KYIV. April 19 (Interfax-Ukraine) – The Electronic Payment System in January-March 2016 handled initial payments in the amount of UAH 4.862 trillion, which is 20.4% more than in the same period of 2015 (UAH 4.039 trillion), the press service of the National Bank of Ukraine (NBU) has said.
According to the report, 71.257 million initial payments worth UAH 2.911 trillion were handled in file mode, while 282,000 payments for UAH 1.952 trillion in real time.
At the same time, banks and their branches handled the bulk of initial payments, namely 67.292 million, which accounts for 94% of their total number.
According to the central bank, an average 1.173 million initial payments for UAH 80 billion were processed per day. The average daily balance on the accounts of participants in the electronic payment system was UAH 55.75 billion, while the average daily cash circulation rate stood at 1.41.
According to the NBU, on April 1, 2016 participants in the electronic payment system were 244 establishments, of which 119 are banks, 97 are bank branches, 27 are the State Treasury Service and its bodies and one is the NBU.
KYIV. April 19 (Interfax-Ukraine) – Sumitomo Electric Bordnetze – Ukraine LLC (Ternopil region), a manufacturer of wire harness for Volkswagen Concern and fully owned by Japan’s Sumitomo Electric Bordnetze, has started implementing a project on the creation of a production facility in Chortkiv (Ternopil region) as part of production expansion.
According to a posting on the website of Chortkiv town council, in late March 2016 the town council decided to take a land parcel of over 4.8 ha used Chortkiv Agromash Plant and lease it for 49 years for SE Bordnetze – Ukraine.
According to a posting on the website of Ternopil Regional Administration, referring to Governor Stepan Barna, logistics and production facilities and administrative facilities will be built at the first phase of the project realization (2016). Some 1,000 jobs will be created.
The project will be finished in late 2017 with expanding the number of jobs to 2,000, Barna said.
He said that five land parcels in Chortkiv district were offered to the investor.
SE Bordnetze – Ukraine LLC was opened in summer 2006. The projected investment into the project was EUR 5-7 million.
From a pilot project that products small modules, the enterprise has expanded to a powerful plant that produces wire harness for Volkswagen Golf А5, А6, А7, Hybrid, and mass production of wire harness for Audi А4 B9 was launched in 2015.
KYIV. April 19 (Interfax-Ukraine) – Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit GmbH (GIZ) before 2019 will design concepts for integrated development of Poltava, Zhytomyr, Vinnytsia and Chernivtsi cities with participation of local authorities, the company said in a press release.
Germany’s Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development jointly with Swiss State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO) will provide some EUR 6 million for these purposes.
The integrated development concepts will renew and unite all best practices in planning activities of cities in the economic, energy, transport, recreation, environment protection and other areas. The use of taxpayers’ funds will be optimized to develop the city environment.
Head of Integrated Urban Development Project in Ukraine Mathias Brandt said that Ukrainian, German and Swiss experts and all interested public representatives will be involved in designing the concept. Local authorities will be able to get broader access to the sources of financing national and international programs.
The concepts for Vinnytsia and Poltava could be approved in October-December 2017. A team of experts are synchronously working to improve qualification of employees in city councils.
KYIV. April 19 (Interfax-Ukraine) – Astarta agro-industrial holding, a large sugar producer in Ukraine, has invested UAH 10 million in the launch of a drip irrigation project on 360 ha in Poltava region.
The company said in a press release that the area of farmland, equipped with irrigation, would be expanded further, based on the results of this year harvest.
Astarta has already invested in reconstruction of melioration infrastructure (canal, pump station) followed by installation of a drip irrigation system made in Israel.
The irrigation technology will be implemented on farmland sowed with sugar beet. Drip irrigation of sugar beet will ensure high yields regardless of climatic factors.
Astarta is a vertically integrated agro-industrial holding, uniting six regional divisions in Poltava, Vinnytsia, Khmelnytsky, Ternopil, Zhytomyr, and Kharkiv regions. They include nine sugar factories, agricultural farms with a land bank of about 245,000 hectares and dairy farms. The holding also has a plant for processing soybeans in Poltava region (Globyno processing plant).
KYIV. April 19 (Interfax-Ukraine) – Kyivsky cardboard paper mill (Obukhiv, Kyiv region), a leader in Ukraine’s pulp and paper industry in terms of production and sales, has opened a UAH 72 million one-year loan from Pravex-Bank (Kyiv) to replenish its working capital.
The mill reported that the credit agreement was signed on March 9, 2016. A first tranche of UAH 11 million arrived on April 18.
The credit rate is 21.5% per annum. The company used equipment and goods as collateral for the loan.
Net asset value of the mill as of January 1, 2016 totaled UAH 735.117 million.
Kyivsky cardboard paper mill is one of the largest cardboard and paper producers in Europe. It employs almost 2,200 people. It sells produce to almost 700 companies in Ukraine, some CIS member states and the rest of the world.
In 2015, the mill saw a 54% rise in production from 2014, to UAH 3.857 billion.
Austria’s Pulp Mill Holding holds 99.3% in the mill.
Pravex-Bank was founded in 1992. Its only shareholder as of October 2015 was Intesa Sanpaolo S.p.A.
Pravex-Bank ranked 32nd among 123 operating banks in the country as of October 1, 2015 by total assets (UAH 4.341 billion), according to the National Bank of Ukraine.
KYIV. April 18 (Interfax-Ukraine) – Industrial Milk Company (IMC) saw $14.04 million in net profit in 2015 compared to $47.33 million of net loss in 2014.
The company said in its financial report that its revenue last year increased by 2%, to $140.39 million.
Gross profit increased by 20%, to $74.35 million and operating profit – by 28%, to $58.56 million.
Earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) totaled $66.52 million and this was 16% up on 2014.
The company said that foreign currency exchange loss, net decreased to $30 million of loss for the 12-month period ended December 31, 2015 from $73.5 million of gain for the 12-month period ended December 31, 2014. This decrease reflected the less devaluation of hryvnia in 2015 in comparison with 2014. The company’s loans and borrowing decreased by $28.7 million, reaching $98.7 million on December 31, 2015.
The share of revenue from sale of crops was 96% of total revenue ($135.1 million, 4% up year-over-year), and the share of revenue from sale of dairy products was 3.4% ($4.8 million, 39% down year-over-year).
The share of exports revenue was 74% of total revenue.
IMC cultivates grains, oilseeds and potatoes. It is also one of the largest milk producers in Ukraine. The company owns a storage capacity of 554,000 tonnes of grains and oilseeds. Its land bank is 136,700 hectares.
