Metinvest B.V. (the Netherlands), the parent company of the Metinvest international vertically integrated mining and metallurgical group, in 2020 increased its net profit by 54% compared to 2019, to $ 526 million from $ 341 million with a 2 percentage point increase in margin (p.p.), to 5% from 3%.
According to the audited consolidated financial results for 2020, published by the company, its revenue decreased by 3%, to $ 10.453 billion, EBITDA increased by 82%, to $ 2.204 billion, with a margin increase of 10 p.p., up to 21% from 11%.
The company’s total debt for 2020 decreased by 3% compared to 2019, to $ 2.937 billion from $ 3.032 billion, while the amount of cash tripled to $ 826 million from $ 274 million.
Net debt decreased by 23%, to $ 2.111 billion from $ 2.758 billion.
Capital investments decreased by 37%, to $ 663 million from $ 1.055 billion.
“Last year, the COVID-19 pandemic brought much of the global economy to a standstill. I am proud to report that Metinvest again proved able to navigate profound market challenges. We achieved higher margins and carried out key investment projects. We also protected our employees and communities while making progress on our environmental, social and governance (ESG) agenda,” Yuriy Ryzhenkov, the Chief Executive Officer of Metinvest, said commenting on the results.
“Our number one priority as the pandemic emerged was to safeguard our employees and local communities. We took firm and immediate steps, implementing enhanced health protocols at all assets and switching administrative staff to work remotely. We also supplied test kits and oxygen equipment to local healthcare institutions,” he said.
“After ensuring the safety of our people, the next task in our COVID-19 response was to maintain uninterrupted production across our assets. We ultimately delivered strong operational results, reflecting the positive effect of investments implemented in recent years,” he noted.
“Anticipating a difficult external environment, the group took the decision to reduce CAPEX in 2020, while maintaining it at a decent level. Key projects completed include launching the new down coiler at Illich Steel Mill’s modernized hot strip mill and upgrading the beneficiation facilities at Central GOK. We are carrying out a planned review of the Technological Strategy 2030 to ensure that projects bring maximum benefits,” he added.
“At the same time, Metinvest’s focus on operational improvements to ensure global cost competitiveness yielded a total effect of $ 376 million in 2020. We increased the efficiency of raw material and energy consumption, improved equipment productivity, streamlined logistics, enhanced the product mix and more,” the director said.
The Farmak pharmaceutical company (Kyiv), thanks to the decision of Kyiv City Council to sell a land plot to the pharmaceutical company, plans to develop an R&D cluster project.
According to a press release on the company’s website, on February 11 this year, Kyiv City Council, by an absolute majority of votes, decided to sell the company the land on which the production facilities of Farmak plant have been located for 95 years.
The intended use of land defined by the document is the operation and maintenance of a complex of buildings and structures.
“Farmak expresses gratitude to the deputies for supporting the development of a virtuous and transparent business. Production facilities, research facilities, the laboratory and technical complex of the enterprise are internationally certified and meet the high requirements of European standards. Now, thanks to the positive decision of the city council, we will be able to implement another ambitious project – the creation of a pharmaceutical R&D cluster to build up scientific and technical potential,” executive director of the company Volodymyr Kostiuk said.
He recalled that over the past 25 years, Farmak has invested more than $ 300 million in the modernization of the enterprise.
Technical director of Farmak Andriy Goy, in turn, emphasized that the creation of the R&D cluster will be a step forward towards the development of biomedical research and development in Ukraine and an important step towards the transformation of Kyiv into the capital of the European level.
“The main capital of Kyiv should be precisely an intellectual product,” he said.
The company is confident that the emergence of an R&D cluster will contribute to an increase in revenues to the city budget from knowledge-intensive sectors of the economy.
Ukraine has obtained permission from Turkey to operate a flight with passengers of SkyUp Airlines from Zanzibar to Antalya, after which it will fly to Kyiv, Minister of Infrastructure Vladyslav Krykliy said.
