In 2023, Vodafone Ukraine showcased resilience and positive momentum across all key operational and financial indicators. Despite the impact of the ongoing war, the company not only preserved but also increased its investments in the development and support of Ukraine’s telecommunications infrastructure. Compared to the previous year, Vodafone’s investments surged by an impressive 58%, reflecting a commitment to enhancing business efficiency.
Financial and Operational Highlights
Revenue Growth: Vodafone’s revenue grew by 9% to reach UAH 21.6 billion in 2023. Key drivers included a focus on expanding fixed-line services, increased data usage, and growth in both mobile and fixed-line service revenues.
OIBDA Increase: The company achieved a 13% increase in OIBDA, which reached UAH 12.7 billion. The OIBDA margin also improved to 58.7%, representing a 1.8 percentage point increase.
Net Profit Surge: Vodafone’s net profit soared to UAH billion, a remarkable fivefold growth compared to 2022. Factors contributing to this substantial increase included currency stabilization (due to NBU’s managed exchange rate regime), reduced losses and impairment related to assets located on non-controlled territories, partner discounts, and overall business efficiency gains.
Investment Milestone: The generated profit allowed Vodafone to reinvest in network coverage and maintain network stability. Notably, the company achieved record-breaking investment levels, surpassing even pre-war figures from 2021.
Vodafone’s commitment to Ukraine’s telecommunications infrastructure underscores its resilience and determination to thrive despite challenging circumstances.
Investments
In 2023, Vodafone’s investment in Ukraine’s infrastructure amounted to UAH 5.7 billion. Throughout the two years of full-scale war, Vodafone invested a total of UAH 9.3 billion in the country.
Despite continuous network damage and the need for equipment restoration, the operator continued to expand. During the active phase of the war, Vodafone successfully brought 5,500 base stations online, enhancing coverage and network capacity. Over these two years, data traffic increased by 1.5 times. On average, a Vodafone data customer uses approximately 9 GB of mobile internet per month. This surge in usage contributed to an increase in the ARPU, reaching UAH 107.2 per month in 2023.
Expanding the network by 40% allowed Vodafone customers across Ukraine to consume more content while maintaining high-quality mobile internet. In the third and fourth quarters of 2023, Vodafone emerged as the leader in mobile internet speed in Ukraine, as confirmed by user tests using Ookla’s Speedtest®.
Subscriber Base
Systematic investments in network development and restoration, coupled with attractive tariff initiatives, positively impacted the subscriber base. In 2023, Vodafone managed to increase its customer count. As of the end of the year, 15.9 million people in Ukraine use Vodafone services, representing a 3.2% growth compared to 2022.
Additionally, more than 2 million Vodafone customers remain abroad and continue to use Vodafone services with Ukrainian tariffs. Since the onset of the full-scale invasion, Vodafone has supported Ukrainians seeking refuge in European countries. Most tariffs include free access to the “Affordable Roaming” service in 30 countries. This service provides 10 GB of mobile internet and 100 minutes for calls to Ukrainian and destination-country subscribers, subject to payment of the Ukrainian service package.
Fixed Internet
Vodafone Ukraine has made significant strides in its fixed business segment. In 2023, Vodafone continued its development of fixed business by increasing investments in the expansion of new fibre optic lines based on Vega, a company within the Vodafone Ukraine group. Additionally, Vodafone acquired a new asset, purchasing 90.6% shares of LLC “Freenet”.
During the past year, the company actively expanded its coverage in the cities of its presence and started the construction of the GPON network in Mykolaiv and Ivano-Frankivsk. In 2023, a network was built in 3,125 apartment buildings with the possibility of access to high-speed Internet for 411,426 households.
In total, access to the Vodafone Gigabit Net service is already available in more than 6,000 homes in Ukraine.
Vodafone tripled its fixed internet user base using GPON technology, which has proven to be the most reliable and energy-independent access technology for home and office internet. Thanks to the development of its own network and the acquisition of a new provider, Vodafone has now entered the top 5 fixed internet providers in terms of user count.
