“Chateau Chizay Wine Company” (Beregovo, Transcarpathian region) has launched a new cognac and grape drink production plant in Beregovsky district of Transcarpathian region, said the first deputy head of the regional military administration (OVA) Miroslav Biletsky.
“The launch of such an enterprise during the war is a powerful signal for everyone around. For Zakarpattians – despite objective circumstances – new jobs are opening in the region, for investors – our region is working and developing despite everything. This is important for the economy of the region, because the enterprise will regularly pay taxes and fill the budget. After all, this is another tourist and image bait, which will attract connoisseurs of quality Ukrainian product to Transcarpathia”, – he wrote in Facebook.
It is indicated that the production capacity of the enterprise will consist of an alcohol storage facility with a capacity of 600 thousand liters, distillation department – 1800 liters per day. For aging of strong drinks 60 oak barrels have been installed, and there are plans to increase them up to 300. The raw material base will be the vineyard, for which 2 hectares have been allocated.
The new plant has become a part of the winemaking complex of the enterprise, covering three vineyards, primary and secondary grape processing facilities, wine storage, laboratory and offices.
“The highlight of the new drink is that it will be aged in barrels from under wines, including the well-known far beyond the borders of Transcarpathia “Rose of Carpathians”, – added Biletsky.
Winery complex “Chateau Chizai” was founded in 1995 in the tract Chizai, near the town of Beregovo in Transcarpathia. The winery has its own raw material base – 272 hectares of vineyards, annually produces 1.3 million bottles of wine from their harvest and stores in its own cellar 250 barrels of original Transcarpathian wines.
In 2022, the net profit of LLC “Chateau Chizay” decreased to UAH 4.31 million from UAH 69.78 million a year earlier, the revenue of the company – to UAH 4.31 million from UAH 6.92 million.
The ultimate beneficiary of the company is a US citizen Gutman Hugo, who owns 100% of shares.
The European Union has fully exempted imports of agricultural products from Moldova from duties and quotas, extending and expanding the current temporary preferential treatment.
“The extension and expansion of the (preferential) measures aims to further expand the existing trade flows from Moldova to the EU, and this will support the Moldovan economy,” said Hector Gomez Hernandez – Minister of Industry, Trade and Tourism of Spain, which holds the presidency of the Council of the EU until the end of the year.
He emphasized that Thursday’s EU Council decision is particularly important given the ongoing military actions in Ukraine, as well as the fact that Moldova was granted EU candidate status a year ago.
Trade between the EU and Moldova is mostly liberalized under the 2014 Association Agreement. Duties were imposed on imports of only seven products to the EU: plums, table grapes, apples, tomatoes, garlic, cherries and grape juice. Introduced a year ago and valid until July 24, the preferential regime provides duty-free quotas for these products. The current decision suspends all remaining tariff rate quotas (TRQs) for one year.
The preferential treatment of imports from Moldova of the said products will entail a loss of EU customs revenues, but it will amount to about 0.3 million euros per year, so its impact on the Union budget will be “very limited,” the press release said.
The measures are expected to help Moldova further reorient its exports to the EU. Overall, its volume is set to increase from €1.8 billion in 2021 to €2.6 billion in 2022.
Ireland’s Ryanair, Europe’s largest budget airline, announced a commitment to resume flights to/from Ukraine at low fares within 8 weeks of the opening of Ukrainian airspace and plans to deploy up to 30 new Boeing 737 MAXs to Kiev, Lviv and Odessa at a cost of over $3 billion.
“Ryanair was Ukraine’s second largest airline until Russia’s illegal invasion in February 2022. As soon as the skies over Ukraine are reopened to commercial aviation, Ryanair will return to Ukraine, connecting Ukraine’s main airports to more than 20 EU capitals,” a Ryanair press release quoted the airline’s chief executive Michael O’Leary as saying following his visit to Kiev on Thursday.
It is indicated that after the end of hostilities and as soon as the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) announces the safety of flights from/to Ukraine, the airline is ready to operate up to 600 flights per week. In addition, Ryanair plans to open daily flights between Kiev, Lviv and Odessa as soon as the airports are ready.
Executive Director of Ryanair reminded that before the war, the airline served airports in Kharkiv and Kherson and intends to return to them as soon as their infrastructure is restored after the end of hostilities.
