PJSC “United Mining and Chemical Company” (UMCC, UMCC Titanium) increased its net loss 2.5-fold in January–June of this year compared to the same period last year—to 745.401 million UAH from 295.030 million UAH.
According to the company’s interim report, which is available to the agency “Interfax-Ukraine,” revenue from ordinary operations for this period rose by 34.8%, to 1,117.088 million UAH.
The accumulated loss as of the end of June stood at 3,515.530 million UAH.
As previously reported, OGHK doubled its net loss in the first quarter of 2026 compared to the same period last year—to 411.235 million UAH from 203.236 million UAH. Revenue from ordinary operations for this period rose to 331.342 million UAH from 239.604 million UAH in the first quarter of 2025.
In 2025, the company reported a net loss of 2 billion 118.156 million UAH, whereas in 2024 it posted a profit of 17.009 million UAH, with revenue from ordinary operations amounting to 1,510.751 million UAH (in 2024 – 2,851.180 million UAH).
In 2025, the total number of employees at OGHK was 4,443, including 3,031 at VGMK and 1,194 at IGZK.
“Cement Ukraine” LLC, controlled by NEQSOL Holding, acquired OGHK at an auction on October 9, 2024, for 3 billion 938 million 351.58 UAH. On November 19, 2024, the State Property Fund of Ukraine (FGIU) and Cement Ukraine LLC entered into Agreement No. 217 for the sale and purchase of a 100% stake in OGHK. On May 29, 2025, the Antimonopoly Committee of Ukraine granted approval for the concentration. On June 10, 2025, “Cemin Ukraine” LLC became the owner of 100% of the company’s shares. “Cemin Ukraine” LLC is part of the international NEQSOL group of companies, with the ultimate parent company NEQSOL Holding B.V. (Netherlands), owned by Azerbaijani citizen Nasib Hasanov.
OGHK has two subsidiaries—the Vilnohirsk Mining and Metallurgical Plant (VGMK, Dnipropetrovsk Oblast) and the Irshansk Mining and Processing Plant (IGZK, Zhytomyr Oblast). OGHK’s main activities include open-pit mining of titanium ores, as well as the production and wholesale trade of titanium ore concentrates (zircon, ilmenite, rutile, disten-sillimanite, staurolite, and quartz sand).
According to data from the National State Treasury for the first quarter of 2026, “Cemin Ukraine” LLC owns 100% of OGHK’s shares.
The authorized capital of OGHK PJSC is 1.994 billion UAH, and the par value of a share is 1 UAH.
The business confidence index for Ukraine’s construction market rose by 4 percentage points (pp) in the third quarter of 2026 compared to the second quarter, reaching “minus” 21.1%, according to the State Statistics Service (State Statistics Service). According to a survey of construction companies conducted by the agency, the assessment of the current volume of orders improved by 6.3 p.p. to “minus” 35.2%. Thus, 60% of the surveyed companies assessed their current order volume as normal for the season, while 38% assessed it as insufficient.
Sixty-one percent of respondents expect prices for their services to rise by the end of the third quarter of this year. Only 2% of respondents forecast a decrease in the cost of construction work, while 36% do not expect any changes in pricing policy.
According to State Statistics Service data, the companies participating in the survey have an average of six months’ worth of orders, which corresponds to the pre-war level at the beginning of 2022.
The State Statistics Service notes that in the third quarter of 2026, the construction sector will be negatively affected by labor shortages (53.6%), financial constraints (47.9%), insufficient demand (20.7%), and other factors (42.3%).
About 25% of the surveyed companies expect a reduction in their workforce in July–September, while 56% believe their workforce will remain unchanged, and 19% forecast an expansion of their workforce.
According to the State Statistics Service, 43% of respondents reported an increase in the volume of construction work completed in the previous quarter, while 22% reported a decrease.
The survey showed that 98% of Ukrainian construction companies find it quite difficult to predict future business trends.
The statistical data does not include territories temporarily occupied by the Russian Federation or parts of territories where hostilities are (or were) taking place.
BUSINESS EXPECTATIONS, CONSTRUCTION MARKET, State Statistics Service, UKRAINE
The administration of U.S. President Donald Trump is considering the possibility of introducing refundable security deposits of up to $100,000 for certain foreign nationals applying for immigrant visas and green cards through U.S. consulates abroad.
The proposal is being developed by the U.S. Department of State in collaboration with the Department of Homeland Security. A final decision has not yet been made, and official regulations and a list of applicant categories have not been published. The amount of the bond under discussion may be determined on a case-by-case basis and could be either lower or higher than the estimated $100,000.
