Business news from Ukraine

Business news from Ukraine

OTP LEASING BOUGHT AGRICULTURAL MACHINERY FOR UAH 100 MILLION SINCE BEGINNING OF WAR

OTP Leasing LLC, the largest player in the market, has already purchased agricultural equipment worth UAH 100 million since the beginning of the war and intends to increase purchases to UAH 1 billion this spring, Andriy Pavlushin, CEO of the leasing company, said.
“The vast majority of customers paid their monthly payments even in these terrible 50 days of war,” he wrote on his Facebook page.
Pavlushin added that the company also helped the Ukrainian army for UAH 58 million in cars, trucks and money, and continues to do so.
On April 6, the CEO announced that after a 41-day break, OTP-Leasing again began financing existing proven agricultural clients of medium and small businesses, “those clients who paid invoices for March on time.”
Pavlushin then indicated that he had bought tractors and seeders for UAH 70 million during the week.
OOO “OTP Leasing” is a part of the European financial group OTP Group. The company was founded in June 2008 as a subsidiary of OTP Bank. Currently, according to the CEO, the company has 2,000 customers and 170 employees.
The company’s revenue for 9 months of 2021 decreased by 44.2% – to UAH 99.71 million, while net profit almost doubled – by 95.7%, to UAH 463.3 million, and assets increased by 31.5% – up to UAH 15.11 billion, including long-term receivables – by 29.2%, up to UAH 14 billion.

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STARLINK PLANS TO OPEN REPRESENTATIVE OFFICE IN UKRAINE

The global satellite system for Internet access Starlink plans to open a representative office in Ukraine, Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Digital Transformation Mykhailo Fedorov said on Tuesday.
“Now, Ukraine is almost impossible to imagine without modern Starlink technology. And this technology will become even more accessible to Ukrainians. After all, today we received another positive news: Starlink has begun work on opening a representative office in Ukraine,” he wrote on his Telegram channel.
Fedorov also said that, for his part, he instructed the relevant authorities to complete the necessary procedures for certification, measurements and the provision of frequencies as soon as possible.
According to Fedorov, today, more than 10,000 Starlink stations help the Armed Forces of Ukraine to stay in touch and carry out special operations, support the operation of critical energy and telecommunications facilities, healthcare facilities and even the sowing season, and also return de-occupied territories to life.

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EXMO CRYPTOCURRENCY EXCHANGE SELLS PART OF DIGITAL ASSETS BUSINESS IN RUSSIA AND OTHER COUNTRIES

The EXMO cryptocurrency exchange has sold part of its digital assets business in Russia, Belarus and Kazakhstan, the exchange said on Tuesday.
According to the exchange, EXMO announced the transfer of part of the business to Russian owners and the termination of work with the markets of Russia, Belarus and Kazakhstan, after Russia invaded the territory of Ukraine and started a full-scale war.
The company said that this was done in order to continue to fulfill obligations to customers and stakeholders, as well as to ensure a high level of protection and security.
“It’s been a tough decision for us, since we have spent over eight years building a strong community of crypto enthusiasts throughout the world, adhering to the highest compliance practices and delivering outstanding services to all our clients wherever they lived. However, following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, EXMO.com as a global group wishes to avoid risking our global expansion plans by operating in such high risk markets,” CEO of the crypto exchange Serhiy Zhdanov said, commenting on the situation.
Kazakhstan clients were also included as a part of the deal, since a new team is based in Kazakhstan. The new owner of the Russian, Belarusian and Kazakh digital assets exchange business is the owner of a Russian based software development company, which was one of the vendors to provide engineering services to EXMO during the last three years.
EXMO.com user agreement was recently amended to state that Russian, Belarusian and Kazakh residents are no longer being onboarded. Russian Rubles pairs were disabled since April 15, 2022 on EXMO.com.
Earlier, the EXMO cryptocurrency exchange created the Save Ukraine Relief Fund to raise funds to help Ukrainian citizens affected by the war.
EXMO’s own contribution amounted to $1 million and has so far collected $594,000 through crypto contributions from exchange users.
EXMO is an international cryptocurrency exchange founded in 2014. The platform provides cryptocurrency trading and storage opportunities for more than 2 million traders from all over the world.