Vodafone Retail
Retail revenue increased by 16%, reaching UAH 773 million in 2023, contributing to 3.6% of the entire Vodafone Ukraine group’s revenue. Vodafone Retail improved the efficiency of its retail points, nearly doubling the number of available brands in Vodafone stores. The company received industry recognition, winning the “Retailer of the Year in the Portable Electronics Segment” award from the Association of Retailers of Ukraine (RAU), as chosen by Ukrainian consumers. Throughout the year, Vodafone opened 5 new stores, bringing the total number of retail outlets to 430: 92 company-owned stores and 338 dealer stores.
Vodafone’s Commitment to Ukraine
Vodafone Ukraine has made substantial investments in supporting the country and its citizens. Since the onset of the full-scale invasion, Vodafone has been dedicated to ensuring millions of citizens remain connected with their loved ones and have access to information during these challenging times, regardless of their mobile account status.
Vodafone has launched a series of social and charitable initiatives, including humanitarian and Financial Assistance:
• Providing direct financial aid and humanitarian support.
• Procuring emergency vehicles and medical equipment.
• Initiating the “League of Warmth” charity challenge, aimed at insulating maternity hospitals.
• Supporting children who have lost parents due to the war.
In total, Vodafone’s social investments during 2022-2023 amounted to UAH 1.7 billion
For more information, please contact:
Vodafone
Press service
press@vodafone.ua
About Vodafone
Vodafone is one of the world’s largest telecommunications companies, providing a wide range of services including mobile voice, data transfer, messaging, fixed broadband and cable television. The Company operates across 17 countries and partners with mobile networks in 43 countries. As of 31 March 2024, Vodafone provides services to over 340m mobile customers and 28m fixed broadband customers, 20m TV customers and connects more than 162m IoT devices. For more information, please visit www.vodafone.com.
Vodafone Ukraine is a leading telecommunications company that provides high-speed 3G and 4G Internet services and fixed broadband services. The Vodafone’s investments during the active construction of high-speed Internet networks in 2015 –2023 exceeded 42 billion UAH. The record investments have ensured the technological leadership and the development of new technological services – Internet of Things (IoT), technologies and solutions for Smart City, big data analytics, fintech services, cloud services. Vodafone has 15.9 m customers in Ukraine. Since December 2019, Vodafone Ukraine is part of NEQSOL Holding.
About NEQSOL Holding
NEQSOL Holding is a diversified group of companies operating across the energy, telecommunications, hi-tech, and construction industries.
The group of companies operates in the Netherlands, the UK, the USA, Turkey, Azerbaijan, Ukraine, Georgia, Kazakhstan and the UAE.
Along with its plans for further business development in Ukraine, the Holding opened its representation office in Ukraine at the end of 2020.
More than 74 thousand new businesses were opened by Ukrainians in the first quarter of 2024, according to the Unified State Register. This is 33.6% more than in the first quarter of last year. Most businesses are opened in Kyiv and Dnipro regions. Entrepreneurs are leading the way in trade, personal services, and IT.
A record 74,050 new businesses were opened by Ukrainians in the first quarter of 2024. This is a third more than last year and 18% more than before the full-scale invasion in 2021.
The capital has remained the undisputed leader in the number of new cases in recent years. In the first quarter of this year, 10,252 new businesses were registered in Kyiv, accounting for 13.8% of the total. Dnipropetrovs’k region is in second place with 6.8 thousand newly established businesses. Kyiv region is in the bottom three: 5.7 thousand new sole proprietorships.
A quarter of newly registered sole proprietorships are engaged in retail trade, which is the most popular area, unchanged over the past 4 years. Personal services and computer programming are also among the most popular business areas among Ukrainian entrepreneurs.
https://opendatabot.ua/analytics/foponomics-2024-1
individual entrepreneur, NEW BUSINESS, Unified State Register
The share of transactions for the purchase of housing on the terms of installments in March 2024 reached 95%, while a year ago the figure was 85%, and in the pre-war period – 70%, follows from the data of the group of companies DIM.
