Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is not in favor of hasty and ill-conceived retrospective amendments to legislation that worsen the condition for doing business in the country, the head of state said at a briefing in Vilnius on Wednesday after a meeting with Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda.
“I want to confirm once again: my team and I will not take any hasty and ill-conceived steps related to retrospective changes in our legislation that would worsen the conditions for doing business in the country,” Zelensky said.
“We respect any investor who already works in our country. This applies to everyone, regardless of sector and business, from a restaurant to the green energy sector,” the president added.
He said that the second Lithuanian solar power plant was opened in Ivano-Frankivsk region on Wednesday (the plant of Lithuania’s Modus Grupe with a capacity of 14 MW in the village of Zalukva).
“It’s pleasant that Lithuanian companies not only stay on the Ukrainian market, but also continue developing investment projects,” Zelensky said.
According to him, Ukraine expects the boost of investment activities.
“We are betting on improving the mechanisms of public private partnership, which is one of the tools to attract additional investment in the public sector of the economy,” the head of state said, recalling the recently adopted law on concession.
Belarus will export about 2 billion kWh of electricity in 2019, which is almost two times more than in 2018, Deputy Minister of Energy of Belarus Vadim Zakrevsky told reporters in Minsk on Wednesday. “According to the results of the year, the total volume of electricity export can reach 2 billion kWh. In the past, it was about 1 billion kWh. Export could theoretically grow up to 4 billion kWh,” Zakrevsky said.
According to him, this year electricity is exported to the Baltic countries and Ukraine. At the same time, the deputy minister said that Ukraine is a premium market for Belarus in comparison with the Baltic. “The advantage of the benefits in supplying electricity to Ukraine compared to the Baltic is enormous. It is 80 to 20. Now there is such a price for Belarusian energy that it is beneficial for Ukrainians. Belarus does not dump and sells with profit,” the deputy minister said.
Adam Smith Conferences is bringing together key regulators, international and local pharmaceutical producers, distributors and pharmacies to discuss the most critical, current issues for the pharmaceutical market in Ukraine and how to develop competitive strategies for the future.
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– The pharmaceutical market in Ukraine is facing a phase of both dynamic growth and significant
regulatory change. Major changes are underway due to the reform of the country’s healthcare system and the establishment of new Government bodies, such as the National Health Service and State Enterprise ‘Medical Procurement of Ukraine’ as well as the formation of new regulatory processes, such as the National Essential Medicines List and the Health Technology Assessment (HTA). Together with the leading pharmaceutical players, regulators and experts, you will discuss the changing landscape of the industry and gain a clear understanding of the future prospects and challenges for the Ukrainian pharma market.
– Hear strategies, solutions and best practices from the TOP international and local pharma companies, including: Farmak, Arterium, Pharmaceutical Firm “Darnitsa”, AbbVie, GSK, Pfizer, Novartis Oncology, Teva, Ipsen, Kusum Group, Merck, Takeda Ukraine, Novartis, Merck Biopharma CIS, Glenmark, JGL, AbbVie Biopharmaceuticals GmbH, Janssen Cilag, Wockhardt Bio AG, GSK Consumer Health, and Liktravy, amongst others.
– PLUS! This year, we have exceptional international guest speakers, who have not spoken previously at events in Ukraine. You will hear from and meet in person: Gurpinder Singh, Head, Digital Marketing and Sales Force Effectiveness, GSK India; Zoltan Koleszar, Site Relationship and Operations Lead – Hungary, Slovakia, Ukraine, Global Clinical Operations, Merck; Riccardo Belli, Director, Novartis Oncology Switzerland; Karol Szczukiewicz, Project Manager, Janssen Cilag; and Piotr Iwanowski, Associate VP Clinical Research Europe, Wockhardt Bio AG
You can expect a truly international audience with a wide range of expertise and global knowledge. Registrations are coming in from across the globe, including countries like Switzerland, Belgium, Germany, Hungary, Poland, Russia and India.
– Unique networking opportunities, Round Tables and 1-to 1 Meetings offer invaluable opportunities to meet with pharma leaders & government representatives in person – and provide an ideal setting to establish and build meaningful business relationships.
– In-depth sessions into niche topics of high interest will give you the opportunity to address your personal business challenges in a lively dialogue format, learn from industry leaders and ‘brainstorm’ solutions.
View the full list of speakers confirmed to date
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The insurance companies of Ukraine in January-September 2019 received insurance premiums from individuals in the amount of UAH 15.86 billion, which is 18.4%, or UAH 2.47 billion, more than in the same period in 2018, Oleksandr Zaletov, a member of the National Commission for the State Regulation of the Financial Services Market, has told Interfax-Ukraine. In the nine months of 2019, the top ten most popular insurance services among the population of Ukraine included the following: life insurance with UAH 3.183 billion, vehicle insurance with UAH 3.080 billion, compulsory insurance of motor vehicle owners’ liability to third party with UAH 3.119 billion, medical insurance with UAH 1.207 billion, travel insurance with UAH 1.187 billion, Green Card insurance with UAH 1.039 billion, accident insurance with UAH 1.034 billion, property insurance with UAH 843.3 million, health insurance with UAH 419.9 million, and financial risk insurance with UAH 326.1 million.
In his opinion, the growth of insurance services provided to the population, in contrast to the previous years, is not due to exchange rate differences, but, first of all, to the growing demand for insurance among citizens who actively travel, take care of their health and their loved ones, and also think about providing “financial airbag” in old age.
