The shareholders of Credit Agricole Bank Ukraine decided to keep all profits generated in Ukraine inside the country, thus increasing the Tier 1 capital, said Vitaliy Kucher, Member of the Management Board and CFO of the bank.
“We have made a political decision, and all the income that the bank earns in Ukraine remains in Ukraine. That is, we do not postpone the distribution of dividends, we distribute them, we increase the Tier 1 capital,” he said at the Association of Ukrainian Banks conference ‘Financial Sector of Ukraine 2024: Results, Challenges, Forecasts’ in Kyiv on Wednesday.
“That is, the money stays here forever to support the economy, to build a sufficient buffer for the development of lending,” Kucher added.
According to him, in case of building an acceptable investment climate and predictable environment, conducting the right regulatory and state policy, “money will flow here (to Ukraine – IF-U).”
The CFO also noted that the group’s central management is actively involved in the subsidiary’s operations, in particular, unlike a number of other foreign banks, he personally visits Ukraine during a full-scale war.
Credit Agricole Bank (formerly Index Bank) was founded in 1993. Its sole shareholder is Credit Agricole S.A. (France). According to the National Bank of Ukraine, as of October 1, Credit Agricole Bank ranked 10th in terms of total assets (UAH 121.08 billion) among 62 banks operating in the country. The net profit of the financial institution for the first nine months of 2024 amounted to UAH 5.12 billion, and its equity as of October 1 amounted to UAH 14.15 billion.
In January-September 2024, IMC Agro Holding increased its revenue to $140.8 million, up 43% year-on-year, according to the company’s report.
According to the report, the most significant part of the company’s revenue comes from corn sales, accounting for 47.4% in the first nine months of 2024 and 83.6% in the first nine months of 2023.
In addition, in January-September 2024, the agroholding increased its revenue from sunflower sales almost fivefold to $23.4 mln. Revenue from wheat sales increased to $49.7 mln, or five times.
The increase in normalized EBITDA in January-September 2024, as well as the increase in net profit, is due to the increase in sales volumes and higher grain prices at the end of the reporting date, IMC explained.
As reported, in the season-2024, IMC grew spring crops on 90 thou hectares, of which 65.8 thou hectares were allocated for corn and 24.2 thou hectares for sunflower. The agricultural holding completed sunflower harvesting in the last days of September. The company produced 77.7 thousand tons of gross harvest with a yield 60% higher than the national average of 3.2 tons/ha.
IMC Agro Holding is an integrated group of companies operating in Sumy, Poltava and Chernihiv regions (north and center of Ukraine) in the crop production, elevators and warehouses segments. The Group’s land bank is about 120 thousand hectares and storage capacity is 554 thousand tons, with a 2023 harvest of 1.002 million tons.
In 2023, IMC posted a net loss of $21.03 million compared to $1.12 million a year earlier, and its EBITDA decreased 11.3 times to $3.22 million. Revenue increased by 22.3% to $139.45 million, while the share of exports decreased to 68% from 73% a year earlier.
US President-elect Donald Trump has announced the appointment of General Keith Kellogg as Special Representative for Ukraine and Russia.
“I am very pleased to nominate General Keith Kellogg as Assistant to the President and Special Representative for Ukraine and Russia. Keith has had a distinguished military and business career, including serving in very important national security positions in my first administration,” Trump wrote on TruthSocial.
Previously, Kellogg served as National Security Advisor to Vice President Mike Pence, as well as Executive Secretary and Chief of Staff of the National Security Council in the first Trump administration. He served as National Security Advisor after Michael Flynn resigned.
According to The Wall Street Journal on November 6, Kellogg’s plan to end the war in Ukraine includes Ukraine’s refusal to join NATO for 20 years, freezing the front line and creating a demilitarized zone. It also provides for the transfer of the occupied Ukrainian territories to Russia.
Republican Mike Walz, Donald Trump’s future national security adviser, congratulated Keith Kellogg on his appointment as special envoy for Ukraine and Russia, confirming that Kellogg will seek a peace agreement.
“Keith has dedicated his life to protecting our great country and is committed to a peaceful resolution of the war in Ukraine,” he wrote on social media platform X.
In July 2024, in an interview with Voice of America, Keith Kellogg confirmed that Donald Trump had been given proposals to end the war in Ukraine, “an option that the president could use if elected.” In particular, according to him, such a plan involves encouraging Ukraine and Russia to start peace talks as soon as possible. It was said that the United States would continue to arm Ukraine to deter Russia from aggression during or after an agreement is reached. However, this will be done if Kyiv agrees to start negotiations.
According to the plan, to encourage Russia to negotiate, the United States and other NATO partners could postpone Ukraine’s membership in the alliance for an extended period in exchange for a “comprehensive, verifiable peace agreement with security guarantees.”
