JSC “Ukrzaliznytsia” (“UZ”) plans to complete the construction of the European gauge (1435 mm) “Chop-Uzhgorod” by July 2025, the press service of the company reported in the Telegram channel on Wednesday.
According to the company, the construction project provides for the construction of 22 km of railway track of European standard, reconstruction of artificial structures, facilities and engineering networks, as well as equipping the tracks with two-way semi-automatic blocking and microprocessor-based dispatch centralization devices.
It is noted that the cost of the project is UAH 1.3 billion, 50% financed from the EU Connecting Europe Facilit (CEF).
“UZ” specified that currently railroaders are assembling at their own facilities rail sleeper grating. The repair of artificial constructions along the site is also in progress.
Railroaders have already completed a set of preparatory works, including cleaning the site of construction from the thistles, bushes, completed the repair of track number 2 of the station “Strumkovka” for the movement of railroad construction equipment.
As reported, Ukrzaliznytsia received the opportunity to implement the project of construction of 22 km of Euro track “Chop-Uzhgorod” as a result of successful participation in the competitive selection of CEF projects in 2022.
In January-June 2024, Vienna Insurance Group (Austria) collected gross written premiums (GWP) of EUR 7.887 billion, which is 7.9% more than in the previous year.
According to VIG, premiums increased in all segments and all lines of business. Underwriting income increased to EUR 5.9 billion (+10.0%), and profit before tax rose to EUR 481.0 million (+3.9%).
Special Markets (Germany, Georgia, Liechtenstein and Turkey) developed particularly well, with premium growth of 32.0%, Extended CEE (Albania including Kosovo, the Baltic States, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Moldova, North Macedonia, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia, Ukraine and Hungary) with premium growth of 11.5% and Austria with premium growth of 6.5%.
Technical income from insurance contracts (income from insurance services) increased to EUR 5.919 billion (+10.0%). The increase was primarily driven by growth in property and casualty insurance. All segments recorded growth, with significant growth in Special Markets (+21.5%), Extended CEE (+14.5%), Poland (+14.0%) and Austria (+6.5%). The Special Markets segment was driven by growth in Turkey, and the Extended CEE segment by growth in Romania, Slovakia, the Baltic States, Bulgaria and Hungary.
Profit before tax increased to EUR 481.0 million in the first half of 2024. Profit growth was 3.9%, mainly driven by Austria, Poland and the expanded CEE region.
The annualized operating return on equity improved to 16.2% (15.1% at the end of 2023), and the net combined ratio improved to 93.3% in the first six months of 2024 (first half of 2023: 94.0%), primarily due to the positive development of the loss ratio.
According to the report, VIG’s solvency ratio at the end of the first half of 2024 remains at a very high level of 265% (including transitional measures) and emphasizes the group’s extremely high capital strength.
In January-March 2024, VUSO Insurance Company PrJSC (Kyiv) collected UAH 641.63 million in gross premiums, which is 5.15% more than in the same period of 2023, according to the rating agency (RA) Standard Rating in information on the confirmation of the company’s financial strength rating at the level of “uaAA” on the national scale.
According to the RA website, in particular, the insurer’s revenues from individuals increased by 0.79% to UAH 413.554 million, and from reinsurers – by 55.66% to UAH 10.283 million. Thus, the share of individuals in the insurer’s gross written premiums amounted to 64.45%, and the share of reinsurers – 1.60%.
Insurance premiums paid to reinsurers increased 5.17 times in the first quarter to UAH 106.327 million, which resulted in a 13.20 percentage point increase in the reinsurance participation ratio to 16.57%.
Net written premiums decreased by 9.22% to UAH 535.303 million, while earned premiums increased by 16.90% to UAH 563.796 million.
During the reporting period, the company paid out UAH 318.957 million to customers, which is 55.35% higher than the volume of insurance payments and reimbursements for the same period in 2023. The level of payments increased by 16.06 percentage points to 49.71%.
RA also notes that the profit from operating activities of VUSO Insurance Company amounted to UAH 18.111 million, and net profit increased 4.66 times to UAH 13.491 million.
As of April 1, 2024, the insurer’s assets decreased by 1.51% to UAH 1.501 billion, equity showed an increase of 2.19% to UAH 630.748 million, liabilities decreased by 4.03% to UAH 870.649 million, cash and cash equivalents – by 14.06% to UAH 479.132 million.
The RA also notes that as of the reporting date, VUSO formed a portfolio of investments in government bonds in the amount of UAH 221.735 million, which in total covered 80.50% of the company’s liabilities. The balance of funds in the insurer’s centralized insurance reserve funds (MTIBU) amounted to UAH 310.453 million, which also had a positive impact on the company’s liquidity.
