Alliance Bank, which decided on October 9 to refuse an additional share issue to increase its authorized capital by 1.5 times, decided to reconsider this issue at a remote extraordinary shareholders’ meeting on December 21.
According to the issuer’s announcement in the information disclosure system of the National Securities and Stock Market Commission (NSSMC), the bank plans to increase its authorized capital from UAH 457.28 million to UAH 691.636 million, while at the end of June this year the bank decided to increase it to UAH 689.367 million.
It is expected that 8.2 million shares with a par value of UAH 28.58 will be placed at the expense of additional contributions.
According to the information, the bank is not going to involve an investment firm to sell them and new investors.
As reported, after the annual decision on the additional issue, which was later canceled in October, Pavlo Shcherban, chairman of the supervisory board of Alliance Bank, who held 3.994938% of the shares at the beginning of the year, received permission from the Antimonopoly Committee of Ukraine on July 13 to increase his share to more than 25%. This would have reduced the share of the majority shareholder, Alexander Sosis, which amounted to 89.289% at the beginning of the year.
Founded in 1992, Alliance Bank expanded its network by two branches to 35 in the second quarter of this year. According to the NBU, it ranked 23rd (UAH 12.86 billion) among 63 Ukrainian banks in terms of total assets as of October 1 this year.
At the beginning of this year, minority stakes in the bank were also held by Marina Getmantseva (1.706025%) and indirectly, through the Avanpost venture capital fund, by Dmitry Melnik (2.938683%) and Vladimir Bychnik (1.196708%).
Ukrposhta JSC, as part of a joint project with the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), has announced a tender on the EBRD portal for the purchase of 250 vehicles (vans with a carrying capacity of at least 1750 kg) with related full service services under the Ukrposhta logistics development project for implementation in 2024.
According to a report on the Prozorro portal, bids are accepted until January 15, 2024.
“The project will make it possible to make important investments in Ukrposhta’s logistics infrastructure and vehicle fleet to improve the quality of services and the sustainability of the company’s business and network. It will support the transformation of the company’s operating model, as well as improve the quality of services and the sustainability of Ukrposhta’s business and network,” the statement said.
The project is funded by a loan/grant provided by the EBRD.
The report notes that an explanatory online meeting with interested suppliers is planned for mid-December-2023, where they will be able to ask questions about the tender documents.
As reported, in October 2020, the Ukrainian government approved a EUR 63 million loan from the EBRD for the implementation of Ukrposhta’s Logistics Network and Rural Branch projects.
In March 2021, as part of the project, the EBRD signed an agreement with VIDI for the purchase of 1,860 Citroën Berlingo L2 Worker vehicles for mobile offices worth a total of UAH 1.3 billion.
As of September 30, Ukrposhta had 27.36 thousand points of presence with 35 thousand employees. Net income in January-September 2023 amounted to UAH 8.36 billion.
In November 2023, Ukrzaliznytsia (UZ) transported 14 million tons of cargo, up 33.8% over the same period in 2022 and 4% over October 2023, the UZ press service said on Tuesday.
“It is important that, in addition to domestic transportation, exports, which are critically important for our country, have begun to grow. Thanks to the work of the Ukrainian sea corridor, grain exports have also increased,” said Yevhen Lyashchenko, chairman of the board of UZ.
According to UZ, these are record figures since the beginning of the large-scale invasion.
According to UZ, in November 2023, the company transported 7.3 million tons of cargo on domestic routes, which is 19% more than in November 2022. Export traffic increased by 56.2% to 6 million tons, import traffic by 35.4% to 679 thousand tons, and transit traffic by 2.2 times to 65.5 thousand tons.
It is noted that the largest share of the transported cargo is grain – 3 million tons (+13% by November 2022), construction materials – 3 million tons (+61.8%), iron and manganese ore – 3 million tons (+2.5 times), coal – 2 million tons (7.7% less).
At the same time, in November, 2.4 million tons of grain were exported by rail, which is 13% more than in November 2022 and 40.4% more than in October 2023.
The company also reported that grain transportation to seaports amounted to 1.7 mln tons in November, up 1.7 times compared to the previous month. At the same time, transportation via land border crossings decreased by 4.2% to 720 thsd tonnes.
The full-scale invasion radically changed the geography and size of the construction market, caused personnel changes, influenced the legislation and also opened up new business segments for Ukrainian construction companies.
Rauta director Andriy Ozeychuk told about trends and changes in construction during 2022-2023.
To date, total amount of losses is more than $150 billion, including the largest losses suffered by the housing stock ($56 billion), infrastructure ($37 billion) and industry ($12 billion). During the two years of the full-scale invasion, about 15% of the production facilities of construction materials were destroyed. At the same time, the segments of rolled steel and dry gypsum mixtures experienced the greatest losses.
