League of Insurance Organizations of Ukraine (LIOU) has accepted IC “ROM Ukraine” and IC “ROM Ukraine Life Insurance” (both – Kiev) into the association on July 13.
According to the Chairman of the Board of ROM Ukraine Jacek Matusiak, the group “ROM Ukraine” takes an active position in the market and never remains indifferent to the problems arising both in the insurance industry and in the economy of the country as a whole. This is what prompted the group to join LSOU in order to work together with like-minded companies to improve insurance legislation, to implement the best European business practices, especially in terms of transparency, ethics and responsibility for obligations to customers.
“Our group is interested in remaining an important and active player in the Ukrainian insurance market in the long term. Therefore, within a unified structure we count on effective partnership cooperation with the achievement of all strategic goals,” – he said.
As noted, the president of LSOU Victor Berlin, among its main priorities of the League – business protection, search for new opportunities for the development of insurers, as well as the unification of the insurance market of Ukraine for the sake of sustainable development.
“I am sure that such synergy of experience of Ukrainian and Polish colleagues will significantly expand our opportunities and will help us together with the recovery of Ukraine to start more intensive development of the national insurance market”, – emphasized the head of LSOU.
As “Interfax-Ukraine” was informed in the press service of “ROM Ukraine”, it was also decided to withdraw the companies from the National Association of Insurers of Ukraine, of which they are members since January 2021.
PJSC Insurance Company “ROM Ukraine” in 2022 collected UAH 1.280 billion of gross premiums, net premiums of the company increased last year by 6.76% – to UAH 1.172 billion, and earned premiums – by 13.38%, to UAH 1.110 billion. The volume of payments and compensations made by the insurer for the specified reporting period has amounted to UAH 575,537 mln.
Assets of the company on December 31, 2022 have decreased by 14,93% – to UAH 2,425 billion, shareholders’ equity has increased by 3,43% – to UAH 853,817 million, liabilities have decreased by 22,41% – to UAH 1,571 billion, cash and cash equivalents have increased in 3,34 times – to UAH 364,458 million.
IC “ROM Ukraine Life Insurance” has finished 2022 with net premiums in the amount of UAH 396,5 mln. Payouts amounted to UAH 45,4 mln, assets – UAH 1,872 bln, reserves – UAH 1,419 bln, net loss – UAH 17,4 mln.
PJSC IC PZU Ukraine and IC PZU Ukraine Life Insurance are subsidiaries of PZU S.A., part of the largest insurance group of Central and Eastern Europe – PZU Group (Poland).
Number of vacancies as of 01.05.2023 (in thousands)
Source: Open4Business.com.ua and experts.news
Synevo Medical Laboratory has modernized its laboratory in Dnipro, increasing its capacity by 20%.
According to the press release of Synevo, within the framework of modernization in the laboratory a diagnostic platform Cobas Pure from Roche Diagnostics (Switzerland) was installed, which is capable of performing 230 types of biochemical analyses at a rate of up to 870 tests per hour.
As a result of the upgrade, the total throughput capacity of bio/immunoassay analyzers in Dnipro will be 5,270 tests per hour.
“The capacity of the laboratory allows to qualitatively and quickly meet the demand of customers from the eastern and central regions of the country. Today this is a super-important task, as the work of the Synevo laboratory in Kharkov was suspended for security reasons, which significantly increased the load on the Dnipro laboratory of the company,” the press release emphasizes.
In general, thanks to the expansion of the analyzer base, the laboratory of Synevo in Dnipro can now perform 20% more tests of biochemical group (e.g. liver tests, kidney tests and others), electrolytes, as well as immunochemical group (e.g. thyroid hormones, reproductive panel, prenatal diagnostics, etc.).
“Synevo Ukraine” (Synevo Ukraine) is the largest network in Ukraine with 317 laboratory centers, seven laboratories (in Kiev, Lviv, Chernivtsi, Vinnitsa, Odessa, Kherson and Dnipro) and more than 1800 employees in 13 countries. The capacity of the network is more than 800 types of testing, annually serving about 4 million customers, performing more than 15.8 million tests. It is part of Medicover, a leading international healthcare and diagnostic services company.
Synevo International Laboratory Network (Synevo) is present in 10 European countries, with laboratories in Germany, Poland, Romania, Turkey, Georgia, Moldova, Bulgaria, Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina.
In 2017, Synevo Ukraine as part of Medicover was listed on Nasdaq (Stockholm), becoming the first and only medical company in Ukraine to carry out an IPO.
Businesses expect business activity to grow in the next 12 months for the first time since the start of the full-scale war: the business expectations index (BII) rose to 104.5% in the second quarter from 91.2% in the first quarter, the National Bank of Ukraine (NBU) said.
“Against the backdrop of the restoration of the energy system, gradual revival of domestic demand and strengthening of the hryvnia, respondents expect growth in the production of goods and services, and are positive about the development of their own enterprises. At the same time, inflation and exchange rate expectations have improved,” the NBU said in a press release on Monday.
It specified that the improvement of assessments occurred at enterprises of all types of economic activities (VED), as well as for all components of the index.
In particular, business forecasts a rapid growth in the production of goods and services in Ukraine in the coming year: the balance of responses amounted to 17.3% against “minus” 16.7% in the first quarter. Growth is expected by enterprises of all areas and types of economic activity, sizes by number of employees and most areas.
Inflation expectations continued to improve: in the second quarter of 2023, expected annual inflation amounted to 15.7%, compared to 20.7% in the previous quarter. According to the survey, 46.6% of businesses surveyed believe that inflation, which fell to 12.8% at the end of June, will not exceed 15.3% in the next 12 months. According to 88.4% of respondents, military actions remain the most significant pro-inflationary factor.