It is noted that the airline plans to reach more than 5 million passenger seats on its flights from/to Ukraine in the first 12 months of operation and intends to grow that number to 10 million seats within five years.
“The fastest way to reshape and rebuild the Ukrainian economy is through low-cost air travel. Ryanair intends to invest heavily in Ukraine, leading the aviation recovery. In particular, (the airline) will invest up to $3 billion by deploying up to 30 new Boeing MAX airplanes at Ukraine’s three main airports in Kiev, Lviv and Odessa,” said O’Leary.
Ryanair also recalled that it has employed hundreds of Ukrainian pilots, cabin crew and IT specialists and is ready to create thousands of new jobs for Ukrainians in aviation immediately after the end of the war.
“Ukraine is a country of 40 million people, many of whom have been scattered across Europe as a result of Russia’s illegal invasion. We look forward to reuniting these families, with Ryanair’s affordable fares, as soon as it is safe to do so. Ryanair’s low fares will be critical to Ukraine’s economic recovery,” O’Leary said.
During his visit to Kiev on Thursday, he met with Deputy Prime Minister – Minister of Community Development, Territories and Infrastructure of Ukraine Oleksandr Kubrakov, as well as representatives of airports in Kiev, Lviv and Odessa.
Kubrakov emphasized that maintaining the performance of aviation infrastructure and the professional qualifications of personnel remains a vital task in war conditions.
“Meanwhile, the resumption of flights will be possible as soon as the security situation allows. However, we are already working on solutions and investment plans that will allow us to get airplanes in the air quickly,” he said, expressing gratitude for specific proposals and solutions from Ryanair, “Ukraine’s faithful partner.”
Boryspil Airport CEO Oleksiy Dubrevskiy, who was recently approved by the government in this position, added that the visit of Ryanair’s top management to Boryspil Airport is a strong signal that Europe’s largest airline sees huge potential in the Ukrainian air transportation market.
“I firmly believe that Boryspil airport will remain the main air gateway for our citizens to return to Ukraine and will continue to play a leading role in the recovery of the Ukrainian economy,” Dubrevskyy said.
Three weeks before the full-scale invasion, O’Leary announced plans for a major expansion into Ukraine “if Russia does not attack” ahead of the Open Skies agreement with the EU coming into force. It was about the deployment of 15-20 airplanes in the country in five airports of the country.
In addition, Ryanair had time to announce 13 new routes from Ukraine in the summer schedule of 2022, under which the airline planned to fly from Ukraine on a total of 90 routes.
As reported, Ukraine completely closed its airspace to civilian aircraft on February 24, 2022.
In April this year, O’Leary said Ryanair was ready to quickly resume operations in Ukraine when it was safe to fly again, having opened 30 routes and built several bases in a year. “We could be flying there (to Ukraine) in about two weeks. We are actively looking for ways and looking for where we can get back to Ukraine,” O’Leary said at the time. He specified that the company employs about 60 Ukrainian pilots and about 80 crew members, who are mostly stationed at Ryanair bases in Poland waiting for the market to open.
Tobacco concern Philip Morris International reduced net profit and increased revenue in the second quarter of 2023, with adjusted profit and revenue exceeding market expectations.
At the same time, the company’s annual forecast was worse than analysts had expected.
According to the group’s press release, net income per share for the April-June quarter was $1.01, compared with $1.43 per share for the same period a year earlier. Operating profit fell 16% to $2.6 billion.
Adjusted earnings rose to $1.60 from $1.48 per share, with analysts forecasting $1.50.
Philip Morris’ quarterly revenue rose 14.5% to $8.97 billion, with analysts surveyed by FactSet on average forecasting revenue of $8.67 billion.
The company’s shipments rose 3.3% last quarter, with cigarette sales down 0.4% and sales of tobacco heating device sticks soaring 26.6%.
The number of Iqos e-cigarette users totaled 27.2 million at the end of June, up 1.4 million during the quarter, of which 19.4 million switched from regular cigarettes to Iqos, it said.
Philip Morris expects to record adjusted earnings in the range of $6.13 to $6.22 per share in 2023, compared with analysts’ forecast of $6.24 per share. The company expects total global shipments, excluding China, to decline 0.5-1.5% this year.
