.
At the same time, the data are given taking into account the housing that went live in accordance with the temporary procedure for allowing houses built without permission to perform construction work go live.
According to the report, since the beginning of the year, 3.283 million square meters have joined the market in cities (68.4% of the total), and 1.514 million square meters in rural areas. At the same time, 41.8% of the total volume of housing was single-family houses, 57.8% were houses with two or more apartments, and 0.4% was dormitories.
In general, during the reporting period, 62,300 new apartments were competed: 47,600 apartments in urban areas and 14,600 apartments in rural areas.
The average apartment area was 76.6 square meter, while in single-family houses it was 157.1 square meters, in multi-apartment buildings it was 55.9 square meters.
In Kyiv city, Lviv, Kharkiv, Odesa and Ivano-Frankovsk regions, according to the results of the first quarter, 54.6% of the total housing volume went live. Moreover, in Kyiv city it was 512,700 square meters (10.7%).
According to statistics, a decrease in the area of newly completed housing was recorded in Zaporizhia, Ivano-Frankivsk and Luhansk regions.
Ukrainian insurance companies in January-June 2021 collected net premiums in the amount of UAH 23.480 billion, which is 25.6% more than in the same period of 2020 (UAH 18.688 billion), according to the website of the National Bank of Ukraine (NBU).
According to the regulator, the volume of gross insurance premiums collected by insurers over the specified period amounted to UAH 24.780 billion, which is 17.9% more than in the first half of 2020 (UAH 21.008 billion). Including premiums received from individuals amounted to UAH 12.944 billion (a rise of 35%), from reinsurers – UAH 1.646 billion (8.9% less).
In the six months ending June 2021, insurers paid out UAH 8.552 billion of net insurance payments, which is 28.8% more than in the first half of the year earlier (UAH 6.642 billion). The level of net payments grew from 35.5% to 36.4%.
Gross insurance payments rose by 27.3%, to UAH 8.703 billion. The level of gross payments increased from 32.5% to 35.1%. Of the total volume of gross payments, payments to individuals amounted to UAH 4.235 billion (a rise of 35.3%), to reinsurers – UAH 136.6 million (42.5% less).
The volume of insurance payments belonging to reinsurers, according to the results of the first half of the year, amounted to UAH 4.661 billion, which is 11.2% more than in the same period a year earlier, including UAH 2.729 billion to nonresident reinsures (a rise of 41.1%).
As of June 30, 2021, the assets of Ukrainian insurers on the balance sheet amounted to UAH 65.186 billion, while on the same date a year earlier – UAH 61.888 billion. The volume of assets determined by legislation to represent insurance reserves decreased by 17.3% to UAH 45.995 billion.
The regulator also said that in the first half of the year, the volume of formed insurance reserves grew by 11.7%, to UAH 35.031 billion. The volume of paid charter capital fell by 6.6%, to UAH 8.966 billion.
In the reporting period, 63.170 million insurance contracts were concluded (a rise of 9.1%).
According to the NBU, the total number of insurance companies in Ukraine as of June 30, 2021 was 181, while on the same date a year earlier it was 215, including 19 (20) life insurers. At the same time, 166 insurance companies submitted reports on their activities to the regulator.
