Ukrainian restaurant chain Lviv Croissants has entered the US market, where together with a partner it invested $220 thousand in opening a bakery and production of frozen croissants in the suburbs of Atlanta, Georgia.
“Lviv Croissants is now in America! The first Lviv Croissants bakery in the United States is located in the suburbs of Atlanta, Georgia and is already receiving its first guests. Locals love quality healthy food, and we know how to cook it, so it’s a total match. And we also know how to surprise with a variety of flavors, create a friendly atmosphere and a sense of place where you can be yourself,” the company’s website says.
Lviv Croissants founder Andriy Galitsky told Forbes Entrepreneurs Forum that the company spent two years preparing to enter the U.S. market, while it took about five months to prepare to enter the European markets. This is the third expansion of the Ukrainian chain abroad after Poland and Slovakia.
The co-owner and CEO of the American restaurant is local entrepreneur Brett Larrabee, whom Galitsky met at a franchising expo in New York in 2018. Larrabee has been working in restaurant franchising for 37 years, notably developing the American brands Five Guys, Famous Daves BBQ, Little Caesars, Subway and Pancheros, Forbes writes.
Lviv Croissants is a Ukrainian international franchise restaurant chain founded in 2015. It specializes in making croissants, has 177 establishments in Ukraine, 11 in Poland and 1 in Slovakia. It is a part of Fast Food Franchising Group.
Fast Food Franchising Group LLC was founded in 2015 in Lviv.
The company’s net loss in 2023 amounted to UAH 598.3 thousand, compared to UAH 483 thousand net profit a year earlier. Income for last year increased by 55.1%, to UAH 6.939 million, debt obligations – by 9.7 times, to UAH 188.9 thousand, while assets decreased by 19%, to UAH 1.89 million.
Beneficiaries of the company are PE Firma Infobud, which owns 50% of shares, Eugene and Andrei Galitsky (20% each), as well as Yuri Zagrodsky (10%).
bakery opening, frozen croissants, Lviv Croissants, restaurant chain, US MARKET
In January-July this year, Ukraine increased imports of aluminum ore and concentrate (bauxite) in physical terms by 5% compared to the same period last year, up to 6,772 thousand tons.
According to statistics released by the State Customs Service (SCS) on Friday, bauxite imports in monetary terms increased by 22.8% to $980 thousand during this period.
At the same time, imports were carried out mainly from Turkey (63.81% of supplies in monetary terms), China (28.64%) and Spain (7.54%).
Ukraine did not re-export bauxite in the same period of this year as in January-July 2023.
As reported, in 2022, Ukraine reduced imports of aluminum ore and concentrate (bauxite) in physical terms by 81.5% compared to the previous year – to 945.396 thousand tons. Imports of bauxite in monetary terms decreased by 79.6% to $48.166 million. Imports were mainly from Guinea (58.90% of supplies in monetary terms), Brazil (27.19%) and Ghana (7.48%).
In 2023, Ukraine imported 19,830 thousand tons of bauxite worth $2.360 million.
Bauxite is an aluminum ore used as a raw material to produce alumina, which is used to make aluminum. They are also used as fluxes in ferrous metallurgy.
Mykolaiv Alumina Plant (MAP) imports bauxite to Ukraine.
Geographic structure of Ukraine’s foreign trade (trade volume) in Jan-May 2024, mln USD
Source: Open4Business.com.ua
On Monday, benchmark crude oil prices rose for the fifth consecutive trading session due to fears of possible supply disruptions due to the escalating conflict in the Middle East.
“Tensions in the Middle East, which could escalate at any time and push prices up further, are providing support,” said Barbara Lambrecht, commodities analyst at Commerzbank. According to her, “geopolitical risks are likely to continue to have a significant impact on oil price trends” this week, MarketWatch reports.
In addition, last week’s US statistics were better than expected, which calmed concerns about a possible recession in the country’s economy, Trading Economics writes. They also confirmed traders’ confidence that the Federal Reserve will cut interest rates next month. This may help to increase demand for fuel.
Quotations for October futures for Brent on the London ICE Futures exchange as of 8:01 a.m. amounted to $79.88 per barrel, which is $0.22 (0.3%) higher than the level at the close of the previous trading. On Friday, these contracts rose by $0.5 (0.6%) to $79.66 per barrel.