VUSO Insurance Company was founded in 2001. The company holds 50 licenses: 34 – for voluntary and 16 – for compulsory types of insurance, and is represented in all regions of Ukraine. It is a member of MTIBU and USIF, a participant in the Direct Claims Settlement Agreement and a member of the Nuclear Insurance Pool.
Pokrovskoye Mine Administration (Donetsk Oblast), the largest coking coal producer in Ukraine and a part of Metinvest Group, produced 3.5 million tons of coking coal in January-August this year.
“Since the start of the full-scale invasion, the miners’ work in Pokrovsk is a real feat. We have not stopped production for a single day. Despite the circumstances, the teams are working hard and achieving significant results. Since the beginning of this year alone, we have produced over 3.5 million tons of coal and sank more than 8 km of mine workings,” said Yuriy Ryzhenkov, CEO of Metinvest, during a visit to Pokrovskoye.
As reported earlier, Pokrovskoye produced 2 million tons of coking coal in 5 months of 2014.
“Metinvest has established Metinvest Pokrovskugol, which manages the enterprises of the Pokrovske Coal Group (PGC). The company includes, among others, Pokrovskoye Mine Administration and Svyato-Varvarinskaya Concentrator.
Ukrainian tennis player Marta Kostiuk defeated Briton Harriet Dart in two sets (2:0) and reached the third round of the US Open tournament, Suspilne. Sport” on Thursday.
In the first round of the competition, Kostiuk defeated American McCartney Kesser in two sets (6-2, 6-3) and reached the 1/32 finals of the US Open. The next opponent of the first Ukrainian racket was the British Harriet Dart, whom Marta had met twice before and defeated twice.
In the first set, Kostiuk lost the opening two games on her serve, making only one break in response. Dart’s advantage lasted until the tenth game, but Kostyuk managed to take the first set to a tiebreaker. Kostyuk won a break on Dart’s serve, and despite losing the next game on her own serve, she broke back to make the score 6-6.
In the tiebreaker, Kostyuk played five set points at once, three of which were at 3:6. And in the end, she took the game, realizing the third set point.
Kostyuk finished the second set with a crushing victory – 6:1. The Ukrainian gave away only one game at the very start of the game, after which she took six in a row, although only on the fourth attempt did she realize a match point.
US Open-2024. Second round: Harriet Dart (Great Britain) – Marta Kostyuk (Ukraine) – 0: 2 (6: 7 (10), 1: 6)
Marta Kostiuk’s opponent in the third round of the competition will be determined in a match between the Dutch player Aranci Rous and the 12th world number one, American Emma Navarro.
Commissioning of housing in Ukraine in January-June 2024 increased by 27% compared to the same period of 2023 – up to 4 million 566.6 thousand square meters, the State Statistics Service reported.
According to the report, 2 million 421.2 thousand square meters of housing was commissioned in cities in the first half of the year, which is 24.4% higher than in the first half of last year. In rural areas, 2 million 145 thousand square meters of housing was commissioned by 10.8% more.
A total of 55 thousand apartments were commissioned in January-June, which is 24.2% more than in the first half of 2023. At the same time, 38.3 thousand apartments were commissioned in apartment buildings. In cities 34.3 thousand apartments were commissioned, in villages – 20.6 thousand.
According to the results of six months, the most housing was commissioned in Kyiv region – 958.1 thousand square meters, or 11 thousand apartments (21% of the total volume), which exceeds the figure for the same period of 2023 by 35.5%. It is followed by Lviv region – 437.5 thousand square meters, or 4.8 thousand apartments (respectively 9.6% and +23.3%); Ivano-Frankivsk region – 322.7 thousand square meters, or 3.8 thousand apartments (7.1%, +29.2%); Vinnitsa region – 274.2 thousand square meters, or 4 thousand apartments (6%, -42.7%).
In Kyiv, 628.4 thousand square meters of housing, or 9.3 thousand apartments (13.8%, +13.3%) were commissioned in the first half of the year.
According to the State Statistics Committee, the greatest growth in the volume of housing commissioned in January-June was recorded in Donetsk region, where the indicator increased six times to the same period of 2023 – up to 10.9 thousand square meters (0.2% of the total volume), as well as in Zaporizhzhya region – “plus” 488.2%, up to 25.8 thousand square meters (0.6%).
The data are given taking into account the housing commissioned in accordance with the temporary order of acceptance into operation of houses erected without a permit for construction works, as well as without taking into account the temporarily occupied territories of the Russian Federation and part of the territory where the hostilities are being / were conducted, reminds the State Statistics Committee.
As reported, according to the results of 2023 commissioning of housing in Ukraine increased by 3.8% compared to 2022 – up to 7 million 380.7 thousand square meters. m.
