The National Bank of Ukraine (NBU) this week again increased net sales of foreign currency on the interbank market to $646.30 million from $624.49 million a week earlier, according to the regulator’s data. According to them, the central bank refrained from buying foreign currency for the third week in a row, while sales jumped from $624.49m to $646.30m.
The official hryvnia exchange rate rose by 17 kopecks over the week. – UAH/$1 to 41.0592 UAH/$1, while on the cash market the hryvnia strengthened by about 11 kopecks when buying – to 41.30 UAH/$1 and by 10 kopecks when selling – to 41.40 UAH/$1
Since the beginning of 2024, the dollar at the official rate has appreciated by 8%, or by UAH 3.05, and since the transition of the National Bank on October 3, 2023 to the regime of managed flexibility – by 12.3%, or by UAH 4.49.
Thus, this month the hryvnia managed to fall by 0.1%, or by 5 kopecks, while in July the official hryvnia exchange rate fell by 1.4%, or by 55 kopecks – to 41.0063 UAH/$1. In June, its decline slowed to 3 kopecks after weakening by 90 kopecks in May.
As evidenced by the data that the NBU managed to publish for this period, from Monday to Thursday the negative balance between the volume of currency purchases and sales by the population gradually widened from $5.96 mln to $36.63 mln.
Ukraine’s international reserves in July, according to preliminary estimates of the National Bank, decreased by 1.8%, or $572.3 million – to $37 billion 231.9 million, while net international reserves (NIR) fell by $3 billion – to $23.30 billion. According to the quantitative performance criterion (QPC) in the updated program of expanded financing of the EFF, Ukraine’s NIR at the end of September this year should be at least $28.8 billion, and at the end of the year – at least $26.3 billion.
At the same time, according to the Ministry of Finance, Ukraine received about $8.4bn of external financing in August. In particular, $4.5bn from the EU under the Ukraine Facility, of which $1.6bn is a grant, as well as $3.9bn grant from the US through the World Bank’s PEACE in Ukraine project.
The World Bank Board of Directors has approved a new $415 million systemic project in Ukraine, “Making Education Accessible and Resilient in Ukraine’s Crisis (LEARN),” aimed at improving primary and secondary education in Ukraine, reaching one million students, teachers, and school staff.
“It is critical to mitigate the impact of war on children, especially those from the most vulnerable families, by minimizing disruption to the learning process,” World Bank Regional Director for Eastern Europe Bob Soma was quoted as saying in a World Bank release on Saturday night.
It is specified that the LEARN programs include measures aimed at improving overall school safety conditions, providing free transportation for vulnerable students, conducting teacher training, purchasing textbooks and improving governance in the education sector. The project also aims to help implement a comprehensive education reform in grades 1-12, known as the New Ukrainian School (NUS), which is aligned with EU standards, the WB pointed out.
“The LEARN project will help thousands of Ukrainian students return to a protected learning environment,” Finance Minister Serhiy Marchenko was quoted as saying in the release.
It is specified that the project is implemented using the financial instrument “Program-for-results, Program-for-results” (PforR).
The Ministry of Finance notes that LEARN is aimed at improving conditions for teaching and learning, implemented at the expense of subventions from the state budget to local budgets.
The WB notes that initial funding for the LEARN program includes $235 million from the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development’s (IBRD) ADVANCE Ukraine Trust Fund, $150 million from the International Development Association’s (IDA) Special Program for the Reconstruction of Ukraine and Moldova, and $30 million from the Ukraine Support, Recovery, Rehabilitation and Reform Trust Fund (URTF). The program provides results-based financing that can be scaled up if additional funds are available.
On Thursday, the international chain JYSK opened a new store in Kryvyi Rih in the Terra shopping center at 1B Charivna Street, the retailer’s press service reported.
“The new JYSK store in Kryvyi Rih is located in the renovated Terra shopping center in the 5th Zarechnyi district. This store is the third in the city, the 99th in Ukraine and one of 29 JYSK stores planned to be opened by the company in August 2024 in Europe,” said JYSK Country Director in Ukraine Yevhen Ivanitsa, as quoted in the press release.
The new store will have a selling area of 1034 square meters, a warehouse of 307 square meters, and office space of 41.05 square meters. In addition, there are additional exhibition areas for furniture in front of the store and on the outer territory of the shopping center.
It is noted that in connection with the opening of the new store in the city, eight new employees joined the JYSK team, and four more were promoted. JYSK has more than 800 employees in the country.
Currently, there are 99 stores and the online store jysk.ua in Ukraine.
JYSK is part of the family-owned Lars Larsen Group with more than 3.4 thousand stores in 48 countries.
JYSK’s revenue in the financial year 2022/23 amounted to EUR 5.2 billion.
“Corum Druzhkovka Machine-Building Plant (Corum DrMZ), a part of Corum Group (DTEK Energy), will complete the production of a second mine fan for Blagodatnaya mine at Geroyev Kosmosa Mine this fall, the company said.
“At the end of 2023, the plant manufactured and delivered the first VOD-30M2 to the customer, and is now working on the second similar fan, which will be ready this fall. The new equipment is to replace the old fan that has reached the end of its service life,” the plant’s Facebook page says.
The complexity of the order is that the new equipment needs to be installed on an existing foundation.
The report reminds that VOD-30M2 is a two-stage axial fan with a 3 m impeller diameter and a capacity of 1250 kW (equivalent to the power of 8-16 passenger cars). The capacity is 160 cubic meters per second.