Demand
In 2022, the size of the Ukrainian construction market decreased by approximately 65%. In 2023, there is a tendency to consumption growth of construction products and services, and according to the yearly forecasts, the market is expected to increase by 20%. At the same time, the size of the residential real estate market in hryvnia equivalent will remain at the level as it was last year, non-residential construction will grow by 15%, and infrastructure will show an increase of 40%.
The demand structure for new residential real estate in Ukraine has changed dramatically. Front-line regions experienced the biggest drop in construction market to almost 90%, the central part – a decrease up to 70%, and in the west, construction increased by 15%, which is associated with the relocation of businesses and internally displaced persons, as well as the active development of real estate resorts in the Carpathians.
The primary real estate market was reoriented mainly to the west of Ukraine. Developers in other regions are mostly focused on finishing current projects, which were started before March 2022. Currently, most investors do not dare to start new construction projects and take a wait-and-see attitude.
In the Centeral, Northen and Eastern Ukraine, the demand for the reconstruction services of destroyed buildings and structures has significantly increased. A business that has suffered the destruction of real estate needs the reconstruction of buildings in order to resume functioning.
Currently the fastest-growing construction segments are the infrastructure reconstruction, primarily bridges and social buildings, at the expense of state budget and donor funds.
In response to wartime threats, new segments of the construction market appeared: structures for the protection of critical infrastructure facilities and modular reinforced concrete shelters designed to protect people during air raids, artillery fire, etc.
Prices
In 2022-2023, the cost of construction increased by 53%, which led to a similar price increase for the primary real estate market. The construction cost price will continue to grow, which is determined by objective processes, including increased demand and inflation.
Import reorientation
Suppliers of construction materials, which previously imported products from the russia and belarus (glass, bitumen, rolled steel, cement, sandwich panels, etc.), were forced to reorient themselves to supply goods from EU countries and Turkey.
Due to the closure of Ukrainian ports, the import of construction materials by sea (rolled steel, chemicals, decoration materials, etc.) became impossible. Today, the import of these materials to Ukraine takes place mainly through Romania, which has led to an increase in their cost.
At the end of 2023, complications arose with the import of raw materials and construction materials due to blocking by Polish and Slovak carriers of checkpoints on the border with Ukraine. It also caused an increase in prices and delivery times of imported construction materials.
Personnel
During the full-scale invasion, the reduction in the number of the working population of Ukraine amounted to about 35%. The mobilization and emigration of qualified specialists caused a shortage of personnel in the construction industry, which is felt even against the background of a significant market decrease. In the future, this may lead to an increase in wages, which will further increase the cost of construction, but still it will not solve the problem of the lack of qualified personnel.
In this regard, rapid construction technologies, which require a minimum number of workers, are becoming more and more popular. For example, the construction of buildings from sandwich panels requires much smaller number of specialists than in case of installing building from small pieces of materials.
During reconstruction, Ukraine will need a large number of construction specialists, therefore, in the future, we are likely to expect labor migration of qualified personnel from the EU and labor specialties from Asia.
Legislation
Among the main legislative innovations in recent years, there is a notable trend to improve people’s safety and improve the energy efficiency of buildings. Thus, the adoption of amendments to Law No. 2486-IX regulates the requirements for the arrangement of bomb shelters during the construction of new buildings. Also, DBN B.2.6-31:2021 changed the requirements for the minimum permissible values of the reduced heat transfer resistance of the envelope structures of buildings, which increased by an average of 28%.
Preparation for reconstruction
Currently, most Ukrainian investors are preparing for reconstruction and are actively calculating the cost of construction, but as a rule they are waiting for the end of hostilities to start new projects.
International financial institutions are also planning to get involved in reconstruction and are gradually entering the Ukrainian market. The key criteria for financing post-war construction in Ukraine will be transparency and speed of project implementation, so international organizations are already starting to establish partnerships with reliable Ukrainian construction companies. At the same time, priority is given to companies that work with European materials and technologies, which allows to create modern architecturally attractive and energy-efficient buildings.
Benchmark oil prices are little changed during morning trading on Tuesday, and the day before, quotes fell to their lowest levels since mid-November on fears that OPEC+ countries will not fully comply with their commitments to reduce production.
The price of February futures for Brent on the London ICE Futures exchange by 7:10 a.m. was $78.03 per barrel, which corresponds to the level at the close of the previous session. The day before, these contracts fell in price by $0.85 (1.1%) to $78.03 per barrel.