So, in January-September 2019 in comparison with the same period last year, the most dynamically provided were travel insurance services, which increased by 61.9%, Green Card insurance rose by 40.3%, health insurance by 33.6%, medical insurance by 28.7%, financial risk insurance by 23.8%, car insurance by 20.5%, life insurance by 20.3%, accident insurance by 11.1%, compulsory insurance of motor vehicle owners’ liability to third party by 10.4%, and property insurance by 9.4%.
Ukraine in October 2019 cut steel production by 12.7% year-over-year (y-o-y), to 1.561 million tonnes, having slid from 13th to 14th place in the ranking of 64 countries that are the world’s key steelmakers, which is compiled by the World Steel Association (Worldsteel).
Steel production in October 2019 vs. October 2018 decreased in most top ten countries, except for Russia.
The top ten steel producing countries in October 2019 are as follows: China (81.521 million tonnes, 0.6% down y-o-y), India (9.089 million tonnes, 3.4% down y-o-y), Japan (8.157 million tonnes, 4.9% down y-o-y), the United States (7.407 million tonnes, 2% down y-o-y), South Korea (5.983 million tonnes, 3.5% down y-o-y), Russia (5.95 million tonnes, 2.4% up y-o-y), Germany (3.323 million tonnes, 6.8% down y-o-y), Turkey (2.687 million tonnes, 15% down y-o-y), Brazil (2.597 million tonnes, 19.4% down y-o-y), and Italy (2.225 million tonnes, 2.8% down y-o-y).
They are followed by Iran (2.2 million tonnes, 7.5% up), Taiwan (China, 1.825 million tonnes, 9.8% down), Vietnam (1.68 million tonnes, 25.1% up) and Ukraine (1.561 million tonnes, 12.7% down).
In total, the 64 countries produced 151.494 million tonnes of steel in October 2019, which was 2.8% down y-o-y.
In January-October 2019, the top ten included: China (829.215 million tonnes, 7.4% up y-o-y), India (93.306 million tonnes, 2.8% up y-o-y), Japan (83.791 million tonnes, 3.9% down y-o-y), the United States (73.539 million tonnes, 2.5% up y-o-y), South Korea (60.121 million tonnes, 0.4% down y-o-y), Russia (59.341 million tonnes, 0.1% down y-o-y), Germany (33.875 million tonnes, 4.6% down y-o-y), Turkey (27.973 million tonnes, 10.6% down y-o-y), Brazil (27.216 million tonnes, 8.6% down y-o-y), and Iran (21.518 million tonnes, 6.2% up y-o-y).
Italy ranks 11th (19.845 million tonnes, 3.8% down y-o-y), Taiwan 12th place (China, 18.763 million tonnes, a 2.5% down y-o-y), and Ukraine 13th (17.963 million tonnes, 2.3% up y-o-y).
In January-October 2019, the 64 countries produced 1.542 billion tonnes of steel, which is 3.2% more than in the same period last year.
Kernel, a large Ukrainian agricultural holding, saw $59.61 million in net profit in the first quarter of FY2020 (July 2019 – June 2020), which is 24% less than in the first quarter of FY2019 over the IFRS 16 impact.
According to a report of Kernel Holding S.A. (Luxembourg) on Wednesday, revenue reduced 26% year-over-year to $845.84 million, stemming from lower trading volumes.
However, earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) added 6% year-over-year to $106.5 million driven by Oilseed Processing segment EBITDA small growth.
In particular, Oilseed Processing segment EBITDA reached $22 million (up 38% year-over-year). Infrastructure and Trading segment generated $35 million EBITDA, 8% decline year-over-year. Unallocated corporate expenses in the reporting period amounted to $9 million, up 40% year-over-year.
The company said that the general outlook for the segment’s performance in FY2020 remains positive. Kernel expects Infrastructure and Trading business to be the largest contributor to group’s EBITDA in FY2020 owing to: commissioning of new grain export terminal scheduled for January 2020; growing grain export volumes; and strong contribution of grain railcars business.
Kernel said that at the date of this report, we completed this year harvesting campaign on 513,000 hectares, reaching record ever net yields for wheat (5.9 tonnes per hectare, up 16% year-over-year) and sunflower (3.5 tonnes per hectare, up 11% year-over-year), while facing normalization of corn yields to 8.6 tonnes per hectare (down 13% year-over-year).
“For the whole FY2020, we expect over $100 million farming EBITDA (net of IAS 41 and IFRS 16 effects), weakened by corn yield decline, lower year-over-year grain prices and growing production costs enhanced by local currency appreciation,” the group said.
Kernel’s gross profit in Q1 FY2020 fell by 9.9%, to $85.85 million, and operating profit – by 0.5%, to $82.09 million.
Net debt as of September 30, 2019 reached $1.144 billion, up 65% from June 30, 2019 level, reflecting short-term borrowings increase to finance working capital needs at the beginning of the season as well as $307 million new lease liabilities added to the balance sheet after implementation of IFRS 16.
Readily marketable inventories (RMI) increased by $275 million over Q1 FY2020, to $568 million, driven by procurement of grain and sunflower seeds.
Consequently, net debt adjusted for RMI increased to $576 million on September 30, 2019 from $400 million on June 30, 2019, with growth solely arising from IFRS 16 introduction. As a result, Kernel leverage as of September 30, 2019 increased to 3.3x Net-debt-to-EBITDA and 3.7x EBITDA-to-interest (post IFRS 16).
