Metinvest B.V. (the Netherlands), the parent company of an international vertically integrated mining and metallurgical group of companies, continues to fulfill its debt obligations, including to bondholders, despite the war in Ukraine.
“At the moment, despite the war, Metinvest Group continues to fully service its debt portfolio, including issued bonds,” the company’s press service told Interfax-Ukraine in response to a corresponding request.
Earlier, the company’s information for bondholders, published on the EURONEXT exchange in Dublin on July 29 this year, provided details about the current situation in the company. In particular, they talked about the consequences for the group of the Russian military invasion of Ukraine, which adversely affected Metinvest’s business and its performance.
At the same time, it was noted that the group’s assets in Mariupol, including the production facilities of Azovstal and Illich steel mill suffered from the fighting, and the Russian armed forces temporarily occupied the city. Until the active phase of Russian military aggression ends and reliable communication channels with the metallurgical plants in Mariupol are restored, it is impossible to establish and assess the impact of military operations on them.
“However, given the ongoing occupation of Mariupol, the Board of Directors today designated Azovstal and Illich Iron and Steel Works as its unrestricted subsidiaries for each bond series,” the company’s notice states.
In addition, it is specified that after Azovstal and Illich steel mill were recognized as unrestricted subsidiaries, they are automatically and unconditionally released from their bond guarantees. At the same time, according to the terms of the bonds, the company is not obliged to contribute other subsidiaries as additional security for the bond guarantee, the notice emphasizes.
The departure of three dry cargo ships with grain and food from Ukrainian ports is scheduled for August 5, Minister of National Defense Hulusi Akar said, Turkish Anadolu agency reports.
According to the agency, Akar held separate talks with Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksiy Reznikov and Infrastructure Minister Oleksandr Kubrakov. The issues of grain transportation were discussed at the talks.
In addition, the vessel is also expected to be checked and sent from Istanbul for loading in Ukraine, the Turkish Defense Minister said.
The Ukrainian authorities have not yet announced the departure of the courts on August 5.
On July 22, in Istanbul, with the participation of the UN, Ukraine, Russia and Turkey, two documents were signed on the creation of a corridor for the export of grain from three Ukrainian ports – Chornomorsk, Odessa, Pivdenny.
On August 1, the vessel Razoni with 27 thousand tons of corn left the port of Odessa under the flag of Sierra Leone and is heading for Lebanon.
President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky called Russia’s war against Ukraine “colonial”.
“Russia is a colonialist who wants to destroy our state,” he said, speaking to representatives of the African media.
He urged journalists “to convey to every family on the African continent that we are peace-loving people. We are not different from you. We have the same values.”
Zelensky noted that Russia invests in the African continent less than 1% of all investments in Africa. “This is their faith in the future of the African continent. Russia does not invest in you. It invests politically. They say that they are the heirs of the USSR,” he said.
Zelensky stressed that Ukraine is ready to guarantee the food security of the African continent.
Ovostar Union Agro-Industrial Group, one of the leading producers of eggs and egg products in Ukraine, will not pay dividends for 2021, and will use retained earnings for the year in the amount of $1.65 million to replenish working capital.
The company’s shareholders approved the corresponding decision at the annual meeting on August 3, Ovostar said at the Warsaw Stock Exchange on Thursday.
In addition, the shareholders decided to limit the total remuneration paid to top management in 2022 at the level of EUR500 thousand.
The Ovostar Union group of companies is a vertically integrated public holding company, one of the leading producers of chicken eggs and egg products in Europe. It has been a certified exporter to EU countries since 2015.
The holding company of the group is Ovostar Union N.V. – in mid-June 2011, it conducted an IPO of 25% of the shares on the Warsaw Stock Exchange and raised $33.2 million. The majority stake in the company is owned by Prime One Capital Limited, which is controlled by its CEO Boris Belikov and Chairman of the Board of Directors Vitaly Veresenko.
At the end of 2021, Ovostar received $1.65 million in net profit, which is 38% less compared to 2020. EBITDA decreased by 29% to $5.7 million, while revenue increased by 35% to $133.3 million.
Minister of Social Policy Oksana Zholnovich hopes that it will be possible to avoid dual residency for Ukrainian citizens abroad.
“There are risks, but I think that it will be possible to avoid dual residency. During the last conversation, when we had the Minister of Social Policy and Labor of Germany, I asked him this question. In particular, that we have problems, since Germany is very many of our people who continue to work in Ukraine remotely or as FOPs and pay taxes here, and is there a need for them to register? He could not answer, because this is also a challenge for them. This is a new tool that has yet to be developed in Europe” , – Zholnovich said in an exclusive interview with Interfax-Ukraine, commenting on the situation with negotiations with international partners regarding tax residency for Ukrainian citizens abroad.
As for the prospect of introducing general pension payments for displaced Ukrainians who received the status of temporary protection and worked in the countries of the European Union, the minister said that this can only be under bilateral agreements that Ukraine has already signed on the mutual recognition of insurance experience.
Answering a clarifying question whether any new global projects on this topic are being considered in connection with the current circumstances, Zholnovich noted that Ukraine is in the process of European integration, and there are relevant EU directives that allow something like this.
“But this will be a movement in both directions. That is, if we conclude an agreement that our citizens working in Poland are counted for insurance experience, then we must also credit and pay pensions to Poles working in Ukraine. This is painstaking work, which involves the synchronization of two pension systems of each individual country. Obviously, it will continue, but we must also take into account our economic situation. If the Ukrainian pension in the UK is very easy to pay, then the UK pension in Ukraine is not quite,” she stated.
ABROAD, dual residence, Minister Social Policy, UKRAINIAN CITIZENS
The French Quantel medical, with the assistance of the Ukrainian Embassy in France, donated it to the Institute of Eye Diseases and Tissue Therapy named after Filatov (Odessa) as a humanitarian aid a new probe (sensor) for the Aviso apparatus for ultrasonic biomicroscopy of the anterior eye.
As Interfax-Ukraine was informed at the clinic, up to 5,000 patients need to be examined on the Aviso device annually, in particular, to detect and monitor the state of intraocular tumors and neoplasms of the conjunctiva of the eye.
In addition, the need for probe-assisted examination increases during the war for patients with trauma, foreign bodies in the anterior part of the eye, chemical and thermal burns.
In the spring of this year, the institute had an urgent need for a new sensor, since the existing one actually failed. The sensor for each device is made individually.
During the war, the clinic was not able to update the equipment on its own, in particular, due to funding limitations, the lack of a sensor in Ukraine, disruption of supply chains and delivery difficulties.
“Administration, doctors and patients of the clinic of the Institute of Eye Diseases and Tissue Therapy named after Filatov wholeheartedly express their gratitude to the General Director of Quantel medical, Mr. Jean-Marc GENDRE / Jean-Marc GENDRE and the company’s employees for the provided humanitarian assistance and the Embassy of Ukraine in France for their invaluable help and support,” the clinic emphasized.