According to DIM, while the share of installments is growing, the rate of full payments on home purchases has fallen to 5%. At the same time last year, full payments accounted for 15% of transactions, and in the pre-war period – 30%.
“The greatest demand among customers are programs of interest-free installments, long-term installments from the builder from 3 to 5 years, installments for the first installment – payment of the first installment within 3 months, the program ‘eOsela’ for ready and under construction apartments, fixing monthly payments for the first year of installments, ‘vacations’ for installments, for example, in the winter months, and other promotions,” – said the marketing director of the group DIM Daria Bedya at the discussion panel DIM Talks.
According to her, as of March 2024, half of the structure of transactions was concluded with the first installment of 20-30% of the cost of the apartment, while a year ago they were only 35%, and in March 2021 – only 15% of the total number of contracts.
Another 20% of transactions today are concluded with a down payment of 10-20%, and only 10% of transactions – with 31-50%, while in the pre-war period this option was more popular (35% of transactions).
According to Bedia, when buying a one-bedroom apartment in 2024, clients more often choose housing with an area of 40-45 square meters, which is in line with the indicators of previous periods. At the same time, apartments with the area of 45-55 square meters have lost popularity after the start of full-scale invasion: transactions for their purchase today account for 5% of the total number against 20% in 2021.
According to DIM, 90% of transactions for the purchase of two-bedroom apartments concern housing with an area of 55-68 square meters, and objects of 70-82 square meters occupy only 10% of transactions, while before the full-scale invasion they occupied 40% in the structure of sales of two-bedroom apartments.
As for three-room apartments, 70% of their sales fall on the most compact variants – 80-85 square meters. m. According to DIM statistics, this trend has only intensified over the last three years.
As reported, in the first quarter of 2024, DIM Group commissioned two objects for 1,060 apartments.
DIM Group was founded in 2014 and consists of six companies covering all stages of construction. To date, it has commissioned 12 houses in six residential complexes with a total residential area of more than 218 thousand sq. m. At the stage of construction – six residential complexes of the category “comfort +” and “business class”: “New Autograph”, “Metropolis”, Park Lake City, Lucky Land, A136 Highlight Tower, Olegiv Podil.
The steps announced by the National Bank of Ukraine in the near future to complete the first stage of currency liberalization may require about $5.5 billion in foreign exchange reserves, but are expected to significantly expand business opportunities, improve conditions for attracting investment and private capital participation in the restored and ultimately have a positive impact on economic dynamics, the press service of the National Bank of Ukraine said.
“Currency liberalization will cost $5.5 billion. This is necessary to give more oxygen to business and the economy,” the press service said, adding that these steps have already been taken into account in the updated forecast, which provides for the preservation of international reserves this year and next year at a level close to the current – $43-44 billion.
Representatives of the NBU specified that the completion of the first stage of liberalization includes the possibility of partial payment of new dividends, the removal of restrictions on the import of services, payment of leasing and rent, the possibility of payments on old loans and a number of easing for the work of volunteers and the purchase of goods for military needs.
At the same time, the central bank noted that individual proposals sounding today, for example, to increase the period of return of foreign currency proceeds from the export of basic agricultural products from 90 to 180 days or from 180 to 360 days – for the metallurgical industry may complicate the implementation of such liberalization.
The press service of the NBU added that by the fall of last year the overdue return of foreign currency proceeds exceeded $4.5 billion. According to representatives of the National Bank, the decision taken in mid-November on the return of foreign currency proceeds from major agro-exports within 90 days instead of 180 days had a positive impact on the foreign exchange market, including for the first quarter of this year, the inflow of foreign currency from agro-exports to the market reached $1.3 billion against $800 million in the first quarter of last year.
As reported, at the monetary briefing on April 25, the head of the NBU Andriy Pyshnyy announced in the near future steps on currency liberalization within the framework of the strategy agreed with the International Monetary Fund to ease currency restrictions.