Quotes for January futures for WTI in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange (NYMEX) by this time increased by 5 cents to $73.09 per barrel. At the end of the previous session, they fell by $1.03 (1.4%) to $73.04 per barrel.
On Monday, both brands ended trading at their lows since November 16.
Last week, some OPEC+ countries announced a voluntary reduction in oil production by 2.2 million barrels per day in the first quarter of 2024. The reduction in production by OPEC+ will ensure a balance in the oil market in the first quarter of next year, but without further measures in the second quarter, the global market may experience a surplus of 1 million bpd, Citi analysts fear.
In addition, the fact that the oil production restrictions are voluntary raises skepticism about compliance with the terms of the agreement, the analysts added.
More than 700 participants, including more than 50 representatives of large businesses, gathered on November 30 at Mind WinTech Summit 2023, the largest and most effective conference dedicated to various aspects of change management and innovation during the war. This is the first such event organized by a business publication in Ukraine.
The main topic of discussion was the adaptation of Ukrainian business to military realities, the search for new growth points in these extreme conditions and the development of technologies that bring our Victory closer.
There were six mainstream panels and a separate discussion platform.
The most important trends, cases, solutions and directions of technological development of Ukraine were discussed on the main stage of the conference. In particular:
FinTech – opportunities provided by open banking, innovations and technologies in retail;
AgriTech/FoodTech – technologies that change the production and safety of food;
MilitaryTech – automation of combat units: market development and technologies that can provide a breakthrough at the front;
EdTech & Change Management – changes in the personnel policy of large companies and adaptation of personnel to the changes taking place;
IoT – cases of using smart sensors in various industries: smart resource consumption, digital cities, and digitalization of large industry;
MedTech – prospects for the development of biotechnology and genetic engineering in the Ukrainian medical industry.
What the speakers and moderators of Mind WinTech Summit 2023 discussed:
– Natalia Denikeeva, Director of the IT Industry Development Directorate at the Ministry of Digital Transformation:
“When we started the ministry, we were told ‘Don’t break it’… As of now, we have 720 residents in Diia.City, and mostly product companies are joining.”
– Dmytro Shymkiv, co-founder of AeroDrone:
“International MilTech companies want to work with us because we test products every day.”
– Oleksandr Lapko, CEO of RozetkaPay:
“We (with traditional banks) can find synergies and the best products that a partner can give us: good rates, access to the customer base. Therefore, we need to weigh everything together. At the moment, we see advantages in synergy, and we can build synergy with banks in a way that would be beneficial for both them and us.”
– Oleg Klymenko, Member of the Management Board of OTP Bank:
“At the moment, banks have a task that is the opposite of the development of the crypto asset industry”
– Olena Plakhova, Director of Reputation Management at Nova Poshta Group, Member of the Board of Directors:
“Nova Poshta is buying a third Boeing aircraft for its own airline”
– Vladislav Kosmin, Corporate Vice President of Boosteroid:
“By the early 2030s, 90% of gamers will use the cloud. All profits in the gaming industry will be concentrated there”
Also among the speakers and moderators of the event:
– Nadiia Omelchenko, Vice President of IT-Integrator
– Viacheslav Polinovsky, CEO of GoITeens
– Maria Shevchuk, acting executive director of the IT Ukraine Association
– Yevhen Sarantsov, Ukrainian entrepreneur, founder of Reactor.ua and Blackbox.ua
– Anna Tigipko, founder of izibank
– Sergiy Milman, CEO of YouControl
– Olena Ero, SME expert, project manager of Unlimit Ukraine, European Business Association
– Vladyslav Kosmin, Corporate Vice President of Boosteroid.
Alongside the presentations, panel discussions, and Q&A sessions of the main stage, the Networking Scene for media, startups, and investors was open: Q&A sessions, speed dating, pitches by technology teams and open innovation platforms, case studies, and more.
The summit was organized by the Ministry of Digital Transformation of Ukraine and the IT Ukraine Association.
We would also like to thank our partners:
the main innovation partner Boosteroid,
financial partner OTP Bank,
partner of the IT-Integrator company,
educational partner GoITeens.
Also.
Latinium, IDS Ukraine, Founders League, Pepsico, It Interprise, Kyiv Digital, MIM, ACMP Ukraine, EBA, Laboratoria Publishing House, Ribes ua.
The media partners of the conference were:
– international business community BOARD,
– robota.ua,
– Vector media,
– Comments (Comments.ua),
– Lobby X,
– Root-Nation.com,
– Ukrainian Week
– Internet portal Marketer,
– Community Founder,
– PostEat edition,
– ApiX-Drive service
