Former U.S. Vice President Mike Pence arrived in Ukraine on Thursday, June 29, on an unannounced visit, reports NBC News.
Pence became the first Republican U.S. presidential candidate to meet with Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky during the campaign.
“I believe America is the leader of the free world,” Pence told NBC News.
As part of his visit, Pence is visiting the de-occupied Moschun, Bucha and Irpen in the Kiev region.
“To come here just as a private citizen – to be able to see firsthand the heroism of the Ukrainian soldiers who held the defense in those woods, to see the heroism of the people here in Irpen who held back the Russian army, to see the families whose homes were literally shelled in the midst of the brazen and unprovoked Russian invasion – it only strengthens my resolve to contribute, to continue calling for American strong support for our Ukrainian friends and allies,” Pence said
President of Ukraine Vladimir Zelensky held a meeting with representatives of business, during which they discussed the topic of state reconstruction, the tax sphere, as well as the creation of a coordination tool.
“The meeting with representatives of business. A lot of pressing topics. Opportunities for the state to stimulate economic activity. The program “єOsel” and business participation. Recovery topics. Tax sphere and opportunities to reform it. Inspections. Law enforcement. Coordination and communication for the sake of problem solving. Useful business proposal to create a coordination tool,” Zelensky wrote in his Telegram channel on Thursday.
The president said that the main priority at the moment is the victory of Ukraine in the war.
“The main priority is always the strength of Ukraine. Thanks to everyone and everyone who adds strength to Ukraine, who keeps and creates new jobs, who strengthens our economy and helps develop our institutions,” Zelensky said.
According to the press service of the Ukrainian head of state, during the meeting Zelensky said that the priority in the reconstruction of Ukraine will be the participation of Ukrainian and foreign business, which worked and continues to work, especially during the war.
“But the doors will be open to many companies. We need hundreds and thousands of companies to come to us,” Zelensky said.
Also during the meeting, the parties agreed on joint efforts to reduce business problems from law enforcement agencies, as well as the prospect of forming a tax sphere and strengthening the effectiveness of bodies that should stimulate economic development and provide support for investments.
In turn, business representatives proposed the establishment of a coordination platform for communication on the protection of business rights and consideration of other issues. Zelensky supported this initiative and also offered to jointly decide on the format of the work.
“It is very important to create a platform on which we would constantly talk. Because we cannot accumulate problems for years: we simply will not be able to overcome them later,” the president stressed.
The state enterprise “NAEK “Energoatom” (Kiev) on June 29 announced a tender for compulsory motor third party liability insurance of owners of land vehicles (MTPL).
As reported in the electronic public procurement system Prozorro, the total expected cost of 1.083 million UAH.
The deadline for submission of documents for the tender is July 11
National Bank of Ukraine (NBU) has applied the enforcement measures to IC “Greenwood Life Insurance” and IC “Alfa Insurance” (both Kiev) in the form of an obligation to take measures to remedy violations until July 17, 2023, according to the website of the regulator.
“Measures of influence are applied due to non-compliance with the requirements of paragraphs 1 and 11 of the NBU board resolution “On peculiarities of application of registration and licensing procedures of non-bank financial services market participants during martial law …”, – said in a message on the regulator’s website.
According to the document, it refers to written assurances of companies to the National Bank about the compliance of direct and ultimate owners of material participation to the requirements of the regulator on the financial / property status, documents to assess such a position and subsequent responses to the NBU request.
PrJSC “Greenwood Life Insurance” works in the Ukrainian life insurance market since 2007 as the successor of the insurance company “Guarantee Life”. The company is a part of financial and investment holding Green Globe Enterprises INC (USA, New York), which operates in the territory of Europe, Asia, America.
IC “Alfa Insurance” was founded in 2000. On December 5, 2022 NBU has applied to IC “Alfa Insurance” a measure of influence in the form of temporary suspension of the license to provide financial services. Due to the company’s non-compliance with the requirements of the Regulations on licensing and registration of financial service providers and the conditions of their activities in the provision of financial services…, namely, the requirements for business reputation of financial service providers.
ALFA INSURANCE, Greenwood Life Insurance, INSURERS, NATIONAL BANK
Ukraine increased export of beef in January-May 2023 by 3.6 times, to 9.6 thousand tons and increased revenues from export operations by 2.6 times, to $38.1 million, according to the press service of the Ukrainian Club of Agrarian Business (UCAB).
The press-release notes that May was the most effective in this period: Ukrainian producers sold abroad 2.5 thousand tons of beef, which is 42% more than in the previous month.
“With the start of a full-scale war, opportunities to export meat and meat products from Ukraine became very difficult. Before the war, the share of beef transported by road was only 22.4% (77.6% was exported by sea). However, even under such difficult conditions, the geography of supplies has not changed. If Ukrainian exporters keep the deliveries at the same level till the end of the year, we will be able to approach the volumes of 2021”, – forecasts Maxim Gopka, analyst of UCAB.
The largest importers of Ukrainian beef in January-May this year were China – 5.8 thousand tons, Uzbekistan – 1.04 thousand tons, Azerbaijan – 1.06 thousand tons and Kazakhstan – 590 tons.