“So far, we see grounds to complete the first stage, which provides for certain relaxations regarding new dividends, the abolition of the ban respectively on imports of services and currency liberalization of the possibility of servicing old debts. Currently, the National Bank is at the stage of finalization and final calibration of these decisions, which we intend to announce in the near future,” he said.
Taking into account the receipt of record external revenues of almost $9 billion in March, international reserves increased by 18%, or $6.7 billion – to a record $43 billion 762.7 million.
Which energy companies were included in the Opendatabot Index?
According to the Opendatabot Index, the total revenue of the top 10 energy companies in Ukraine amounted to almost UAH 750 billion. Half of the top companies are state-owned, and 4 more belong to Rinat Akhmetov’s SCM Group. For the second year in a row, D.Trading, which is part of SCM Group, remains the leader.
According to the Opendatabot Index, the leaders of Ukraine’s energy sector earned UAH 745.87 billion last year. This is 8% more than the total revenue of these companies in 2022, which is UAH 688.45 billion.
This year’s ranking includes 5 state-owned companies and 4 companies belonging to Rinat Akhmetov’s SCM Group. Another company, Kyiv Oblast Energy Company LLC, is owned by Nelia Kostenko.
8 of the top companies are engaged in electricity generation and trading, and two more are engaged in gas trading.
D.Trading, which is part of SCM Group, has been the leader of the group for two years in a row. Last year, the company’s revenue increased by 15% compared to 2022: from UAH 144.18 billion to UAH 165.65 billion. At the same time, net profit increased by 30% in 2023.
Two other companies of Rinat Akhmetov managed to get the biggest increase in revenue. Thus, Kyiv Energy Services increased its revenue by 1.5 times, and Dnipro Energy Services by one third compared to 2022.
It is worth noting that Dnipro Energy Services received the largest increase in profits – 2.5 times – among all the companies included in this year’s Energy Index.
On the contrary, DTEK Zakhidenergo, the fourth company of SCM Group, decreased its revenue by 16% over the year. Last year, the company suffered a loss of UAH 164 million.
Overall, the total revenue of 4 companies owned by Rinat Akhmetov amounted to UAH 262.48 billion in 2023. This is 35% of the total revenue of the top 10 energy companies in the Opendatabot Energy Index.
The ranking of the best companies in the energy sector includes 5 state-owned companies, but only two managed to increase their revenue last year. Thus, Ukrhydroenergo increased its earnings by 30%, and NNEGC Energoatom – by 15%.
It is worth noting that Ukrhydroenergo received the largest net profit among the 10 companies in the Index in 2023 – UAH 17.3 billion. This is almost half as much as in the first year of the full-scale invasion. The revenue of state-owned Ukrenergo remained almost unchanged over the year, at over UAH 82 billion.
Two other state-owned companies involved in gas trading reduced their revenues in 2023 compared to 2022: Naftogaz of Ukraine by 4% and Naftogaz Trading by 9%. Both companies suffered losses in 2023, totaling UAH 10.29 billion.
The last place in the top is taken by Kyiv Regional Energy Company LLC, owned by Nelia Kostenko. The company increased its revenue by 29%, while its profit decreased by a quarter compared to the first year of the full-scale invasion.
https://opendatabot.ua/analytics/index-electricity-2024
Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni said at a party conference in Pescara that she would stand as a candidate in June’s European Parliament elections, Reuters reports.
“We want to do in Europe what we have done in Italy … to create a majority that will unite the center-right forces and send the left into opposition,” Meloni said.
Meloni’s name will be the first on ballots from Italy’s leading Brothers of Italy party in all five Italian constituencies in the European elections.
The Italian prime minister will try to bolster her party’s support, but she will not win a seat in the European Parliament if elected, the agency noted.
She has promised that she will not use “a single minute” of her time as prime minister to campaign.
According to the latest polls, Reuters notes, her party is the most popular in Italy with 27% support.
