The Ministry of Community Development, Territories and Infrastructure (MCDI) has signed a protocol with the Norwegian Ministry of Transport on “transport visa-free travel”, which will allow cargo transportation without permits.
“Previously, Ukrainian cargo carriers, regardless of the class of environmental friendliness of vehicles, could travel to Norway only with a permit. Now for trucks of Euro-5 standard and above is introduced permit-free passage”, – are quoted in the message on the government portal the words of the Deputy head of the Ministry of transportation Sergey Derkach.
The simplified regime begins to operate on September 1 and will apply to both bilateral and transit traffic.
It is specified that this liberalization of freight traffic is introduced at least until June 30, 2024.
As for vehicles of low class of environmental friendliness, as noted by the Ministry of Transport, during the meeting it was possible to agree on permits for the next year. “Ukrainian carriers will be able to get 250 universal permits and 50 – from/to third countries,” the ministry said.
Ukrainian carriers have been able to work in the zheimme of “trnasportnaya bezviz” with the EU countries since last year. In June 2023, Ukraine agreed on the same regime for road freight transportation with Northern Macedonia.
Vodafone Ukraine, the second largest mobile operator in Ukraine, has announced that it has acquired a 90.6% stake in the authorized capital of Frinet LLC, which provides fixed-line Internet access services under the O3 brand, for UAH 746 million.
“The corresponding payment of UAH 746 million was made on the day of the Share Purchase Agreement. The transaction has been completed and registered in accordance with the current legislation,” the company said in its interim consolidated financial report published on its website on Tuesday.
The acquisition of Freenet LLC is part of the group’s strategy to develop converged services and tariffs.
The company also announced the payment of UAH 1.8 billion of outstanding debt to Telco Solutions and Investments LLC on August 9.
In addition, the company announced the payment of semi-annual interest to Eurobond holders in August in the amount of $12.4 million (UAH 453.3 million).
The text of the financial report emphasizes that as of June 30, 2023, Vodafone Ukraine was in compliance with all debt covenants. At the same time, the company remains concerned about the moratorium on cross-border currency payments, which may cause difficulties with the repayment of $400 million of Eurobonds in February 2025. In this regard, the company’s management is considering several options in case the moratorium remains in force, including refinancing with financial institutions, negotiations on changing the terms of the bonds with the Eurobond holders, and the introduction of additional measures to manage and control outflows to maximize debt repayment costs.
Earlier, VF Ukraine (Vodafone Ukraine) announced the completion of the acquisition of Frinet LLC, a national broadband Internet access operator providing services in Kyiv, Dnipropetrovs’k, Zhytomyr, Zaporizhzhya, Ivano-Frankivsk, Lviv, Kyiv, Rivne, Khmelnytsky and Chernihiv regions with 163 thousand subscribers.
The company has been operating in the market since 2008 and builds its networks using FTTx and GPON technology with 10 and 40 gigabit fiber optic trunks and modern managed equipment from leading manufacturers, which allows it to provide subscribers with Internet access channels with speeds up to 1 Gbps.
“Vodafone Ukraine provides 3G and 4G high-speed Internet and fixed-line services, mobile communications, and develops the Internet of Things (IoT), technologies and solutions for Smart City, big data analysis, financial and technological services, and cloud services. Since 2019, the company has been part of the NEQSOL Holding group of companies owned by businessman Nasib Hasanov.
NEQSOL Holding operates in the oil and gas, telecommunications, construction, and other high-tech sectors in the UK, USA, Turkey, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, UAE, and Bangladesh. The group entered the telecommunications industry in the early 2000s.
On Wednesday, the share price of Astarta, Ukraine’s largest sugar producer, rose by 4.55% to PLN34.5 per share ($8.43 at the current exchange rate) on the Warsaw Stock Exchange after the publication of its half-year report with good financial results.
According to the stock exchange’s website, after closing the day before at PLN33 and the report published in the evening, trading on Wednesday started at PLN35 and reached PLN36 in the first minutes, but within an hour it corrected to PLN33.3, after which it gradually grew without such swings.
According to the report, in the first half of 2023, Astarta earned EUR54.73 million in net profit, up 97.4% compared to the first half of 2022, with revenue up 31.6% to EUR287.25 million and EBITDA up 42.7% to EUR97.25 million.
Net financial debt decreased from EUR43 million to EUR19 million over the half-year after repayment of bank debt, and net debt decreased from EUR152 million to EUR130 million.
A total of 329 deals were made on the day for almost PLN1.23 million. The rate corresponds to a capitalization of PLN862.5 million.
As for Kernel, where minority shareholders are awaiting the results of the additional issue for fear of dilution of their stake, their share price on Wednesday fell by only 0.1%, which was enough to drop below the PLN11 level to PLN10.99 per share for the first time in the company’s history.
Ports of the Danube cluster on August 1-15, 2023 shipped 1.75 million tons of agro-products, said the head of the Odessa Regional Military Administration Oleg Kiper.
“Ports of the Danube cluster for the first 15 days of August this year shipped 1 million 750 thousand tons of agro-products, and in July – more than 2 million tons,” he wrote in his Telegram channel.