At the same time, UCAB notes that access to European markets is important for the Ukrainian beef market, because of the closed ports logistics is very expensive, which does not allow the industry to operate efficiently.
The report indicates that beef prices in the EU countries are at a high level, although the consumption of this type of meat by the population is gradually decreasing. This trend is expected to continue in the coming years. According to forecasts by the European Commission, cited by analysts, beef production in the EU may decrease by 1.6% in 2023, which will keep prices steadily high even further.
The UCAB believes that if Ukrainian products are allowed to enter the EU market in the near future, it will, on the one hand, support domestic consumption in the EU and, on the other hand, stabilize the domestic industry. In particular, Ukrainian producers will be able to recover by working more efficiently in compliance with all phytosanitary norms and implementing a policy of decarbonization, the business association believes.
At the same time, due to small export volumes of Ukrainian beef compared to other countries, it will not hurt local players in the EU market. In addition, it will help European producers to steadily export their own products to global markets, the UCAB believes, as the supply of beef in the world remains low against high demand.
The international vertically integrated pipe and wheel company Interpipe in January-March this year increased EBITDA by 5.2 times compared to the same period last year – up to $79 million, but reduced revenues from sales by 4% – to $229 million.
According to the first quarter press-release of the company, steel output went up 13% to 184 thsd mt, pipes output increased 12% to 105 thsd mt but railroad products output decreased 13% to 20 thsd mt. In this case, the sales of products decreased by 23% to 108 thousand tons, including pipes – by 20% to 82 thousand tons, railway products – by 27% to 19 thousand tons, steel billets – by 50% to 6 thousand tons.
Net leverage ratio strengthened to 0.7x.
The press-release notes that at the beginning of 2023, production at all Interpipe enterprises was negatively affected by tight limits on electricity consumption by industrial consumers. However, already in March the situation improved due to the removal of these restrictions. As a result, and due to the effect of low comparison base due to last year’s downtime, steel output increased by 13% and tubes – by 12%.
At the same time, Interpipe’s sales continued to decline as external market conditions have already begun to show the first signs of cooling. In particular, the sales of OCTG-pipes (oil and gas variety – IF-U) decreased by 37% and line pipes – by 12%. The fall in the railway division is also continuing and the company is trying to compensate for it by increasing sales to the promising markets of North and South America, the Middle East and the Asia-Pacific region.
The decline in operating performance, in turn, led to a decrease in financial results. Specifically, its sales revenues decreased by 4% to $229 mn, while EBITDA went up 5.2 times to $79 mn, which significantly improved its net leverage to 0.7x.
Andriy Korotkov, Interpipe’s CEO, states that since the middle of the quarter the company’s plants have returned to work steadily, without any “broken” schedules. This made it possible to increase production at the end of the quarter and in some segments, for example, in the pipe division, to get somewhat closer to the pre-war level.
“Even under difficult military conditions, Interpipe continues to fulfill all orders and delivers products to customers quickly and on time. Significant support is provided by the extension of the cancellation of all quotas and duties on Ukrainian goods by the US and the EU,” says the top manager, who is quoted by the press service.
As earlier reported, Interpipe posted net profits of $204.441 million in 2022, which is 2.2 times more than in the previous year ($91.316 million). Last year’s pre-tax profit was $220.579 million compared to $110.907 million in 2021. The revenue in 2022 decreased by 13.4% to $981.330 million from $1 billion 132.9 million a year earlier. At the same time, Interpipe has increased its free cash flow from $109.627 mln to $153.777 mln during the year.
“Due to the war, in 2022, Interpipe reduced EBITDA by 11% compared to the previous year – up to $204 million. Steel output in 2022 decreased 39% to 595 thousand tons, pipes – by 36% to 393 thousand tons, railway products – by 51% to 84 thousand tons.
Sales of products in the reporting period decreased by 37%, to 524 thousand tons, including pipes – by 36%, to 384 thousand tons, railway products – by 50%, to 87 thousand tons. Its sales revenues decreased by 13% to $981 mln, while net leverage remained at a strong and stable level of 1.1x.
“Interpipe is a Ukrainian industrial company producing seamless pipes and railroad wheels. The company supplies its products to more than 80 countries all over the world through a network of sales offices located in the key markets of the Middle East, North America and Europe. In 2022, the company sold 384 thnd mt of tubes and 87 thnd mt of railroad products. The company sells its railroad products under the KLW brand.
Interpipe has 10 000 employees. In 2022 the company transferred 2.8 billion hryvnias to the budgets of all levels.
The company has five industrial assets: “Interpipe Nizhnedniprovsk Tube Rolling Plant (NTZ)”, “Interpipe Novomoskovsk Tube Plant (NMTZ)”, “Interpipe Niko-Tube”, “Dnepropetrovsk Vtormet” and the electric steelmaking complex “Dneprostal” under the “Interpipe Steel” brand.
The ultimate owner of Interpipe Limited is Ukrainian businessman Viktor Pinchuk and his family members.
