Business news from Ukraine

Business news from Ukraine

RUNWAY OF ODESA INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT COULD BE COMPLETELY RECONSTRUCTED IN 2019

The runway of the Odesa international airport could be completely reconstructed in 2019, Ukrainian Infrastructure Minister Volodymyr Omelyan has said.
“Now the full-scale reconstruction of the runway in Odesa will start. The construction of a cement plant is being finished. I would like that everything is finished this year. However, with realistic approach it will be next year. The issue is financing. We have only UAH 500 million now,” he said at a press conference devoted to the annual report of the head of the State Aviation Service of Ukraine in Kyiv on Friday, February 23.
As reported, in November 2017, Automagistral-Yug (Odesa) started building a runway for the Odesa International Airport. In September 2017, the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine approved the allocation of UAH 800 million for reconstruction of Ukrainian airports, including UAH 500 million for Odesa airport.
Early July 2011 Odesa City Council agreed to participate in joint venture Odesa International Airport LLC, which was created to reconstruct municipal enterprise Odesa International Airport. The second participant in the JV was Odessa Airport Development Ltd. with a charter capital of about UAH 1,000. The share of Odesa City Council in the joint venture was 25%, while the city council injected property worth UAH 118.4 million into the charter capital of Odesa airport. The charter capital of the joint venture was required to be UAH 473.4 million. The remaining part was to have been injected by the private company.

POLISH EGG PRODUCERS ALARMED WITH UKRAINIAN AVANGARD’S ARRIVAL TO EUROPEAN MARKET

Polish egg producers believe that the arrival of the Avangard agroholding, a large egg producer in Ukraine, to the European market would result in growth of competition and “serious consequences” for Polish egg exporters. “The decision of the European Commission will have very serious consequences for Polish egg producers. Expansion of export competition and a significant deterioration in the profitability of egg exports from Poland should be expected,” the National Chamber of Poultry and Fodder Producers (KIPDiP) said.
They said that Avangard has long ago focused on the recovery of exports to the European Union, seeking a “cure” to reduce the dependence on sales in the MENA markets as its main export market.
KIPDiP said that in recent years, the company’s sales to the countries of the region have deteriorated due to the unfavorable geopolitical situation there. The Polish Chamber said that that the first plant that was placed on the list of European Commission enterprises admitted to import Class A food eggs into the EU market was the Yasensvit plant from the Ovostar Union. The permit for Yasensvit is effective from September 12, 2017, and in October the Ukrainian company started selling eggs to the EU.
The Chamber said that imports of eggs and processed products from Ukraine are steadily growing : in 2014, Ukraine’s share of EU imports was 4%, and in 2016 – already 50%.
As reported, Ukraine’s largest producer of eggs Avangard agricultural holding, controlled by Ukrlandfarming, whose shares are traded on the London Stock Exchange, in October 2015 completed the restructuring of eurobonds for $200 million. Previously American Cargill has withdrawn from among the shareholders of Ukrainian-based UkrLandFarming (ULF) agrarian holding, according to a ULF financial report for 2016. Cargill’s subsidiary, Cargill Financial Services International Inc. by the end of 2015, had held 1,668,749 ULF shares, or 5% of the total number. By the end of 2016, the number of shares owned by Avonex Limited had not changed, whereas the package held by Cargill was transferred to Cyprus-based Quickcom Limited’s ownership. The report says that the sole owner of Avonex Limited and Quickcom Limited is Oleh Bakhmatiuk. Cargill acquired a 5% stake in ULF early in 2014 for $200 million. Based on the sum of the deal, the total value of the holding was assessed at $4 billion.

UKRAINE INTERNATIONAL AIRLINES SEEKS TO DOUBLE FLEET IN FOUR YEARS

Ukraine International Airlines (UIA, Kyiv), a leading airline of the country, seeks to double passenger transportation in four years, reaching 13.3 million people in 2021, Head of the UIA Supervisory Board Aron Mayberg said at a press conference at the Boryspil international airport.
According to him, the share of transit passengers for this period is planned to increase by 16 percentage points, to 60.4%.
In general, if according to the airline in 2017 its passenger transportation amounted to 6.9 million people, the planned figure for 2018 is 8.2 million people, 2019 – 9.9 million, 2020 – 11.4 million.
The share of transit in 2017 was 52%, and in 2018 is planned to have it at 54.4%, 2019 – 56.9% and 2020 – 59.2%.
The increase in passenger traffic proportionally requires expansion of the fleet, which the airline intends to increase by 90% over four years – from 34 aircraft in 2017 to 74 in 2021. In 2018, the planned fleet of UIA will be 46 aircraft, in 2019 – 56 and in 2020 – 64.
“Starting from 2018, the airline will actively build up the fleet with Embraer aircraft, which will grow from the five aircraft we have today to 11 planes in 2020. This year we will take two or three of these aircraft. We need them in order to develop domestic Ukrainian market and expand our presence,” Mayberg said.

BRITAIN’S CADOGAN INCREASES OIL PRODUCTION BY 15%

Britain’s Cadogan Petroleum Plc with assets in Ukraine after a work-over to stimulate the Blazh-1 well on the Monastyretske field in Lviv region has almost doubled production at the well, to 63 barrels per day (bpd), which allowed boosting Cadogan’s current production (oil and gas combined) has increased by 15.3%.
“As a result of this stimulation, Cadogan’s current production (oil and gas combined) has increased to 219 boepd (205 boepd net to Cadogan),” the company said on the London Stock Exchange on Thursday.
According to the report, the team and the equipment have been relocated to the Blazh-3 well to execute a work-over and chemical treatment. This operation is scheduled to be completed in approximately four weeks.