The Antimonopoly Committee of Ukraine (AMCU) has found Ukrspetspostavka LLC, Finance-Service Plus LLC and Glermont Trade LLC guilty of anticompetitive actions that distorted the results of the auction for the privatization of distilleries and fined them UAH 14.39 million.
According to the Committee’s press service, the auction was for the sale of certain property of the Zalozetsky alcohol production and storage site of the State Enterprise Ukrspyrt, which was conducted by the regional department of the State Property Fund of Ukraine in Ivano-Frankivsk, Chernivtsi and Ternopil regions. The amount of the contract concluded as a result of the auction was UAH 96.012 million (including VAT).
“During the investigation of the case, the Committee identified circumstances that, taken together, indicated that the above-mentioned business entities had committed concerted actions aimed at eliminating competition between them during the auction. In particular, this refers to such evidence as the defendants’ joint business activities, communication between them, exchange of information, etc.”, the AMCU explained.
The defendants were fined UAH 14,390,798 for the violation provided for in clause 4, part 2, article 6 and clause 1, article 50 of the Law “On Protection of Economic Competition” (anticompetitive concerted actions related to the distortion of auction results), as well as for collusion at the auction for the sale of state property.
In January-June 2023, the insurance company “Knyazha Life Insurance Group” (Kyiv) collected UAH 29.3 million of insurance payments, which is 6.66% more than in the same period a year earlier.
This was reported on the website of the rating agency Standard-Rating, which affirmed the company’s financial strength rating/credit rating at uaAA+ in the first half of 2023.
According to the report, the volume of payments and reimbursements of the insurer for six months amounted to UAH 19.636 million, which is 3.27 times higher than the volume of payments for the same period in 2022. Thus, the level of payments increased by 45.21 p.p. to 67.13%.
In the first six months of 2023, the company’s acquisition expenses decreased by 16.84% to UAH 4,347 million compared to the same period in 2022.
In the first six months of 2023, the insurer’s net profit increased to UAH 7.444 million, assets – by 4.06% to UAH 771.825 million, equity – by 8.49% to UAH 123.387 million, liabilities – by 3.26% to UAH 648.438 million, while cash and cash equivalents decreased by 97.49% to UAH 1.320 million.
As of the beginning of the second half of 2023, the equity of Prince Life Insurance Group covered 19.03% of liabilities, and 0.2% of the company’s liabilities were covered by cash and cash equivalents.
At the same time, the RA notes that as of July 1, 2023, the insurance company has formed a portfolio of financial investments in the amount of UAH 729.759 million, including bank deposits (UAH 156.7 million), investments in government bonds (UAH 573.059 million).
RA emphasizes that a high level of external support for the company is provided by its shareholder, the international insurance group headquartered in Austria, Vienna Insurance Group Wiener Städtische Versicherung AG, which is represented by 50 companies in 30 countries and is the leader in the insurance market of Central and Eastern Europe.
IMK Agroholding made $6.28 million in net profit in January-June 2023, which is 44.6% less than in the same period last year, and is largely due to higher logistics and distribution costs and cheaper agricultural products, the company said in a report on the Warsaw Stock Exchange on Thursday.
According to the report, the holding’s revenue increased by 61.6% to $71.95 million, including exports that increased by 41.2% to $58.9 million.
At the same time, the revaluation of biological assets and agro-products in January-June this year brought 23.8% less than in January-June last year – $23.11 million.
And while the increase in cost of sales was not as significant as revenue, as a result, gross profit increased by only 8.6% to $32.54 million.
Due to the growth of logistics and distribution costs 2.4 times (up to $13.24 mln), the operating profit decreased almost 2.1 times to $8.65 mln compared to the same period last year.
At the same time, the situation was partially offset by positive exchange rate differences of $0.60 mln in January-June this year against exchange rate losses of $2.55 mln in the same period last year.
Normalized EBITDA for the first half of the year amounted to $17.06 mln, which is 41% less than in the first half of last year, due to higher selling expenses and lower crop prices.
It is specified that the main revenue of IMC in the reporting period brought sales of 329.11 thousand tons of corn – $62.37 million and 40.42 thousand tons of wheat – $8.93 million.
Net cash flow from operating activities in the first half of 2023 amounted to $12.6 million, while it was negative $7.68 million in the first half of 2022.
Although the volume of investments decreased by 30% to $2.66 mln, due to a significant increase in outflows from financial operations the net cash flow was still negative – $1.81 mln, which is, however, many times better than in the first half of last year – $10.06 mln.
As of the end of June this year, IMC’s current liabilities fell to $57.22 million ($66.84 million a year earlier), while non-current liabilities fell to $117.87 million ($155.20 million).
The company’s free cash flow at mid-year was $23.05 million, compared with $24.86 million at the beginning of this year and $17.36 million a year ago.
IMK is an integrated group of companies operating in Sumy, Poltava and Chernihiv regions (north and center of Ukraine). It controls 120.3 thousand hectares (120.0 thousand hectares under cultivation). As of June 30, 2023, the group operated in two segments: crop production and grain elevators and warehouses.
The agroholding’s net loss in 2022 amounted to $1.1 mln vs. net income of $78.7 mln a year earlier, with revenue down 37.3% to $114 mln. EBITDA tripled to $36.2 mln.