“Corum DrMZ, which will be relocated to Dnipro in 2022, manufactured 46 units of mining equipment in July this year to order from DTEK Energy mines.
According to Opendatabot, in 2023, the plant earned UAH 500 million in net profit, compared to a loss of UAH 453 million a year earlier, with net income increasing 2.7 times to UAH 1 billion 530 million.
Corum Group is a leading manufacturer of mining equipment in Ukraine. It is a part of DTEK Energy, the operating company responsible for coal mining and coal-fired power generation within Rinat Akhmetov’s DTEK energy holding.
Blagodatnaya Mine, BUILDING PLANT, Druzhkovka Machine, Mine Fan
A revised draft law on tax increases during wartime (No. 11416-d) was registered in the Verkhovna Rada on Friday, the parliament’s website reports.
The text of the draft law on amendments to the Tax Code of Ukraine regarding the peculiarities of taxation during martial law is not yet available on the website.
The draft law is authored by MPs Danylo Hetmantsev and Andriy Motovylovets (Servant of the People faction) and Oleksandr Lukashev (Restoration of Ukraine parliamentary group).
As reported, the Parliamentary Committee on Finance, Taxation and Customs Policy recommended that the Verkhovna Rada adopt as a basis the revised draft law on raising tax rates.
According to Committee Chairman Hetmantsev, the draft law provides for an increase in the military tax rate from 1.5% to 5%, setting the military tax at 1% of income for individual entrepreneurs (IEs) for single tax payers of group III and at 10% of the minimum wage for single tax payers of groups I, II and IV.
LAW, PARLIAMENT, TAX
Astarta Agro Holding, the largest sugar producer in Ukraine, reduced its net profit by 13.9% in the first half of 2024 compared to the first half of 2023 to EUR47.11 million, according to the company’s report on the Warsaw Stock Exchange.
According to the report, consolidated revenue increased by 11.6% to EUR320.71 million, while gross profit grew by 0.5% to $126.63 million and EBITDA decreased by 11.7% to $85.83 million.
“The EBITDA margin was 27%, down 7 p.p. (percentage points) year-on-year due to falling prices and higher SG&A expenses,” the report states.
Taking into account the data for the first quarter, Astarta managed to improve its performance in the second quarter. As reported, in the first quarter of 2024, the agricultural holding reduced its net profit by 44.1% to EUR9.02 million, EBITDA by 24.5% to $28.62 million, and its consolidated revenue increased by 1.4% to EUR165.78 million.
It is noted that the main growth factor in the first half of the year was sugar production, which accounted for 40% of total revenue, or EUR128 million (+48% compared to last year), followed by crop production with 31%, or EUR99 million (-2% compared to last year). Soybean processing accounted for 18% of Astarta’s consolidated revenue, or EUR58 million (-18% y-o-y), while livestock production accounted for 8%, or EUR25 million (+20% y-o-y).
It is indicated that export sales increased to 67% of consolidated revenue or EUR215 million in the first half of this year against 55% in the first half of last year.
The main contribution to EBITDA was made by crop production – EUR44.26 million against EUR43.68 million in the first half of last year, while the sugar segment’s EBITDA fell to EUR12.20 million from EUR24.10 million a year earlier.
In livestock, EBITDA increased to EUR 14.55 million from EUR 9.48 million in the first quarter of last year, while in soybean processing it decreased to EUR 16.45 million from EUR 20.11 million.
It is noted that the operating cash flow increased by 67.7% to EUR116.4 mln in six months due to lower inventories.
Investments increased 2.1 times to EUR20.19 million, mainly in crop and sugar production.
Over the year, Astarta’s net debt decreased from EUR131.55 million to EUR95.86 million, and free cash flow increased from EUR20.96 million to EUR72.84 million.
It is noted that the abnormally hot weather without rain forced the agricultural holding to accelerate the harvesting of winter crops. Less favorable weather conditions also led to lower yields in 2024, however, in the western regions of the country there was more precipitation, winter crops yields were higher, and overall yields were higher than the average for Ukraine.
The gross harvest of winter wheat amounted to 5.3 t/ha (-16% y-o-y), which means a harvest of 260 thsd tonnes (-4% y-o-y). Rapeseed yields averaged 3.4 t/ha (-17% y/y), with a harvest of 40 thou tons (-29% y/y). Harvesting of late crops for 2024 is ongoing. Sowing of winter rapeseed for the 2025 harvest started in mid-August. The planned sowing area is 20 thou hectares compared to 12 thou hectares last year.
“Astarta reminded that this year’s corn acreage decreased three times compared to last year, to 6 thou hectares, and sunflower acreage decreased by 34%, to 18 thou hectares. At the same time, the area under soybeans increased by 27% to 70 thou hectares to maximize the supply of its own products for soybean processing, Astarta said.
The company added that the area under sugar beet remained virtually unchanged and amounted to 38 thou hectares (-1% y-o-y), while the area under organic crops remained at the same level – about 2 thou hectares.
“Astarta is a vertically integrated agro-industrial holding company operating in eight regions of Ukraine. It comprises six sugar factories, agricultural enterprises with a land bank of 220 thousand hectares and dairy farms with 22 thousand cattle, an oil extraction plant in Globyno (Poltava region), seven elevators and a biogas complex.
In 2023, the agricultural holding reduced its net profit by 5.0% to EUR 61.9 million, and its EBITDA decreased by 6.1% to EUR 145.77 million, while revenue increased by 21.3% to EUR 618.93 million.