It is expected that the requirement will initially be tested on citizens of a limited number of countries. The bond could be posted either by the applicant themselves or by relatives or sponsors residing in the U.S.
According to The Wall Street Journal, the money is planned to be returned after the immigrant obtains U.S. citizenship. Naturalization is typically possible no earlier than five years after obtaining permanent resident status. Thus, a significant amount of money may remain frozen for several years.
The State Department stated that it is reviewing existing authorities that allow it to require financial guarantees from certain applicants. The stated goal of the initiative is to confirm that a prospective immigrant has the means to support themselves and will not become dependent on public assistance.
U.S. law allows for the denial of a visa to a foreign national whom a consular officer deems a potential recipient of public assistance. The assessment takes into account the applicant’s age, health, education, professional skills, financial resources, and family status.
Current federal regulations already provide for the possibility of issuing an immigrant visa after a bond is posted, provided that it eliminates the risk of the applicant being deemed a potential financial burden on the government. Such a bond may be released after naturalization, permanent departure from the United States, or the foreign national’s death, provided the conditions have not been violated.
The proposed mechanism should not be confused with the existing pilot bond program for B-1/B-2 tourist and business visas. Under this program, certain applicants from countries with high rates of visa violations may be required to post a refundable bond of up to $15,000.
The introduction of a $100,000 bond could significantly limit access to family-based immigration for applicants with low to moderate incomes. Immigrant visas are most commonly issued to spouses, parents, children, and other relatives of U.S. citizens or permanent residents.
For now, this is only a proposed initiative. Applicants are not required to post such a bond until an official decision is published and they receive a corresponding request from a U.S. consulate.
U.S. President Donald Trump stated that the agreement on rare earth resources concluded with Ukraine provides the United States with access to Ukraine’s mineral resources and may prove more beneficial than the amount of U.S. aid provided.
“We’ve signed an agreement on rare earth elements… We have a signed contract. As for rare earth resources, we can go in there at any time. We can take practically whatever we want. It was a pretty good deal,” Trump said in an interview with Voice of Real America.
According to the U.S. president, Ukraine is “very rich” in rare earth resources, and the value of the agreement, in his view, could significantly exceed the amount of U.S. aid.
He suggested that the cost of access to these resources could exceed $300 billion, but the contract is still profitable and Washington will “get its money back.”
An analysis of rare earth elements is available on the YouTube channel of the Experts Club think tank – https://youtu.be/UHeBfpywpQc?si=CWejQ_1mj5Si5DwD
According to Fixygen, the cryptocurrency market ended the week of July 27–August 1 mostly lower amid the U.S. Federal Reserve’s cautious stance, volatile inflows into exchange-traded funds, and weak earnings reports from Coinbase, the largest U.S. crypto exchange.
As of August 1, Bitcoin was trading at around $63,000, down from approximately $65,300 at the start of the week. Thus, the leading cryptocurrency lost about 3.6%.
Ethereum rose to nearly $1,950 at the start of the week but then also came under pressure. Most of the major altcoins were unable to sustain a steady upward trend, as investors preferred to reduce their positions in riskier assets. Solana largely remained within the $70–76 range throughout the week.
The main macroeconomic event of the week was the U.S. Federal Reserve meeting on July 28–29. The Fed kept the target range for the federal funds rate at 3.5–3.75%. At the same time, the regulator noted that inflation remains above the 2% target, particularly due to rising energy prices and other consequences of the conflict in the Middle East. An additional hawkish signal came from the fact that three members of the Federal Open Market Committee voted to raise rates by 0.25 percentage points.
For cryptocurrencies, this means that expensive dollar liquidity will persist. With high interest rates, investors receive attractive yields on government bonds and money market instruments, which limits the inflow of capital into Bitcoin and altcoins.
The market had been hoping for at least some softer rhetoric from the Fed, so the lack of a signal regarding an imminent rate cut was one of the reasons for Bitcoin’s decline in the second half of the week.
U.S. spot Bitcoin ETFs ended the week with a combined net outflow of about $61.5 million. On Monday and Tuesday, investors withdrew $11.6 million and $49.7 million, respectively. On Wednesday, the funds recorded an inflow of $32.1 million, and on Thursday, $233.1 million. However, on Friday, $265.4 million was withdrawn again. This pattern indicates that there is no sustained institutional demand yet. Positive inflows last for one or two days, after which they are followed by comparable or even larger outflows.
Friday’s outflow from BlackRock’s IBIT fund was particularly notable at $122.7 million. $54.8 million was withdrawn from Fidelity’s FBTC, and $52.6 million from Grayscale’s GBTC.
