Galina Gerega, co-founder of Epicenter K LLC (Kiev), indirectly through Epicenter K and Paravita Holding Limited (Nicosia) has obtained over 50% of votes in Intersport Polska S.A., which develops a chain of stores with the same name in Poland.
As reported by the Polish company on the Warsaw Stock Exchange on October 4, this happened after the above companies participated in the closed subscription for Intersport Polska series J shares, with Epicenter K’s share in the total number of votes exceeding 10%.
It is specified that the paid-in share capital of the Polish company amounts to PLN 8 million 274.49 thousand.
During the subscription, 12 million 655.468 thousand shares were sold to one company at a price of PLN1.0471 per share ($0.27 per share).
As reported, Gerega indirectly received 51.3% of Intersport Polska’s share capital at the end of last year within the framework of the investment agreement concluded by the Polish company with Epicenter K and Paravita Holding, but at that time her share of votes was just short of 50% – 49.94%.
The investment agreement with Epicenter K and Paravita Holding, which also operates stores under the Intersport brand in Ukraine, was concluded on April 19, 2023. The document envisaged a total investment of EUR10 million by the partner and the investor. This amount was to be used, in particular, for the development of the Polish company by opening new stores and modernizing existing ones.
On November 17, Yulia Maksymenko and Aivars Bunde, managing and commercial directors of Epicenter K LLC, a separate subdivision of Intersport Ukraine, joined the supervisory board of Intersport Polska.
Gerega at this week’s forum “Dialogues with NV on the Future. Business and War” in Kiev, said that Intersport Polska was unprofitable, it had no strategic investors, so Epicenter K, which had high indicators of the development of the Intersport project in Ukraine, was invited to cooperate.
“And we agreed to go and help realize this project,” she said, adding that this raised the image of the Ukrainian company in front of international partners.
Speaking about the current problems, Gerega pointed to the lack of staff. “Even for such a small Intersport in Poland, we faced the same staffing problem we have now in Ukraine. Even among Ukrainians who left temporarily to Poland, we can’t find effective staff for them to work in this Intersport,” she stated at the forum.
In the 2023/24 fiscal year (ended March 31, 2024), Intersport Polska’s revenue fell 21% to PLN189.1 million, while its net loss rose to PLN39.6 million from PLN13.1 million a year earlier.
The Intersport Polska network, according to its website, includes 31 stores and a delivery network with about 500 employees, while the Intersport network has about 5,400 stores worldwide.
The head of the State Border Guard Service of Ukraine, Lieutenant General Serhiy Deyneko, met with the newly appointed Ambassador of the Republic of India to Ukraine, Ravi Shankar, to discuss the issue of border crossings by Indian citizens.
According to the press service of the State Border Guard Service, Deineko thanked India for supporting Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity. He also emphasized the importance of further developing friendly relations and professional cooperation.
“We discussed the issue of border crossing by Indian citizens – since the beginning of 2024, about 5 thousand Indian citizens have entered Ukraine. The parties agreed to clarify the details of further effective cooperation,” the Telegram channel said.
In turn, the ambassador expressed gratitude for the attention and time devoted to the meeting.
External financing of the state budget as of 01.06.2024, billion USD
Open4Business.com.ua
Germany’s Federal Agency for Technical Cooperation (THW) has handed over three powerful generators to Zaporizhzhia Oblast to ensure stable operation of critical infrastructure, said Ivan Fedorov, head of the regional military administration.
“The generators will be installed at three facilities, which will ensure reliable heat supply for more than 38,000 residents. Thanks to these generators, our people will be able to receive heat regardless of damage or interruptions in the central power supply, as each generator has a capacity of 900 kW,” he wrote in a telegram on Wednesday.
“I am grateful to our reliable partners, the German Federal Agency for Technical Assistance (THW), for providing the power plants. Together we will be able to meet any challenges,” Fedorov concluded.
Zaporozhkoks, one of Ukraine’s largest coke and chemical producers and part of Metinvest Group, increased its blast furnace coke output by 2% year-on-year to 655.3 thousand tons from 542.5 thousand tons in January-September this year.
According to the company, 71.3 thousand tons of coke were produced in September.
As reported, Zaporozhkoks increased its blast furnace coke output by 16% in 2023 compared to 2022, up to 856.8 thousand tons from 737.4 thousand tons.
“Zaporozhkoks produces about 10% of coke in Ukraine and has a full technological cycle of coke products processing. It also produces coke oven gas and pitch coke.
“Metinvest is a vertically integrated mining group of companies. Its major shareholders are SCM Group (71.24%) and Smart Holding (23.76%), which jointly manage the company.
Metinvest Holding LLC is the management company of Metinvest Group.
Thanks to the best price-quality ratio, professional service and high customer confidence, Kovlar Group’s share in the Ukrainian fire protection market in 2024 amounted to 60%, and for some products it reaches 90%. The company announced this in a press release.
According to the company’s co-founder Kostiantyn Kalafat: “In 2016, the then newly established Kovlar Group offered the Ukrainian construction market an affordable fireproof plaster Ammokote GP-240, which completely changed the rules of the game in the segment. Prior to that, the market for fire protection materials was largely divided between unscrupulous Russian manufacturers and importers of European products, who kept the prices for fire protection high. This not only increased construction budgets, but also harmed the development of the steel construction industry in Ukraine, as customers refused to use steel solutions in their projects due to the high cost of fire protection.”
According to him, after the launch of the innovative Ammokote GP-240 gypsum plaster, due to the excellent combination of high fire protection properties and low price, it became so successful that in a few years it occupied about 80% of the plaster fire protection market. This allowed the company to invest in its own production facilities with modern equipment and a large warehouse, as well as in a research laboratory that allows for fire testing and the development of new materials.
Today, the company’s portfolio includes more than 20 different types of fire protection materials. Over the past 6 years, Kovlar Group’s turnover has amounted to about UAH 200 million, of which the company has paid more than UAH 38 million to the Ukrainian budget, which is a record figure for the fire protection segment.
Kovlar Group is owned by three Ukrainian citizens: Konstantin Kalafat, Lyubov Vakhitova and Andrey Ozeychuk.
