Ukraine in 2018 expanded geography of export of goods and increased the number of companies, which were authorized to export food of animal origin, according to a report of the State Service for Food Safety and Consumers’ Protection. According to the report, in 2018, 85 new markets were opened for various types of products – these are the markets of Albania and Ghana (poultry and products made of it), Hong Kong (poultry and products made of it, eggs and egg products), Morocco (poultry and products made of it , egg products), Macedonia (dairy products, feed), UAE (live sheep and goats, young poultry, live poultry, hatching eggs), Tunisia (poultry meat), Montenegro (eggs and egg products), and other countries.
In addition, 306 Ukrainian enterprises, including 126 food producers (poultry, fish, honey, eggs, and dairy products) now are authorized to export its products to the countries of the European Union.
One troy ounce=31.10 grams
The Irish low-cost air carrier Ryanair from October 2019 will open flights from Kyiv to Madrid.
According to the airline’s press release, flights on the Kyiv-Madrid route will be operated four times a week as part of the Ryanair Kyiv Winter 2019 extended schedule, which will be launched shortly.
“The full schedule of Ryanair Kyiv Winter 2019 will be made public soon,” the airline said.
Flights will be carried out from Boryspil International Airport.
As reported, Ryanair announced that in 2019 it plans to open five new flights from Ukraine to Athens (Greece), Dublin (Ireland), Manchester (the United Kingdom), Sofia (Bulgaria), and Paphos (Cyprus) twice a week.
The mobile communications operator lifecell in 2018 saw UAH 1.301 billion in net loss, which is 2.58 times more than in 2017 (the loss of UAH 503.6 million), according to financial statements of its parent company Turkcell (Turkey) posted on its official website.
Revenue of the operator grew by 8.06%, to UAH 5.269 billion.
Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) rose by 8.2%, to UAH 2.762 billion, and EBITDA margin increased 25.2 percentage points, to 52.4%.
Capital investment of the operator in 2018 tripled, to UAH 4.032 billion, while in 2017 the operator invested UAH 1.33 billion.
The active subscribers’ base last year narrowed by 8.8%, to 7.3 million clients, and total number of subscribers in the network of the operator decreased 10.8%, to 9.9 million. Average revenue per user (ARPU) grew by 26.6%, to UAH 42.80, and ARPU of the active clients’ base rose by 20.1%, to UAH 57.30.
The number of minutes used by subscribers for voice data transfer grew by 12% in 2018, to 144.9 minutes.
Saturation of smartphones in the lifecell network as of late Q4 2018 reached 75.9%.
In the fourth quarter of 2018, the net loss of lifecell increased 4.07 times and amounted to UAH 730.1 million, while revenue grew by 11.6% to UAH 1.417 billion.
EBITDA increased by 3.37 times, to UAH 1.084 billion, while EBITDA margin rose by 50.4 percentage points, to 76.5%.
Capital investments in the last quarter of 2018 amounted to UAH 933.3 million, which is 2.25 times more than in the same period of 2017.
The Turkish company said that EBITDA growth was thanks to effective cost control measures, as well as the positive impact of the new IFRS standards.
At the same time, the company continues saying that the outflow of the subscriber base is mainly due to the general trend of reducing the use of SIM-cards in the country.
In addition, the operator reported on the increase in the number of active 4.5G Internet users (lifecell) for three months to 33% of the total number of mobile data users, and also that lifecell was the first in the Ukrainian market to deploy the NB-IoT network for smart devices.
As reported, in 2018, lifecell saw net loss of UAH 503.6 million compared to UAH 928.3 million of net profit in 2016, while the operator’s EBITDA in 2017 decreased by 2.2%, to UAH 1.326 billion.
Lifecell is the third largest mobile operator in Ukraine.
Kyiv is interested in developing defense cooperation with Cairo and offers Egypt cooperation in modernizing its air defense system.
The press service of the Ukroboronprom state concern reported on Thursday that cooperation plans were discussed by Ukroboronprom Head Pavlo Bukin and Director for Production of the National Organization for Military Production (NOMP) of the Egypt’s Ministry of Military Production Hassan Ahmed Abdel-Mageed at the IDEX 2019 international defence exhibition held in Abu Dhabi (the UAE).
“In accordance with the agreement, the Ukrainian side will provide proposals for the modernization of anti-aircraft missile systems and other air defense systems used by the Egyptian Armed Forces. Comprehensive modernization may include a complete replacement of the outdated element base with modern solid-state elements: along with the modernization of anti-aircraft missiles, this will allow increasing the range of target detection and destruction by several times,” the concern said.
According to the press service, the prospects for cooperation in the ammunition sphere were also discussed at the meeting.
“Currently, the parties are considering a project to establish a joint production of precision and conventional ammunition for artillery systems of various calibers,” the concern said.