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POLISH PRIME MINISTER OPENS CONTAINER TOWN FOR 300-350 INTERNALLY DISPLACED PERSONS IN UKRAINE

During his visit to Lviv, Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki opened a container town for 300-350 internally displaced persons (IDPs) in Ukraine and announced the construction of similar towns around Kyiv.
“We are doing everything to protect Ukrainian children and women. There will be more such towns, 300-350 people find shelter here. There will be 5,000 people in Lviv. Our envoys are going to cities around Kyiv and will construct the same towns,” the Office of the Polish Prime Minister said, citing Morawiecki on Twitter page on Tuesday.
In addition, the prime minister urged the European Commission to launch a solidarity fund for Ukraine. “I appeal to the European Commission to make the solidarity fund for Ukraine work and to have new money. There is nothing to wait. We cannot allow more crimes to be committed. Today, the sanctions should be as tough as possible,” Morawiecki said.
He said that wherever he met with the leaders, he points to the need for the most severe sanctions. “This is the lowest price we can pay to regain our freedom. I call on European leaders to abandon calculators and turn to their conscience,” the Polish prime minister said.
According to Morawiecki, already 10 million people in Ukraine have been forced to leave their homes, of which 2.5 million people live in Poland, but 6 million are inside Ukraine.

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TOTAL LOSSES OF GLOBAL REINSURERS AS RESULT OF WAR IN UKRAINE ARE ESTIMATED FROM EUR15 BLN TO EUR30 BLN

The French reinsurer SCOR tentatively estimates the volume of compensation as a result of Russia’s military attack on Ukraine at “a high double-digit figure in millions of euros”, while warning that the company could end the first quarter of 2022 with a loss.
As reported on the website of the reinsurer, SCOR became the first of the global reinsurers to publish information about how much the war in Ukraine could cost their business.
It is also noted that the total losses of the industry as a result of this war will be equivalent to a catastrophic event of a medium scale (from EUR15 billion to EUR30 billion). But given that hostilities affect insurance payouts, and given the considerable uncertainty as hostilities continue, it is now very difficult to give an accurate estimate, SCOR said.
By announcing early first quarter results, SCOR definitely wants to give shareholders and the market a picture of what to expect. SCOR’s strategy is to reserve funds “as large as possible as early as possible”.
The company is closely following the course of events in Ukraine, which makes it possible to adequately assess the potential impact of the aggressor’s military actions and international sanctions against Russia on global reinsurance.
SCOR emphasizes that its subsidiary in Russia has suspended the signing of new reinsurance contracts.
The company emphasizes that payments are expected under political risk, credit risk and aviation insurance reinsurance contracts.
The reinsurer noted that these payments will be attached to other payments in the first quarter of 2022, in particular for damage due to natural disasters (including floods in Australia, European snowstorms, drought in Brazil) and the continuation of the Covid-19 pandemic in the United States.
“Such situations will negatively affect the combined ratio for P&C insurance (property insurance), as well as the technical result of life and medical insurance. This is expected to lead to losses for the quarter,” the company notes.
SCOR also stated that the company is well capitalized and has a strong solvency ratio.

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GAZPROM DID NOT BOOK TRANSIT THROUGH POLAND FOR MAY – ANALYSIS

Gazprom did not choose the capacity of the Polish section of the Yamal-Europe gas pipeline during the gas transmission capacity booking session for May, according to auction data on the GSA Platform booking platform.
89 million cubic meters were offered at the auction. m per day – all these capacities were not booked.
The Yamal-Europe gas pipeline, over 2,000 km long, can pump up to 33 billion cubic meters. m per year. The Polish 683 km section is owned by the EuRoPol Gaz joint venture and operated by the national gas transmission operator Gaz-System.
Gazprom’s long-term contract for transit through this country ended two years ago. Since then, its capacity has been allocated based on auction bookings.
At present Gazprom does not use the capacities of Yamal-Europe for deliveries to Germany. The pipeline transports Russian gas to Poland. Also, through it, the republic receives small volumes of this energy resource from Germany in reverse.
The gas transmission system operator of Ukraine did not offer additional capacities for the transit of Russian gas. In previous months, a solid capacity of 15 million cubic meters was set. m per day with the entrance through the gas measuring stations (GIS) “Sudzha” and “Sokhranovka”. For several months in a row, Gazprom did not book these capacities at auctions.
The Russian concern has a long-term reservation of Ukrainian capacities in the amount of 40 billion cubic meters. m is 109 million cubic meters. m per day.

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