Mariupol seaport (Donetsk region) increased cargo handling by 23.4% in January-May 2020 compared to the same period in 2019, to 2.687 million tonnes.
According to the statement of the Ukrainian Sea Ports Authority on the state-owned enterprise’s website, during the period the port increased the transshipment of export cargo by 15.5%, to 2.238 million tonnes, import by 28.7%, to 303,620 tonnes, coastal freight by almost 56 times, to 145,100 tonnes. At the same time, the port did not handle transit cargo.
According to freight nomenclature, Mariupol seaport increased the transshipment of dry bulk cargo by 42.8%, to 827,700 tonnes, and packaged goods by 17.4%, to 1.783 million tonnes. At the same time, it reduced the transshipment of bulk cargo by 2.6%, to 76,000 tonnes.
As reported, the port handled 6.484 million tonnes of cargo in 2019, which is 10% more than in 2018.
Brocard-Ukraine LLC, a large operator of the perfumery and cosmetic market of Ukraine, plans to maintain its plan for opening new outlets in 2020, but does not rule out the possibility of leaving shopping centers with which it will not be possible to agree on rental conditions. “We plan to fulfill all our obligations: we will open new stores according to preliminary agreements. All planned openings of the year will take place where it depends on us, and not on the physical unreadiness of the mall. There will be a total of four new stores, including Blockbuster and Retroville in Kyiv,” Yuriy Gatkin, the co-founder and manager of Brocard-Ukraine, told Interfax-Ukraine.
At the same time, he added that the company optimizes costs as much as possible: “the budget for the fiscal year 2020-2021 will be very careful.”
According to him, the overall growth in the company’s turnover in 2019 amounted to about 10%, reaching UAH 4.25 billion, mainly due to the opening of new stores.
Last year, in particular, the company opened ten new and reconstructed stores under the Brocard, Brocard Niche Bar and Kiehl’s brands in Kharkiv, Kyiv, Lviv, Kramatorsk, and Odesa.
As of June 2020, Brocard-Ukraine LLC operates 97 perfumery and cosmetics stores in 26 cities of Ukraine under the brands Brocard, Brocard Niche Bar, Kiehl’s, M.A.C.
Ukraine International Airlines (UIA, Kyiv) canceled most of its international flights until August 1, 2020 and will start to resume its flight network from destinations with high tourism and economic potential.
The airline’s press service said that after Ukraine opens international flights on June 15, Ukraine International Airlines will follow the policy of balanced flight restart.
The airline said that the reasons for the delayed restart of the flight program is the fact that the opening of borders does not occur on a parity basis, most countries do not confirm the possibility of free border crossing for Ukraine’s citizens, and many countries introduce restrictive measures in the form of testing for coronavirus (COVID-19) or self-isolation when arriving in the destination country.
“In order to adapt to the new needs of the air passenger market, Ukraine International Airlines closed the sale of air tickets for most international destinations until August 1, 2020. Thus, the airline seeks to prevent inflated expectations of passengers and the cancellation of unloaded flights,” the airline said.
The airline will continue to operate evacuation flights and some flights from the regular program in June.
At the stage of resuming international flights during June, the airline also sees potential in regular internal and international flights, plans to operate flights in the following directions: London (Heathrow Airport) – Kyiv (evacuation) on June 18; Kyiv – Kherson, Kyiv – Odesa on June 19; Kyiv – Bangkok on June 20; Bangkok – Kyiv (evacuation), Kherson – Kyiv, Odesa – Kyiv, Kyiv – Istanbul – Kyiv on June 21; Kyiv – New York – Kyiv (evacuation) on June 22; Kyiv – Amsterdam – Kyiv on June 23; Kyiv – Miami, Kyiv – Paris on June 24; Miami – Kyiv (evacuation) on June 25; Kyiv – Istanbul – Kyiv, Kyiv – Athens – Kyiv, Kyiv – Odesa, Kyiv – Lviv, Kyiv – Kherson on June 26; Kyiv – Istanbul – Kyiv, Dubai – Kyiv on June 28; Kyiv – Tel Aviv – Kyiv, Kherson – Kyiv, Odesa – Kyiv, Lviv – Kyiv on June 29; Kyiv – Amsterdam – Kyiv on June 30.