It is noted that in this version of a peaceful settlement, Ukraine may try to return its territories, but over a long period of time. It may be possible to complete this process only after Putin’s death, and through diplomatic means. It is also proposed to partially lift sanctions against Russia to encourage Moscow to take certain steps towards peace, and to establish a tax on imports of Russian energy resources for the restoration of Ukraine.
Ukraine has exported 17.764 mln tonnes of grains and pulses since the beginning of 2024-2025 marketing year as of November 27, of which 3.365 mln tonnes were shipped this month, the press service of the Ministry of Agrarian Policy and Food reported, citing the data of the State Customs Service of Ukraine. According to the report, as of the same date last year, the total shipments amounted to 12.693 mln tons, including 3.453 mln tons in November.
In terms of crops, since the beginning of the current season, Ukraine has exported 8.73 million tons of wheat (989 thousand tons in November), 1.841 million tons of barley (142 thousand tons), 10.8 thousand tons of rye (0.2 thousand tons), and 6.886 million tons of corn (2.205 million tons).
Total exports of Ukrainian flour since the beginning of the season as of November 27 are estimated at 30.5 thsd tonnes (5 thsd tonnes in November), including 27.8 thsd tonnes of wheat (4.5 thsd tonnes).
Starting November 26, the restored version of The Color of Pomegranate will be available on Kyivstar TV. The film, which made Parajanov famous all over the world, is now available for viewing in high quality on Kyivstar TV on a subscription basis, starting with the Basic package.
The film is distributed in Ukraine by Arthouse Traffic.
The plot of The Color of Pomegranate tells the story of the life of the 18th century Armenian poet Sayat-Nova, from his childhood to his last days. The film takes you into the poet’s world, showing his spiritual quest, creative peaks and internal conflicts.
The film, which was shot in 1968, was shown in Ukraine in a restored version by the Martin Scorsese Film Foundation on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of the birth of the prominent Ukrainian director of Armenian origin, Sergei Parajanov. It was part of the UNESCO’s declaration of the Parajanov Year.
During the presentation of the restored version at the Toronto Film Festival, Martin Scorsese told future viewers that they would see images and visions “that are almost unlike anything else in the history of cinema.”
Interestingly, it was thanks to the movie The Color Purple that the director managed to gain worldwide fame. Viewers in Ukraine have only now been able to fully appreciate the plot and the picture, because due to Soviet censorship, Ukrainian society lost the original version of the film, and Parajanov himself was imprisoned in Soviet prisons a few years after the film was shot.
“It is important for us to add films by legendary Ukrainian filmmakers to our video library, and it is one of the important missions for Kyivstar TV to reproduce and show Ukrainian culture,” said Pavlo Rybak, CEO of Kyivstar TV.
All Kyivstar TV users, regardless of their mobile operator and Internet provider, can watch The Color of Pomegranate on Kyivstar TV. Among the platform’s useful features is the ability to view the platform’s content on five devices simultaneously.
Kyivstar TV is a joint project of 1+1 media and Kyivstar, founded on December 11, 2019. It is a film and television platform that provides users with access to hundreds of thousands of hours of domestic and foreign content, live programs, and regularly offers exclusive pre-premiere screenings of projects. The platform has more than 430 TV channels and a VOD library of 20 thousand movies, series, cartoons and shows. For more information: tv.kyivstar.ua
DIM has put into operation the VITA 2.1 house in the Park Lake City eco-complex in Pidhirtsi, Kyiv region, which is the third facility commissioned since the beginning of 2024, the company’s press service reports. As Interfax-Ukraine was told, on November 26, 2024, the State Architectural and Construction Inspectorate of Ukraine issued a Certificate of Readiness for a residential building, which confirms that the facility complies with the project documentation and is ready for operation. This document proves the reliability of DIM, which, despite the difficult economic times, is ready to assume obligations to investors and guarantee their fulfillment.
The VITA 2.1 building with a total area of 3678.1 sq. m. consists of two sections on four floors, it has 30 apartments with a total living area of 2619.87 sq. m.
Park Lake City is a modern business-class suburban complex of a new formation with almost 2 thousand apartments, which is being built on the territory of more than 80 hectares. DIM continues the construction of eight VITA 2 houses of the Park Lake City business class eco-complex, which is scheduled to be completed in 2025-2026.
Founded in 2014, DIM Group specializes in the full cycle of development, including design, construction, and property management. During this time, the company has commissioned 15 buildings in eight residential complexes, a total of 3,640 apartments, and built more than 332.7 thousand square meters of residential and commercial space. Six residential complexes of the comfort+ and business class categories are under construction: “Metropolis, Park Lake City, Lucky Land, A136 Highlight Tower, Olegiv Podil, The One.
