Financing of the cultural sphere of Ukraine will grow by UAH 7 billion in 2021 and amount to UAH 27 billion, said Minister of Finance Serhiy Marchenko.
“If we compare this year with 2016, then in 2016 only UAH 10 billion was allocated to the cultural sector, this year it is UAH 20 billion, and next year, due to the active role of the Culture Minister and the support of the President and Prime Minister of Ukraine, the cultural sector will receive funds in the amount of more than UAH 27 billion,” Marchenko said at the forum “Creative Ukraine” in Kyiv on Thursday.
According to the minister, this indicates that the sphere of cultural development is a priority of the state and now, more than ever, it has found strong lawyers. Marchenko also said that significant programs for the development of the cultural infrastructure of Ukraine are planned next year.
“We are talking about financing repairs of museums, libraries, and castles. This program is foreseen for the first time. This will not only increase the tourist potential of Ukraine, it will allow to preserve the existing heritage, expand it, attract investments, fill our cultural objects and business component with content, that will allow in the future, get a synergistic effect in the form of taxes that will be paid,” the minister said.
In his opinion, if the state now invests the required amount of money in cultural infrastructure facilities, in five-seven years these cultural facilities will bring additional taxes and additional jobs.
The volume of marketable output of Kyivsky cardboard paper mill (Obukhiv, Kyiv region), a leader in Ukraine’s pulp and paper industry in terms of production and sales, totaled UAH 4.672 billion in January-October 2020, which is 0.7% more than the same figure in January-October 2019.
According to the statistics of the Ukrpapir association, in kind in January-October the plant slightly (by 0.9%) increased production of corrugated packaging, to 196.36 million square meters, being still second in terms of its production in the country after Rubizhne plant (together with Trypilsky packaging plant).
The rate of growth in the production of base paper for sanitary and hygienic products grew by almost 4.5%, to 71,600 tonnes, and production of toilet paper in rolls slowed down by 0.3%, to 370.75 million units.
Output of cardboard increased 3.5%, to 172,840 tonnes, in particular production of boxboard increased by 26.3%, to 57,230 tonnes, while package cardboard (including paper for corrugation) decreased 5%, to 115,630 tonnes.
Kyivsky cardboard paper mill is one of the largest cardboard and paper producers in Europe. It employs almost 2,200 people. It sells produce to almost 700 companies in Ukraine, some CIS member states and the rest of the world.
The agricultural holding Myronivsky Hliboproduct (MHP) saw a net loss of $47 million in July-September 2020 versus a net profit of $104 million for the same period in 2019.
According to the quarterly financial statements of the holding, published on the London Stock Exchange on Wednesday, its revenue in the third quarter decreased 2%, to $547 million, and EBITDA fell by 3%, to $106 million.
MHP’s gross profit grew by 10%, to $103 million, operating profit – by 40%, to $56 million.
MHP said that over the specified period, export revenue decreased 2.5%, to $309 million, which is 56% of total revenue (in the third quarter of 2019 it was 57% of total revenue).
The agricultural holding explained its net loss indicator for the third quarter of 2020 by a non-cash foreign exchange loss of $61 million compared to a profit of $109 million for the same period in 2019. Thus, net profit before foreign exchange differences in the reporting period of 2020 amounted to $82 million, which is 11% lower compared to $92 million in the third quarter of 2019.
In general, in January-September 2020, MHP’s revenue decreased 6%, to $1.41 billion. MHP saw $109 million in net loss versus $276 million in net profit in the first nine months of 2019, which is associated with a non-cash foreign exchange loss of $191 million in January- September 2020 compared to 9M 2019 profit of $182 million.
EBITDA for the specified period fell by 7%, to $332 million, gross profit – by 7%, to $322 million, and operating profit – by 11%, to $194 million.
MHP CFO Viktoria Kapeliushna told Interfax-Ukraine on Wednesday that the second wave of the coronavirus crisis in Ukraine and Europe did not affect the logistics chains, but the company sees a decrease in demand in HoReCa, which in turn is offset by an increase in demand in other sales channels.
“Because of the coronavirus crisis, we did not revise our plans, but we revised our forecasts. Lockdown affected global prices for chicken, we can feel it,” she said.
Kapeliushna said that the company revised its EBITDA forecast at the end of the year downward. It is expected to be 5-10% below the 2019 level.
“The first nine months of 2020 have been extremely challenging, with the disruptive effects of the COVID19 pandemic, avian influenza in Ukraine which resulted in the temporary closure of some export markets in the first quarter, over-supply and resulting high stock levels in European markets, lower poultry prices globally, crop yields adversely affected by the worst weather conditions in central Ukraine for at least 30 years, and volatile exchange rates,” the MHP said in the press release.
The company said that although the outlook for the fourth quarter is as yet unclear, we expect increasing grain prices and the continuing rebalancing of poultry sales to more profitable export markets to largely offset the effects of lower poultry prices in Europe.
“Longer term, we expect poultry prices in our major markets to adjust gradually in response to increased production costs driven by higher grain prices. The company also expects to derive increasing benefit from its shift towards a more value-added strategy and the development of antibiotic-free products to be sold initially under its Nasha Ryaba brand,” MHP said.