In addition, the National Bank pointed out that the influence of the “exchange rate factor” and “production costs” has somewhat weakened. The new average value of the exchange rate, which respondents expect in 12 months, is UAH 40.43/$1 against UAH 42.18/$1 a quarter earlier. Moreover, the share of respondents expecting the hryvnia exchange rate to remain at UAH 40.00/$1 in the next year increased from 19.7% to 44.3%.
At the same time, the respondents’ assessment of their own current financial and economic situation, although improved, remains negative: the balance of answers amounted to “minus” 11.1% compared to “minus” 16.9% in the first quarter. The situation worsened at construction enterprises, no improvement was reported by energy and water supply enterprises, and a slight improvement was reported by the extractive industry.
However, for the first time in five quarters, the expectations of enterprises regarding the dynamics of their financial and economic condition became positive: the balance of responses became positive – 9.6% against “minus” 2.5% in the first quarter. Improvement is expected by enterprises of all areas of activity and size in terms of the number of employees, most areas and types of activities, the NBU said.
It added that the survey participants have significantly strengthened expectations of increased sales of products, including in the foreign market: the respective balances of responses rose to 14.5% and 10.9% from 2.8% and 2.0% in the first quarter.
Respondents of all types of economic activities expect growth in total sales volumes, but most of all – in construction, processing industry and trade (balance of answers 30.0%, 21.6% and 21.0%, respectively), the National Bank said.
The enterprises of Sumy, Kirovograd and Odessa regions expect a decrease in production, while in Rivne, Ternopil and Khmelnitsky regions the estimates remained the same.
According to its data, against the background of weakening expectations of enterprises regarding the need for borrowed funds in the near future, the share of respondents planning to take bank loans decreased to 30.0% from 35.4% in the first. As before, enterprises that plan to take loans prefer loans in the national currency – 79.2% against 79.7% a quarter earlier.
High interest rates remain a significant obstacle to attracting new loans – 49.7% of responses. At the same time, the influence of the factor “availability of other sources of financing” increased by 5.5 percentage points to 42.0%. The share of companies planning to raise funds abroad remained almost unchanged at 7.3% compared to 7.4% in the previous quarter.
The National Bank noted that for the first time in five quarters, companies provided positive estimates of changes in the level of investment expenditures on machinery, equipment and inventory: the balance of responses improved to 4.5% from “minus” 10.3% in the first quarter. At the same time, pessimistic assessments regarding investment expenditures on construction works significantly weakened: the balance of responses rose to “minus” 2.3% from “minus” 17.8% in the first quarter.
It is indicated that the expectations of enterprises attracting foreign investments with regard to their increase in the nearest year continued to improve: the balance of answers reached 15.3% from 11.0% in the first quarter. The highest expectations are among enterprises of transportation and communications, as well as construction. The share of respondents who plan to attract foreign investment in the next 12 months now stands at 23.1%, up from 21.3% a quarter earlier.
Respondents significantly weakened their forecasts for the reduction of the number of employees at their enterprises in the coming year: the balance of responses improved to “minus” 3.8% from “minus” 16.4% in the first quarter. Respondents of construction and trade enterprises now expect an increase in the number of employees, while negative assessments still prevail in the sphere of transportation and communications, processing industry.
As noted by the National Bank, the survey participants expect an increase in future labor costs per employee: the balance of responses rose to 44.6% from 35.3% in the first quarter.
It is specified that the quarterly survey was conducted in May this year, it was attended by 660 enterprises from 21 regions of the country. Among the respondents 20.9% – wholesale and retail trade companies, 18.2% – processing industry, 13.9% – agriculture, 13?8% – transportation and communications, 7?3% – mining, 5.2% – energy and water supply, 3.0% – construction, 17.7% – others; 32.4% of respondents – large enterprises, 37.4% – medium, 30.2% – small.
IDO – aggregate indicator of expected development of enterprises in the next 12 months. It is calculated based on the results of surveys of enterprises as the arithmetic mean of balances of answers regarding financial and economic condition of enterprises, total sales of own production, investment expenditures on construction works, investment expenditures on machinery, equipment and inventory, number of employees. The index value over 100 means the advantage of positive economic sentiments in the society, below 100 – negative economic sentiments.
LLC “Cardboard and Paper Company” (Lviv), a major Ukrainian manufacturer of cardboard sleeves and sanitary products, in January-June 2023 increased its output by 27.4% to UAH 638.79 mln. in comparison with the same period of 2022.
According to the statistical data of UkrPapir Association provided to Interfax-Ukraine, in physical terms the company increased the output of cardboard products by 2.3% – up to 13.1 thousand tons, paper-base for sanitary-hygienic products by 4.2% – up to 3.6 thousand tons. At the same time, the output of toilet paper in rolls increased by 35.3%, amounting to 2.8 million pieces.
Meanwhile, in June, the company reduced the output of paper and cardboard by almost 16% compared to the same month last year – to 2.53 thousand tons, which is also 29.5% less than in May this year.
“Cardboard and paper company” produces products and semi-finished products from waste paperboard (cardboard sheets, corners, sleeves), pulp and recycled waste paper (toilet paper, towels, napkins TM Papero). The company supplies its products to EU countries, among others.
Among its customers are Biosphere, Arterium, Nestle, Hlebprom, and Yarich.
As reported, in 2022, the factory, without suspending work during the year, increased the volume of marketable products by 51.5% compared to 2021 – up to 1 billion 186 million UAH. Net profit tripled to UAH 263.7 mln.
Number of unemployed people registered in public employment service as of 01.05.2023 (in thousands)
Source: Open4Business.com.ua and experts.news