“I would like to inform you about the problem of the departure of the SkyUp aircraft from Zanzibar. We received the necessary permission from the Turkish side to fly to Antalya and further to Kyiv. We will return everyone soon,” he wrote on his Facebook page on Monday.
As reported with reference to SkyUp, flight PQ 6972 Zanzibar-Kyiv did not take off on February 13 due to technical reasons. Within a few hours, the plane was technically ready to fly, but to complete it, it was necessary to make changes to the route, take into account the rules regarding the working hours of the crews, and also obtain the necessary permits from the countries whose borders are crossed.
The airline said that from February 13 to 15, its representatives were in talks with the country’s aviation authorities to obtain permission to fly in their airspace. The State Aviation Administration of Ukraine also joined the negotiations to speed up the resolution of the issue.
According to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine, about 180 Ukrainian tourists were stuck in Zanzibar due to this incident.
Quotes of interbank currency market of Ukraine (UAH for €1, IN 04.01.2021-29.01.2021).
NBU
The Filatov Institute of Eye Diseases and Tissue Therapy of the National Academy of Medical Sciences of Ukraine (Odesa) for the first time in the world conducted a unique operation to remove a large intraocular hemangioma of the choroid.
According to a press release of the institute, the operation was performed at the end of 2020 on a 21-year-old patient due to the impossibility of using non-surgical methods of treatment because of the large tumor size (12.2 mm x 16.1 mm, bulging into the vitreous humor – 6 mm), which continued to grow.
“Understanding what the loss of an eye would mean for a young active girl, both from a cosmetic and psychological point of view, the doctors of the Filatov Institute offered the patient an operation,” the press release said.
To reduce the risk of bleeding, the specialists of the institute used their unique development – the method of high-frequency welding of biological tissues in ophthalmology, developed jointly with the Paton Institute of Electric Welding of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine. They also developed the tools necessary for the interventions.
The operation was carried out by one of the authors of the method, Doctor of Medical Sciences Mykola Umanets. During the operation, which lasted several hours, each dissected vessel was “welded” to prevent bleeding.
“When the patient came for a check-up a month later, the doctors were not only convinced that they had managed to save the eye, but also revealed the appearance of her “silhouette vision,” which was not there before the operation,” the press release said.
At present, the institute’s specialists are preparing publications for world-famous ophthalmological editions. The video filming made during the operation will allow presenting a unique achievement at the world conferences and congresses.
Hemangioma is benign neoplasms that affect the blood vessels of a person in various parts of the body. In the case of formation in the choroid of the eye, they do not threaten the patient’s life, however, they are accompanied by a significant decrease in vision and can cause the development of serious complications, such as retinal detachment, hemorrhage into the eye cavity, increased intraocular pressure (glaucoma).
Currently, there are a number of treatment methods for this pathology, aimed at stopping the growth and destruction of the tumor and are effective in the case of small formations. The only attempt to surgically remove an intraocular hemangioma recorded by the world ophthalmological community is an operation performed in 2019 by Italian ophthalmologist Barbara Parolini. In that case, the tumor was small. In the case of a large lesion and/or its unsuccessful location, surgical removal of intraocular hemangiomas is not performed due to a very high risk of bleeding and a lack of effective methods to stop it. Most often, the only way to solve the problem is to remove the eye.
Gazprom is booking extra capacities for gas transit through Ukraine for March at the same additional reservation volume as for February, according to the results of the monthly Regional Booking Platform (RBP) auction.
Gazprom has a long-term reservation of Ukrainian capacities in the volume of 40 billion cubic meters for 2021, which is equal to 110 million cubic meters per day.
The Russian gas company booked extra transit capacities for March via RBP on Monday. It requested 14.2 mcm per day of the offered 15 mcm per day. The auction result was the same for February.
From February 1 to 13, Gazprom pumped an average of 119.1 mcm per day through Ukraine, with a minimum amount of 115.4 mcm and a maximum of 121 mcm.
In January 2021, the company transported 124.51 mcm per day on average through Ukraine, and in December – 182.63 mcm per day.