MHP is the largest chicken producer in Ukraine. It is also engaged in the production of cereals, sunflower oil, meat products. MHP supplies the European market with chilled half-carcasses of chickens, which are processed, including at its factories in the Netherlands and Slovakia.
Express Insurance (Kyiv) insurance company collected UAH 306.4 million in insurance premiums in January-September 2020, which is 19.4% more than in the same period a year earlier, the insurer said in a press release.
The volume of compensations paid for this period increased 13.3%, to UAH 106.5 million. Some 79% of clients continued insurance contracts for the next period.
“We pay almost UAH 600,000 every day, observing the new requirements and standards of the market regulator,” Director of Express Insurance Tetiana Schuchieva, whose words are quoted in the press release, said.
In total, in January-September 2020, the company settled 3,544 insurance events under voluntary car insurance (KASCO) policies (a rise of 25.5% year-over-year) and 613 events under mandatory insurance of civil liability of vehicle owners (OSAGO) policies (a rise of 16.1%) with the payment of compensation.
The company’s insurance reserves as of September 30, 2020 grew by 31.4%, to UAH 226.8 million (a rise of 31.4%), assets – by 20%, to UAH 405.6 million, of which highly liquid assets accounted for 75%. Equity capital amounted to UAH 154.6 million, and the actual solvency margin reached UAH 154.3 million, which exceeds the standard indicator by 2.07 times.
Net profit in the first nine months of this year amounted to UAH 32.6 million (a rise of 28.2% year-over-year).
Express Insurance double liability company was founded in 2008 with the participation of the leader of the Ukrainian automobile market – the UkrAVTO Corporation. Most of the events under KASCO and OSAGO are processed according to the “one face to the customer” approach – at the dealer’s service center, without the need to visit the insurance company’s office.
Cyprus-based Barlenco Ltd., affiliated with the largest Ukrainian mining and metallurgical group Metinvest, in accordance with the law on joint stock companies has confirmed its intention to exercise the right to compulsory redemption of shares (squeeze-out) from minority shareholders of PrJSC Dniprovsky Coke Chemical Plant (formerly Evraz-Dniprodzerzhynsk Coke and Chemical Plant, Kamianske, formerly Dniprodzerzhynsk, Dnipropetrovsk region)
According to the official data of the plant in the information disclosure system of the National Securities and the Stock Market Commission, Dniprovsky Coke Chemical Plant received a notification from the shareholders on November 18 of this year.
As reported, PrJSC Dniprovsky Coke Chemical Plant received a notification from Metinvest B.V. on the achievement of a dominant controlling stake in the enterprise on October 21 of this year. Then it was clarified that the direct share of Metinvest B.V. increased from 73.37% (500.623 million shares) to 97.01%. At the same time, the aggregate ownership of shares in Dniprovsky Coke Chemical Plant by Metinvest (with the affiliated company Barlenco Ltd (Cyprus), which owns another 2.09% of the company’s shares) reached 99.1%. price of UAH 1.62 per ordinary share.
As reported, Metinvest B.V. in April 2019 announced a proposal to buy back shares from minority shareholders of Dniprovsky Coke Chemical Plant as part of the sell-out procedure (buyback at the request of the minority shareholder based on Articles 68 and 69 of the law on joint stock companies).Metinvest B.V. in mid-March 2020, announced the completion of the transaction to acquire a stake in PrJSC Dniprovsky Coke Chemical Plant and currently owns about 73% of the company’s shares. Back in 2014, Metinvest Group sent an application to the Antimonopoly Committee of Ukraine to acquire a controlling stake in Dniprovsky Coke Chemical Plant. About a year ago, the AMCU approved this deal subject to a number of restrictions. Prior to this, Metinvest received a number of permits from the antimonopoly authorities of other countries to acquire this enterprise.
The charter capital of the plant is UAH 170.584 million.
PJSC ArcelorMittal Kryvyi Rih (Dnipropetrovsk region) in January-October of this year reduced the output of general rolled products, according to recent data, by 3.8% compared to the same period last year, up to 3.69 million tonnes.
As the representative of the enterprise informed the Interfax-Ukraine agency, steel production during this period decreased by 16.6%, to 3.8 million tonnes, pig iron by 11.3%, to 4 million tonnes. At the same time, sinter production decreased by 11.5% to 7.36 million tonnes.
In October, 320,000 tonnes of rolled metal, 350,000 tonnes of steel, 380,000 tonnes of pig iron, 700,000 tonnes of sinter were produced.
As reported, ArcelorMittal Kryvyi Rih over 2019 increased the output of general rolled products by 11.2% compared to the previous year, to 4.665 million tonnes, steel by 11.8%, to 5.327 million tonnes, pig iron by 14.9%, to 5.310 million tonnes, sinter production increased by 14.3%, to 9.831 million tonnes.
ArcelorMittal Kryvyi Rih is the largest manufacturer of rolled steel in Ukraine. It specializes in production of long products, in particular, rebar and wire rod.
ArcelorMittal owns the largest mining and metallurgical plant in Ukraine ArcelorMittal Kryvyi Rih and a number of small companies, in particular, PJSC ArcelorMittal Beryslav.
