ZAPORIZHIA. Oct 12 (Interfax-Ukraine) – Zaporizhia iron and steel works (Zaporizhstal), belonging to Metinvest Group, intends in 2015 to increase net profit by 2.2 times compared to 2014, to $150 million from $69 million.
Company CEO Rostyslav Shurma reported that in the first nine months of the current year the plant posted a profit of $118 million. The steel mill intends to gain another $32 million in the fourth quarter.
The CEO also said that EBITDA is expected to reach $300 million. In the first nine months EBITDA amounted to $250 million.
“We hope to earn $50 million EBITDA in the fourth quarter,” the director stated.
The Zaporizhstal head added that the profitability of the enterprise in 2014 amounted to 25%, in 2015 it is expected to reach 19%. The expected debt to EBITDA ratio this year is 0.4.
“The company has virtually no debts,” the CEO said.
Zaporizhstal is one of the largest industrial enterprises of Ukraine, whose steel products are well known and are in demand in the domestic market and in many countries around the world.
KYIV. Oct 12 (Interfax-Ukraine) – The cost of the realization of the project to create national infrastructure for geospatial data in Ukraine as a base for processing this data has been assessed at $500 million-$1 billion, and there are plans to raise donor funds from international financial organizations to realize the project, Head of the State Service of Ukraine for Geodesy, Cartography and Cadastre Maksym Martyniuk said at a seminar of Japan International Cooperation Agency ( JICA) and the State Service of Ukraine for Geodesy, Cartography and Cadastre held in Kyiv on October 9.
“We have a common vision of the project’s budget, and it is assessed from $500 million to $1 billion,” he told reporters.
Martyniuk said that it is only possible to speak about the term of the creating and launching the national infrastructure for geospatial data after financing sources are defined and the budget is approved.
He said that the final variant of the project implies that the national infrastructure for geospatial data would be a large data-center with data on all facilities under construction, as well as land parcels, utilities networks, transport infrastructure of the country, etc.
KYIV. Oct 12 (Interfax-Ukraine) – The EUR 400 million loan provided by the European Investment Bank (EIB) will be allocated to projects to modernize infrastructure in Ukraine’s agriculture, as well as to develop aquaculture.
Key investment gaps to be addressed include agricultural field machinery; drying, storage, processing and logistics capacity; and investments in aquaculture and cold chain infrastructure in the fish sector, EIB said on its website.
The loan will also be available for investment in public sector infrastructure, such as testing laboratories, research and vocational training facilities and fish stock monitoring capacity that supports the sustainable flow of produce from producer to consumer along these value chains.
The project aims to have a positive impact on the rural economy as well as on the environment and public health.
KYIV. Oct 12 (Interfax) – Following the talks, President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko and Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev have signed the Ukraine-Kazakhstan Action Plan for 2015-2017 (“Roadmap-5”), which identifies the key vectors of bilateral cooperation for the near future, reads the two presidents’ joint statement published on the official website of the Ukrainian president.
The presidents noted that a significant intensification of trade and economic cooperation is one of the main tasks of bilateral relations. It is confirmed that the priority for the development of mutually beneficial cooperation are the fuel and energy, agricultural, energy, transport, mining and agricultural mechanic engineering, the formation of infrastructure facilities, aviation, space and other fields. The presidents also stated their readiness to further deepen the Ukrainian-Kazakh relations in political, trade, economic, research, technical, cultural, humanitarian and other areas.
The heads of states reaffirmed the commitment of Ukraine and Kazakhstan to the fundamental principles of international law, respect for the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the state laid down in the fundamental documents of the UN, the OSCE. In this regard, they noted a common position on the need to implement the Minsk agreements of 2014-2015 in full and welcomed the outcome of the Normandy Quartet meeting in Paris on October
Speaking about the cooperation between the two countries after the entry into force of the 2016 economic part of the Association Agreement with Ukraine and the EU on the formation of the suggested free trade zone, the Kazakh leader said that Kazakhstan will comply with the provisions of the existing regulatory framework.