In the first quarter of 2023, IMC had a net loss of $4.10 mln, which is 2.6 times less than in the same period last year. The holding’s revenue increased by 11% to $41.96 mln. EBITDA for the quarter was positive and amounted to $1.37 mln against negative $0.13 mln in the first quarter of last year due to sales growth and stabilization of the hryvnia.
In January-July 2023, TAS Insurance Group (Kyiv) attracted UAH 1839.71 million in insurance payments, which is 44.8% higher than the insurer’s revenues for the corresponding period last year, according to its website.
In particular, the company collected UAH 379.02 million of payments under hull insurance contracts, which is 20.6% of the total amount of premiums raised and 62.2% more than this figure for the first seven months of 2022, MOTPL – UAH 608.08 million (33.05%), an increase of 38.7%, Green Card – UAH 422.01 million (22.9%), an increase of 68.6%, and voluntary health insurance – UAH 79.4 million (9.75%), an increase of 14.7%.
During the reporting period, the company collected UAH 40.84 million in premiums under property insurance contracts, which is 38.1% more than in the previous year. Other contracts amounted to UAH 210.36 million of payments (+29.8%).
As reported, during the reporting period, the company paid UAH 700.16 million in insurance indemnities, or 38.9% more than in the corresponding period last year, according to the insurer’s website.
Payments under hull insurance contracts increased by 55.7% (compared to January-July 2022), to UAH 215.37 million, which is 30.76% of the total amount of payments of the insurer. Motor third party liability insurance increased by 28.5% to UAH 270.12 million (38.58%), Green Card – by 82.6% to UAH 117.73 million (16.81%), voluntary health insurance – by 10.3% to UAH 74.98 million (10.7%).
TAS Insurance Group paid out UAH 4.68 million in indemnities under property insurance contracts for the period under review. The company’s claims paid under other insurance contracts amounted to UAH 17.28 million over the seven months.
TAS Insurance Group was registered in 1998. It is a universal company offering more than 80 types of insurance products in various types of voluntary and compulsory insurance. It has an extensive regional network of 28 regional directorates and branches.
In January-June 2023, VUSO Insurance Company (Kyiv) collected UAH 1.188 billion in gross premiums, which is 79.8% more than in the same period of 2022, the rating agency Standard-Rating reported in information on the confirmation of the company’s financial strength rating at the level of “uaAA” on the national scale.
According to the information on the RA website, in particular, revenues from individuals increased by 65.08% to UAH 825.974 million, and from reinsurers – by 47.44% to UAH 12.863 million. Thus, the share of individuals in the insurer’s gross premiums in the first six months of 2023 amounted to 69.50%, and the share of reinsurers amounted to 1.08%.
Insurance payments sent to reinsurers in the first half of 2023 increased by 7.10% to UAH 93.399 million compared to the same period in 2022. Due to the higher growth rate of gross written premiums compared to insurance payments sent to reinsurers, the reinsurer participation ratio in insurance premiums decreased by 5.34 p.p. to 7.86%.
The company’s net written premiums increased by 90.89% to UAH 1.095 billion, and earned premiums – by 82.25% to UAH 1.031 billion.
VUSO paid UAH 438.689 million to its clients in the first half of 2023, which is 99.34% higher than the volume of insurance payments and reimbursements for the same period in 2022. Thus, the level of payments increased by 3.61 percentage points to 36.91%.
In the first six months of 2023, despite a negative result from operating activities of UAH 9.6 million, the company received a net profit of UAH 1.580 million.
As of the reporting date, the company’s assets increased by 52.38% to UAH 1.544 billion, equity showed an increase of 51.42% to UAH 575.652 million, liabilities increased by 52.95% to UAH 978.531 million, cash and cash equivalents increased by 4.60% to UAH 458.628 million.
The RA also notes that as of the beginning of the second half of 2023, the company has formed a portfolio of investments in domestic government bonds in the amount of UAH 163.740 million, which increased the level of provision of the insurer with liquid assets, which together covered 63.60% of the company’s liabilities.
In addition, the balance of funds in the insurer’s centralized insurance reserve funds (MTIBU) amounted to UAH 257.517 million, including UAH 192.244 million of additional guarantee premiums, which had a positive impact on the company’s liquidity.
VUSO Insurance Company was founded in 2001. The company holds 50 licenses: 34 – for voluntary and 16 – for compulsory types of insurance, and is represented in all regions of Ukraine. It is a member of MTIBU and USIF, a participant of the Direct Claims Settlement Agreement and a member of the Nuclear Insurance Pool.
Prices for nitrogen fertilizers rose significantly in August 2023, while nitrate went up, with production in August breaking the record for the last two years, Infoindustry analytical agency reported.
According to the report, the new prices on CPT-EXW terms for ammonium nitrate reached 20-20.4 thousand UAH/t, which is 1.5 thousand UAH more than July prices, urea – 24-24.4 thousand UAH/t (+500), UAN-32 – 17.5-17.9 thousand UAH/t (+1000), UAN – 16-16.4 thousand UAH/t (+1000).
“The previous prices were in effect throughout August, and traders expected the price increase from the beginning of the third decade. The signal for the price increase was the fact that Poland and Lithuania raised the price of nitrate by 50 €/t. At the same time, in August, nitrate was still being shipped by factories at prices of 17.5-18.5 thousand UAH/t, CPT, and the recommended prices in warehouses were at 18.5 thousand UAH/t including VAT in big bags,” analysts said, citing information from Ostchem.