Philip Morris shares were stable in pre-market trading Thursday. The company’s capitalization is down 2.4% YTD to $152.66 billion.
Philip Morris was spun off from Altria in 2008 and is among the world’s largest tobacco manufacturers. It produces cigarettes at 39 facilities around the world and sells them in more than 180 markets. Its brand portfolio includes Marlboro, L&M, Chesterfield, Parliament, Bond Street and other brands. PMI also produces Iqos tobacco heating systems and tobacco sticks.
International chain JYSK on Thursday opened a new store in Sofia Mall (Kiev region, Sofievska Borschagovka, Heroes of Heavenly Sotnya Avenue, 24/83), the company’s press service told Interfax-Ukraine.
“JYSK is expanding the geography of stores in Ukraine. We see the demand for our goods both in cities with a million inhabitants and in satellite cities, which offer a new quality of life to residents of conurbations. We are happy to contribute to positive changes in the homes of our customers and to be useful at a convenient time and place”, – comments JYSK Country Director in Ukraine Eugene Ivanitsa.
The new store has an area of 1280 square meters, as well as an additional outside area for garden furniture exhibition of almost 100 square meters. meters.
Like all new JYSK stores, the store is built in accordance with the modern concept of the chain 3.0, with new lighting, spacious design and zonal placement of product categories.
Since the beginning of 2023, the JYSK chain has opened three new stores and revamped the operations of two existing stores. Two more new stores are expected to open before the end of summer – in Kamenskoye, Dnipro region, and in Drohobych, Lviv region, as well as the reorganization of one of Kyiv stores into a new format.
JYSK is part of the family-owned Lars Larsen Group, with more than 3.2 thousand stores in 48 countries. JYSK’s revenue in fiscal year 2021/22 amounted to EUR 4.87 bln.
Currently, there are 88 JYSK stores and online store jysk.ua in Ukraine. The company notes that this figure should increase to 100 already in 2024. JYSK has over 800 employees in Ukraine.
The logistics company Soul Marine LLC (Kyiv) will build a 20,000-tonne grain terminal in the port of Izmail (Odesa region) by the end of September, said Ivan Nyakyi, the company’s commercial director, who previously headed Crunchip and Danube Logistics Group, in an interview with Ports of Ukraine.
“At the first stage, we will have 20 thousand tons of one-time storage – four warehouses of 5 thousand tons each. We will have our own laboratory, scales, and everything we need to handle cargo,” he said.
According to Mr. Nikanyi, the necessary equipment has already been purchased.
“Unfortunately, we cannot build our own berth for a simple reason – there is no space. Therefore, we will work through other port operators, which will allow us to load vessels at different berths in Izmail,” he said, adding that preparatory work for the terminal construction has already been completed.
The Commercial Director also informed about the signed contract with the general contractor and the advance payment.
“The other day, the equipment arrived. The first stage of 10 thousand tons will be ready at the end of August, the second – in mid-September,” added Mr. Nikakyi.
It is noted that the company will employ about 10-12 administrative staff and about 30 people at the terminal in Izmail.
Mr. Nyakyi added that Soul Marine also plans to create its own platform for receiving and unloading railroad cars.
“The ability to accept not only vehicles but also railcars will be a great advantage. This is an expensive project, but it is very necessary. We are working on it now,” said the commercial director.
In addition, according to him, in October, Soul Marine plans to reach 60 thousand tons of transshipment through its warehouses, and by the end of the year – 100 thousand tons of transshipment per month. Separately, the company plans to ship 10 thousand tons of its cargo as a trader.
Mr. Nikanyi clarified that the project is being implemented at the expense of an investor who “provides financing and does not interfere with the company’s operations.” He did not name the investor, saying only that it was not related to the transportation or agricultural sectors.
According to the commercial director, Soul Marine’s team includes a technical director who built elevators on the Dnipro, and a corporate director in charge of investments and GR, and a potential terminal manager, forwarder, and agent have been selected.
According to Opendatabot, Soul Marine was registered on June 16, 2023, with a registered capital of UAH 0.5 million. The main activities are non-specialized wholesale trade, auxiliary water transport services, rental of transport and equipment, cultivation of cereals (except rice), legumes and oilseeds.
The company’s ultimate beneficial owner and founder is Mykhailo Kuranda.