“The decisive factor in the future planning of UIA flights will be, first of all, the economic feasibility of launching each separate direction, as well as the prospects for further liberalization of the border crossing regime for Ukrainians,” the airline said.
Initially, Ukraine International Airlines intends to focus on the opening of flights and destinations with high tourism and economic potential.
Metinvest, an international vertically integrated group of mining and metallurgical companies, has conducted a comprehensive assessment of its environmental performance, social policy and corporate governance (ESG) with the assistance of Sustainalytics, a leading independent provider of research, ratings and data in the field of ESG.
“This is the first time that Sustainalytics has assessed Metinvest’s ESG performance using its ESG Risk Ratings methodology. An ESG Risk Ratings score is a measure of unmanaged ESG risks on an absolute scale of 0-100, with a lower score signaling less unmanaged ESG risks,” the group said on its website.
“Metinvest received an overall ESG Risk Rating score of 32.0. While the risk of experiencing material financial impacts driven by ESG factors was assessed as high due to the steel industry’s significant exposure, Sustainalytics recognized the Group’s management of material ESG issues as strong,” the report says.
“Notably, Metinvest’s management in such areas as human capital, occupational health and safety, as well as community relations was assessed as strong. In addition, Sustainalytics assigned a high score for the group’s corporate governance and its adherence to high standards of business ethics,” it says.
“When compared with industry peers, Metinvest is ranked at ninth place out of the 140 steel companies assessed by Sustainalytics worldwide,” according to the document.
“We recognize that mining and steel manufacturing always have a high level of exposure relative to many other industries. Metinvest consistently takes into account environmental, social and governance factors in its business decisions, therefore we have launched our first external assessment in the ESG field as part of our overall commitment to business transparency. We believe that measuring our ESG performance helps us to better understand our strengths and weaknesses for further sustainable development. We have received vital feedback and analyzed how we can build more robust risk management institutions to ensure the group’s continued industry leadership,” Yuriy Ryzhenkov, the Chief Executive Officer of Metinvest, said.
“ESG topics are gaining importance worldwide for all groups of stakeholders, including lenders. We believe that this rating assigned to the group by Sustainalytics will help to alleviate the decision-making process in funds allocation for our existing and future investors and creditors,” Oleksandr Liubarev, the Corporate Finance and Treasury Director at Metinvest, said.
Interpipe international vertically integrated pipe and wheel company in January-March of this year increased payment of taxes and fees to the budgets of all levels and extra-budgetary funds by 3% compared to the same period last year, to UAH 803 million.
The company said on Facebook the amount of contributions to the state budget totaled UAH 547 million, to local budgets some UAH 147 million, another UAH 109 million was transferred as social security tax.
“The Ukrainian industrial company Interpipe and its assets make a significant contribution to filling the state treasury. Last year we updated the record for paying taxes and fees, but we do not stop there: according to the results of the first quarter of 2020 some UAH 803 million were transferred to the budgets of different levels. In addition, given the increased burden on regional budgets due to coronavirus, Interpipe refused tax holidays provided by the Verkhovna Rada and allocated UAH 17 million for the anti-crisis program to combat COVID-19 in Dnipro and Dnipropetrovsk region,” the company said.
As reported, Interpipe in 2019 increased payment of taxes and fees to the budgets of all levels by 50% compared to 2018, to UAH 3.25 billion. At the same time, the amount of contributions to the state budget totaled about UAH 2.167 billion (an increase of 62%), to local budgets about UAH 625 million (38% more). Another UAH 462 million (21% more) was transferred as social security tax.
The operation of the Solotvyno-Sighetu Marmatiei checkpoint on the Ukrainian-Romanian border was resumed from 18:00 on Wednesday, June 17, the State Border Service of Ukraine said.
“According to the Romanian Border Police, admission to the territory of Romania will be provided for citizens who are officially employed in Romania and have supporting documents (without passing a mandatory observation) and persons in transit (within 48 hours),” the service said in a statement.
The remaining categories of people arrived in Romania have to pass a procedure of observation.
“We emphasize that foreigners are allowed to enter Ukraine with the obligatory presence of medical insurance, which provides for COVID-19 treatment and observation. For people arriving in Ukraine from countries with a significant [coronavirus] COVID-19 outbreak, observation or self-isolation with Diy Vdoma (Act at Home) application is provided,” the State Border Service said.