“We know Russia’s position. Starting January 1, 2016, the association agreement comes into force [the economic part of the agreement] between the EU and Ukraine. Something might change in the supply of goods from Europe through Ukraine to Russia, because you already have your bilateral relations. I think we need to make an agreement, and we will remain committed to what we signed earlier, as we have agreed with you,” Nazarbayev said.
In turn, the president of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko expressed the hope that Russia will not impose restrictions on Ukraine as a result of the consultations in the Ukraine-EU-Russia format.
The leaders of both countries noted the topicality of the International Exhibition EXPO 2017 “Energy of the Future.”
Nazarbayev supported Ukraine’s initiative on the accession to the Asia-Europe (ASEM) Public Forum, which will give a new impetus to cooperation between Asia and Europe and will contribute to sustainable development of all participants of the forum and support stability in the world.
Kazakh and Ukrainian enterprises signed a number of bilateral agreements at the Kazakh-Ukrainian business forum in Astana on Friday on cooperation and mutual understanding in the spheres of aviation, engineering and tourism, an Interfax correspondent reported.
The cooperation agreement was signed between the LLP Kazakhstan Aviation Industry and the Ukrspetsexport gas company. The goal of the signed agreement was to create a service center for Ukrainian aircraft parts based on the Aviation Technical Centre in Astana.
“The creation of a service center is planned for February 2016, the CEO of Kazakhstan Aviation Industry Kairat Zhaukhanov told Interfax.
“It is assumed that equipment will be delivered directly to our company. Assembly will be carried out at our factory. The opening is tentatively planned for February 1, 2016. The whole process is planned to start in April,” he said.
Zhaukhanov said that the agreement also foresees the training of aviation industry specialists in Kyiv.
Additionally, a memorandum on cooperation between the Astana EXPO-2017 and Monaco Ukraine Group with the goal of developing tourist connections by way of attracting tourists from Ukraine to the Expo-2017 exhibition.
At the same time the National Agency for Export and Investments Kaznex Invest signed a memorandum of understanding with Tatra-Yug. The aim of the signing is cooperation in the trolleybus rail manufacturing sphere and deliveries from Ukraine to Kazakhstan of trolleybus cars.
KYIV. Oct 9 (Interfax-Ukraine) – The World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) has provided the Ukrainian State Service of Intellectual Property with the right to perform functions on intellectual property at the international level.
According to a report by the State Service of Intellectual Property, posted on its official website, the WIPO made the decision on October 6 at a meeting of the Assembly of the International Patent Cooperation Union in Geneva (Switzerland), at which amendments to the agreement between the WIPO and the Ukrainian State Service of Intellectual Property were unanimously supported. These amendments will enable the state service and Ukrpatent to soon begin implementing the functions of the International Searching Authority and the International Preliminary Examining Authority.
KYIV. Oct 9 (Interfax-Ukraine) – Public joint-stock company Kharkiv Tractor Plant has signed a contract to supply up to 1,000 engines to Volvo, Plant Director General Vladyslav Hubin said at a press conference on Thursday.
“The contract was signed in February – this was shipment of test engines. The contract for batch supplies was signed in late September,” he said.
Hubin said that Kharkiv Tractor Plant signed the contract with Volvo, as on February 12, 2015, a moratorium on exports of goods from Russia to Ukraine was introduced by the Russian government, and the Kharkiv plant lost its chance to buy engines from Avtodiesel Yaroslavl Motor Plant and has not been able to ship the engines since summer 2015.
Hubin said that these are Volvo engines with 240-250 hp. The contract would enable the installation of engines on half of the tractors made by the plant, while the second half of the tractors which are to be sold to Russia are equipped with YaMP engines made in Belgorod.
Volvo engine costs 50% more than YaMP engines. The installation of the new engine would make the cost of a tractor UAH 80,000 more and with the price of UAH 1.2-1.4 million it is not important.
Hubin said that the top-priority markets for the plant are Asia and Africa.