September futures for WTI in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange (NYMEX) are up $0.36 (0.5%) to $77.2 per barrel in the morning. At the end of the previous session, the price of these contracts increased by $0.65 (0.9%) to $76.84 per barrel.
Last week, the price of Brent rose by 3.7%, and WTI by 4.5%. Thus, oil finished the first week of five in the black.
Ukraine has won 12 medals at the 2024 Olympic Games.
“Ukraine won gold: Oleksandr Khyzhnyak (boxing up to 80 kg); Yaroslava Maguchikh (high jump); Olga Harlan, Alina Komashchuk, Olena Kravatska and Yulia Bakastova (team sabre).
The following won silver medals: Parviz Nasibov (Greco-Roman wrestling up to 67 kg); Iryna Kolyadenko (freestyle wrestling up to 62 kg); Lyudmyla Luzan and Anastasiia Rybachok (canoe double sprint, 500 m); Ilya Kovtun (parallel bars); Serhii Kulish (rifle shooting from 50 m from three positions).
The bronze medalists were: Zhan Beleniuk (Greco-Roman wrestling up to 87 kg); Mykhailo Kokhan (hammer throw); Iryna Gerashchenko (high jump); Olga Harlan (sabre).
As of 15:00, Ukraine ranks 22nd in the medal standings.
The 2024 Olympic Games were held in Paris from July 26 to August 11.
TAS Dneprovagonmash LLC (TAS DVM, Kamianske, Dnipro region), controlled by Serhiy Tigipko’s TAS Financial and Industrial Group, registered a $1 million corporate bond issue with the National Securities and Stock Market Commission (NSSMC) on August 7.
According to the prospectus, the company is issuing 1,000 bonds with a face value of $1,000. The bonds will have a five-year maturity, from August 8, 2024, to August 26, 2029, with quarterly coupon payments.
The interest rate in the first year of circulation is set at 6% per annum, in other years of circulation it will be set by the decision of the company’s management, taking into account market conditions, but it cannot be lower than 1% and higher than 15% per annum.
Early redemption of the bonds at the request of their holders is not provided, as well as early redemption of the entire issue by the company on its own initiative.
The maturity of the bonds is from August 27 to September 29, 2029.
As reported, the decision to place registered interest-bearing ordinary corporate bonds of the E series was made by the company’s supervisory board on May 28.
TAScombank will act as the underwriter.
The raised financial resources are planned to be used for technical re-equipment and capacity development to implement the project of the company’s entry into the European market.
As reported, in July 2020, Dneprovagonmash placed five-year bonds of series A-D totaling UAH 200 million (UAH 50 million of each series) as part of the decision to issue corporate bonds by TAS Group companies for a total of UAH 1 billion 885 million and EUR 3 million.
At the beginning of 2023, TAS Group became a strategic investor in the TransAnt GmbH railcar building joint venture of Austrian Voestalpine and ÖBB Rail Cargo with a 40% stake, and in the spring of this year it became the majority owner of TransAnt, increasing its stake to 61%.
As part of the project, the plant initially shipped lightweight modular freight cars (MultiBOX) for use on EU railways, and then platform cars.
Last week, the company announced on its website that 1500 different railcars had been accepted by an international company,
“The project is aimed at restoring logistics supply chains and ensuring the sustainability of exports of Ukrainian products (agro-, metallurgical, chemical, processing, etc.) and is designed for more than one year of operation,” the statement said.
First of all, grain carriers with a body volume of 126 cubic meters and a tare weight of 22.5 tons will be produced, which allows transporting 71.5 tons of grain per car.
It is noted that currently all components of the car are manufactured in Ukraine, while until 2022, the components were imported. In particular, TAS Dneprovagonmash has mastered the production and certified the absorbing apparatus of one class, and certification and testing of two more classes is in the final stages.
The company did not provide Interfax-Ukraine with information on the duration of the project or the buyer, noting that details would be announced later.
This year, the company plans to invest UAH 100.2 million in the development of the European direction (purchase of equipment).
“TAS Dneprovagonmash ended January-June 2024 with a net profit of UAH 18.85 million, which is three times less than in the same period of 2023, with revenue up 37.8% to UAH 796.47 million.
The company produced 317 freight cars in the first half of the year.
