According to preliminary data, the turnover of the ATB chain in 2024 increased by 15% compared to 2023 to UAH 248.3 billion, said Serhiy Demchenko, Head of Corporate Communications at ATB Corporation.
According to him, in 2024, the chain added 47 new stores, and another 11 retail facilities were reconstructed.
As of the beginning of 2025, the ATB chain has 1257 stores.
According to Mr. Demcheko, last year ATB also launched a new own brand, Day in Day.
In 2024, the company’s investments increased by 25% (by UAH 3 billion) compared to the previous year and amounted to almost UAH 15 billion. Particular attention was paid to energy security, he noted.
“We have equipped ATB stores with generators (DPS): more than 1.2 thousand stores are currently equipped, which is 98% of the entire network. We also equipped our stores with solar power plants (SPP). To date, 40 stores have been equipped with SPPs, and another 180 stores are in the process of being equipped,” he said in a post on Facebook.
ATB Corporation also installed gas turbine equipment at a distribution center in Khmelnytsky region.
The company has also invested UAH 185 million in a project to pool reusable packaging for fruits and vegetables. As noted, the reusable containers are made of safe types of plastic. Today, ATB uses more than 400 thousand boxes and 15 thousand pallets of such containers.
In addition, the chain sent more than 213 tons of used batteries for recycling to Romania and Poland.
Demchenko stated that in 2024, the corporation created more than 3.5 thousand new jobs, and the total number of employees reached 56 thousand. The amount of taxes and fees paid to the budgets of various levels and special funds preliminarily amounted to UAH 30.7 billion, which is 22% more than in 2023.
In addition, ATB Corporation provided charitable assistance to the Ukrainian Defense Forces in the amount of over UAH 2 billion.
US President-elect Donald Trump hopes to end Russia’s war against Ukraine within six months.
“I hope to have six months. I think I hope well before six months. Russia is losing a lot of young people, and so is Ukraine,” Trump said at a press conference in Mar-a-Lago, Florida, on Tuesday, referring to a timeline for ending the war.
He reiterated that this “war should never have been started.”
“This is a war that should never have happened. I guarantee you, if I were president, this war would never have happened,” Trump stated.
Earlier, Trump promised during his campaign to end Russia’s war against Ukraine in 24 hours.
Energy imports, forecast, billion dollars
Open4Business.com.ua
In 2024, omnichannel retailer Foxtrot opened five new stores and reformed eight outlets, the chain’s press service reports.
According to the report, new stores were opened last year in Chernihiv, Ivano-Frankivsk, Zaporizhzhia, Kryvyi Rih and Stryi (Lviv region). The company also reformed eight stores in Kyiv, Odesa, Bila Tserkva and other cities. As of the end of the year, the chain had 124 stores in 66 cities.
The retailer has also equipped its stores to meet the requirements of inclusiveness and barrier-free access, including the integration of a service for customers with hearing impairments.
Last year, Foxtrot also launched a warehouse at a new location in Kyiv region, expanding its area to 28 thousand square meters.
By the end of 2024, the chain increased its turnover by 13% year-on-year and increased online sales on the Foxtrot.ua platform by 42%. In addition, the retailer has started cooperation with Kasta and market by mono marketplaces, the press service emphasizes.
It is noted that the number of participants in the chain’s loyalty program increased by 1.1 million to 15 million registered customers.
The retailer also continued to support the Ukrainian Defense Forces: by the end of 2024, the chain handed over electronics worth UAH 14.2 million to the military. Since the beginning of the full-scale invasion, Foxtrot has donated UAH 42.5 million worth of gadgets to the army.
“Foxtrot is one of Ukraine’s largest omnichannel retail chains in terms of the number of stores and sales of electronics and home appliances. The company operates 124 stores in 66 cities, including the frontline cities of Kherson, Kramatorsk and Sloviansk, an online platform Foxtrot.ua and a mobile application of the same name.
According to Opendatabot, the net revenue of FTD-Retail LLC (Kyiv), which develops the chain, increased by 29% to UAH 12.6 billion in 2023, with net profit of UAH 314.4 million compared to a loss in 2022.
The Foxtrot brand is developed by the Foxtrot group of companies. The co-founders are Valery Makovetsky and Gennady Vykhodtsev.
Insurance company Busin (Kyiv) in January-September 2024 collected UAH 160.6 mln of gross premiums, which is 6.98% less than in the same period of 2023.
It was informed by the rating agency Standard-Rating in the information on updating of credit rating/rating of financial stability of the insurer at the level of “uaAA+” according to the national scale on the basis of the analysis for the specified period.
At the same time receipts from reinsurers have decreased by 22,75% – to UAH 29,186 mln.
Insurance payments sent to reinsurers have increased by 61,35% to UAH 178,299 mln in the nine months of 2024 compared to the same period of 2023. Thus, the ratio of reinsurers’ participation in insurance premiums increased by 47.02 p.p. to 111.03%.
Net premiums for the mentioned period of 2024 amounted to UAH 17,706 mln, and net earned premiums – UAH 25,694 mln. During this period the company has paid to its clients UAH 31,869 mln of insurance payments and indemnities, which is more than 44 times higher than the volume of insurance payments for the same period of 2023. Thus, the level of payouts has increased by 19,42 p.p. – To 19.84%.