According to his information, in the regional breakdown, Odessa region took the 4th place with a share in the total volume of exports of goods in 5.6%.
“In the commodity structure of exports the largest volume was: cereal crops (52.8%), fats and oils of animal or vegetable origin (15.6%), finished food products (5.1%),” – specified Kiper.
It is noted that in January-June 2023 the enterprises of Odessa region carried out trade operations with partners from 166 countries of the world. Export of goods in monetary terms exceeded $1 bln.
On September 14, leading HR professionals from Kyivstar, OKKO, Kernel, MHP, and other large companies will provide tools for hiring, retaining, and developing talent in times of war at the HR Wisdom Summit at DTEK Academy.
Among the speakers:
Roman Bondar, Executive Director of Korn Ferry Ukraine,
Oleksandr Borniakov, Deputy Minister of Digital Transformation of Ukraine, project manager of Diia.City,
Sergiy Koshil, Human Resources Director at Favbet,
Natalia Teryakhina, Head of HR at Kernel,
Viktor Marchenko, Head of Performance and Remuneration at Raiffeisen Bank,
Evgeniya Kuzminska, HRD at OKKO,
Vadym Skrypnyk, Director of Agricultural Production at Astarta,
Alla Sorokolietova, Director of Quality Assurance, Pharmacovigilance, Regulatory and International Medical Affairs at Asino in Ukraine and the CIS,
Yulia Titurenko, Head of Human Resources at Pivdenny Bank,
Galina Karavaeva, HRD of VIDI Group of Companies,
Andriy Kobolyev, Chairman of the Board of Naftogaz of Ukraine in 2014-2021,
Oleksandr Kucherenko, Member of the Supervisory Board of DTEK Academy, Director of DTEK Group B.V,
Natalia Volnyanska, HRD at Starlight Media,
Tatiana Petruk, Director of Sustainable Development and Employee Engagement at Metinvest Group.
and more than 5 other experts from large companies.
You will learn about:
Return to corporate life and adaptation of female and male veterans.
Global trends and new realities in the human capital market in Ukraine.
The main professions after the victory.
Changes in team motivation and what is really important for an employee today.
Using innovations in HR.
Keeping the team together during relocation.
In addition to the speakers’ presentations, HR Wisdom Summit will feature three panel discussions on the future of corporate initiatives, innovations in HR, and veterans’ re-socialization.
DTEK Academy will be the meeting place for the active HR community of Ukraine. Participants will be able to communicate with leading HR professionals on the sidelines and make useful contacts among 200+ colleagues!
HR Wisdom Summit will be useful for:
top managers of companies, HRD, PR directors who want to strengthen leadership in wartime and face challenges with a strong team;
CEOs who want to build an effective HR strategy and strengthen their employer brand;
HR professionals who want to get all the key trends and tools of the year in one day.
Event details, program and tickets at a special price are available on the website: https://hrws.delo.ua/
Join HR Wisdom Summit to develop your main business asset – your team!
The general partner is Favbet.
Commissioning of housing in Ukraine in January-June 2023 increased by 1.4 times compared to the same period of 2022 – up to 3 million 593.1 thousand square meters, the State Statistics Service reported.
According to the report, 2 million 25.6 thousand square meters of housing (56.3% of the total volume) have been commissioned in cities since the beginning of the year, which is a quarter more than last year’s figure, while in rural areas – 1 million 567.5 thousand square meters, which is almost twice as much as in the first half of 2022.
Overall, 44.2 thousand apartments were commissioned during the reporting period, which is 61% more than in January-June 2022. At the same time, 26.4 thousand apartments were commissioned in cities, which is 25% more than last year, in villages – 17.7 thousand apartments, which is 2.5 times more than in the same period of 2022.
According to the State Statistics Committee, 9.9 thousand apartments were commissioned in single-family houses, 36.2 thousand – in apartment buildings.
According to the results of the first half of the year, the most housing was commissioned in Kyiv region (594.3 thousand square meters, 16.5% of the total volume), Kyiv (544.1 thousand square meters), Vinnytsia region (459.2 thousand square meters), Lviv region (340 thousand square meters), Ivano-Frankivsk region (246.7 thousand square meters) and Zakarpattya region (176.3 thousand square meters).
According to statistical data, the growth of housing commissioning was recorded in all regions of Ukraine, except for three regions. Thus, in Poltava region commissioned 69.9 thousand square meters, which is 41.2% less than in January-June 2022, in Chernihiv region – 20.4 thousand square meters (-39%) and Zhytomyr region – 52.5 thousand square meters of housing (-11.2%).
The data are given taking into account the housing commissioned in accordance with the temporary order of acceptance into operation of houses built without a permit for construction works, reminds the State Statistics Committee. Also, the information is given without taking into account the territories temporarily occupied by the Russian Federation and part of the territories where hostilities are (were) conducted.
As reported, commissioning of housing in Ukraine in 2022 decreased by 37.8% compared to 2021 – to 7 million 110.2 thousand square meters. m