Until Bitcoin ETFs return to a steady inflow of funds, a price recovery above the nearest resistance levels will be difficult.
Coinbase’s financial results put additional pressure on the market. The largest public crypto exchange in the U.S. reported its third consecutive quarterly loss. Following the release of the report, Coinbase’s stock price fell, and analysts noted challenging conditions for cryptocurrency trading and a lack of clarity regarding the timeline for a recovery in trading volumes.
Declining activity among retail investors is one of the main risks for the market. Despite Coinbase’s share of cryptocurrency trading rising to 10.3%, overall market volumes remain weak.
At the same time, the company continues to reduce its reliance on spot trading fees and is expanding its business in stablecoins, derivatives, digital asset custody, and blockchain infrastructure. However, this is more of a long-term positive factor and does not yet offset the decline in speculative activity.
One of the week’s trends was investors’ continued tendency to focus on the largest and most liquid digital assets. When macroeconomic risks intensify, capital typically flows out of smaller tokens faster than out of Bitcoin. As a result, altcoins may decline even if the price of Bitcoin remains relatively stable.
Ethereum maintains fundamental support thanks to the network’s use in decentralized finance, asset tokenization, and infrastructure projects. However, for a sustainable recovery, it needs a rebound in demand across the entire crypto market and stabilization of Bitcoin.
Solana and other highly volatile assets may experience short-term spikes, but without an increase in liquidity, such movements are likely to remain unsustainable.
The base case scenario for early August remains Bitcoin’s consolidation within the $60,000–$66,000 range. The nearest support zone is the $62,000–$63,000 range. However, $60,000 remains the key psychological and technical threshold. A resurgence of geopolitical tensions or continued outflows from ETFs could lead to a retest of this level.
A sustained move below $60,000 would increase the likelihood of a decline toward the $55,000–58,000 range. For this scenario to play out, a combination of several negative factors would be required: a further strengthening of the dollar, rising U.S. Treasury yields, significant outflows from ETFs, and a deterioration in stock markets.
For Bitcoin to resume its upward trend, it must return above the $64,700–$66,000 range. In this case, the next targets could be $68,000 and $70,000.
A positive scenario is possible provided there is a return of steady capital inflows into Bitcoin ETFs, a reduction in geopolitical risks, and the release of weak U.S. economic data, which would reinforce expectations of future Fed policy easing.
If the market stabilizes, Ethereum may attempt to climb back above $1,900. However, should Bitcoin fall to $60,000, pressure on Ethereum and most altcoins will intensify.
Thus, in early August, the market will most likely remain volatile and dependent primarily on inflows into U.S. ETFs, U.S. macroeconomic data, and the situation in the Middle East. There is no clear signal yet that the correction has ended, but Bitcoin holding the $60,000 level will support the possibility of a further recovery.
Bitcoin is the largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization, created in 2009. Ethereum is the second-largest digital currency and serves as the underlying asset for the Ethereum smart contract network.
The Antimonopoly Committee of Ukraine (AMCU) announced that it had uncovered a long-standing cartel conspiracy in the capital’s household waste collection services market, as well as the manipulation of the results of a 2021 tender for the procurement of these services, and decided to fine the municipal enterprise (ME) “Kyivkomunservice” and eight other companies a total of 313.3 million UAH.
According to the AMCU, “Kyivkomunservice,” Altfater Kyiv LLC, “Volodar–Roz” LLC, “Kyivspetstrans” PJSC, “Kramar Recycling” LLC, “Celtic” LLC, and “Spetskommuntechnika” LLC divided the market among themselves as part of a cartel agreement, thereby restricting other companies’ access to it.
For this, on July 31, the Committee’s board fined them a total of over 175.8 million UAH and ordered them to cease the aforementioned violations.
In another decision on the same day, the Board imposed a fine on the same municipal enterprise and four other companies from the previous list (Altfater Kyiv LLC, Volodar–Roz Firm LLC, “Celtic” LLC and “Spetskommuntechnika” LLC), as well as “Profpererobka” LLC and “Kramar Eco” LLC, for 137.5 million UAH for distorting the results of a 2021 tender—held pursuant to an order from the Kyiv City State Administration—to select a contractor for household waste collection services.
“It has been proven that the participants did not compete with one another for the right to perform the contract but had agreed in advance on the division of roles, resulting in the victory of one of them and the safeguarding of the economic interests of the others,” the AMCU stated in a press release on its website. According to the committee, proceedings in both cases began in June 2025.
In 2025, the municipal enterprise “Kyivkomunservice” increased its revenue by 4% to 875.3 million UAH, while its net profit decreased by 18.5% to 48.7 million UAH.