Assets of the company as of October 1, 2024 have decreased by 4,89% – to UAH 298,706 mln, shareholders’ equity has decreased by 18,30% – to UAH 161,156 mln, liabilities have increased by 17,75% – to UAH 137,55 mln, cash and cash equivalents have increased by 26,51% – to UAH 322,196 mln.
IC Busin has been registered in February, 1993. It specializes on risk types of insurance. It is a member of a number of professional and branch associations – League of Insurance Organizations of Ukraine, Insurance Payments Club, International Association of Aviation Insurers (UA), Nuclear Insurance Pool, American Chamber in Ukraine, British Business Club.
In Ukraine, in 2024, the mortality rate of bees in the controlled area was 20-25%, which is significantly higher than pre-war figures and is explained by unfavorable weather conditions in spring and summer, which led to a reduction in the area of honey plants, Volodymyr Postoenko, director of the Prokopovych Institute of Beekeeping, told Interfax-Ukraine.
“The year 2024 was very difficult for beekeepers due to a sharp climate change. In spring, white acacia is very important for the development of bee colonies. During its flowering period, there were frosts all over Ukraine. Bees did not get honey from it. Then there was a problem with an important honey plant – sunflower. Due to the drought, its yield was low, it did not produce nectar and there was no development of bee colonies. This led to high bee mortality, which in different regions amounted to 15-20%, and sometimes 23-27%. The national average was 20-25%,” the scientist said.
According to him, such a high mortality rate of bee colonies in Ukraine was not observed before the war. Earlier, bee mortality in Ukraine was mainly associated with the lack of information on chemical field treatment by farmers. Bee mortality from pesticides was also significant in different regions. However, the state has introduced a number of legislative initiatives that allow beekeepers to defend their rights in courts.
Postoenko noted that before the war, the mortality rate of bees from viruses and diseases in Ukraine was low, and only domestic bees were grown in the country. The situation has worsened as foreign bee breeds that do not have the necessary resistance to existing regional diseases have been introduced into production.
The scientist added that in a number of countries in different years, the mortality rate of bee colonies reached 80-90%, which is why society is concerned about the problem of bee mortality.
The director of the Institute of Beekeeping pointed out that the Ukrainian beekeeping industry, like a number of others, does not have reliable statistics, as only 5% of beekeepers are engaged in industrial production, and the remaining 95% are represented by households. They, in turn, are in no hurry to register their apiaries, which is why reporting on their activities is approximate.
“Before the war, according to unofficial statistics, there were 3-3.5 million bee colonies in Ukraine. (…) In addition, unofficial statistics say that the apiaries that were in the current occupied territory before the war accounted for about 30% of the total number of apiaries in Ukraine before the war,” the expert added.
In a comment to Interfax-Ukraine, Hanna Burka, project manager of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), said that in 2023 the number of bee colonies in Ukraine amounted to 2402.9 thousand, which is 10.5% less than in 2022.
Burka emphasized that the rate of decline in bee colonies in industrial enterprises was higher – 13.6%, to 32.5 thousand, and in households – by 10.5%, to 2379.4 thousand,
According to her information, as of January 1, 2024, there were 2314 thousand bee colonies in Ukraine, of which 2286 thousand were in households, and 28 thousand families were in enterprises, of which 4 thousand families were in farms.
As of January 2024, the top five regions in terms of beekeeping were Khmelnytskyi region with 376.6 thousand bee colonies, Vinnytsia region with 188.9 thousand, Kirovohrad region with 149.9 thousand, Zhytomyr region with 149 thousand, and Ivano-Frankivsk region with 140.5 thousand bee colonies.
At the same time, the most developed industrial beekeeping in 2024 was in Poltava region, where 4.6 thousand bee colonies are located, Vinnytsia and Cherkasy regions have 3.3 thousand bee colonies each. In Khmelnytsky region, there are 1.9 thousand bee colonies in the industrial segment, and in Kyiv region – 1.7 thousand bee colonies. Households in Khmelnytskyi region are the leaders in keeping bee colonies – 374.7 thousand, Vinnytsia region – 185.6 thousand, and Kirovohrad region – 148.8 thousand.
The Ministry of Agrarian Policy and Food, responding to an information request from Interfax-Ukraine, confirmed the experts’ information and added that before the full-scale war in Ukraine, as of January 1, 2022, the number of bee colonies in the country was 2686 thousand. During the two years of the full-scale war in Ukraine (2022-2023 – IF-U), the number of bee colonies decreased by 13.8% and amounted to 2,314 thousand.
“As a result of the hostilities of the Russian Federation on the territory of Ukraine, the livestock sector, in particular the beekeeping industry, has suffered destructive and destructive configurations,” the Ministry of Agrarian Policy emphasized.
The Ministry referred to an assessment by experts from the Kyiv School of Economics (KSE), according to which, as of December 31, 2023, losses due to the reduction of bee colonies in Ukraine are estimated at $31.9 million, excluding losses from a decrease in beekeeping production.
