The postal and logistics group Meest intends to set up its own air transportation company a year after the end of the war, Meest China shareholder Vyacheslav Lysenko told Interfax-Ukraine in an interview.
“An international aviation logistics group is very serious. We need to prepare for it now, and this is exactly what we are doing now – studying, calculating, modeling. I can say this – we will definitely approach the issue of purchasing transport aircraft a year after the end of the war,” he said, adding that the company is carefully studying the purchase of transcontinental aircraft capable of flying up to 10 thousand kilometers.
The group came to the conclusion that it needed to set up its own air transportation company three years ago, but the issue was put on hold due to the full-scale invasion.
“We have this dream and have been studying this issue for three years now. But now it is definitely not on the agenda because of the full-scale invasion and the closed skies over Ukraine. We will not use European airports, because in this case we lose all competitive advantages. European companies have hundreds, thousands of airplanes and, of course, have better conditions and rates,” Lysenko said.
Prime One Capital Limited, the majority shareholder of Ovostar Union, controlled by CEO Boris Belikov and Chairman of the Board of Directors Vitaliy Veresenko, has reduced its stake from 67.93% to 65.93% of the authorized capital.
According to the agricultural holding’s announcement on the stock exchange, the deal to sell 120 thousand shares took place on September 29 at a price of PLN70 per share ($15.87 at the current exchange rate), while the current exchange rate is PLN61.5 per share.
It is specified that Prime One Capital now owns 3 million 956.046 thousand shares.
As reported, the international insurance group Fairfax Financial Holdings (Canada) increased its stake in Ovostar from 17.499% to 27.51% following the transaction on September 13, while the pension fund Generali OFE managed by Generali Powszechne Towarzystwo Emerytlane S. A., which owned 10.93% of the shares.
In this regard, the shares of Ovostar, one of the leading producers of eggs and egg products in Ukraine, were excluded from the list of index participants after the September 26 session: WIG, WIG-CEE, WIG-food and WIG-Ukraine.
“Ovostar no longer meets the criteria of the above indices, as the share of its shares in free-float is less than 10%,” GPW Benchmark said.
As a result, only six issuers remained in the WIG-Ukraine country index, with two accounting for more than 80% of the index basket: “Astarta – 47.083% and IMC – 34.888%, while Ovostar’s share before the exclusion was 19.158%.
The WIG-Ukraine index began to be calculated on May 4, 2011. The base level of 1000 points was taken as December 31, 2010. The WIG-Ukraine is a total return index, so its calculation takes into account both share prices and income from dividends and subscription rights. The index currently stands at 246.6 points.
“In mid-June 2011, Ovostar Union conducted an IPO of 25% of its shares on the WSE at PLN62 per share and raised $33.2 million.
In the first half of 2023, the holding earned $20.63 million in net profit, while it ended the same period in 2022 with a net loss of $19.78 million. Revenue increased by 56.8% to $88.69 million, mainly due to higher prices for its products.
Generation distribution in power system of Ukraine in 2022
Source: Open4Business.com.ua and experts.news
Benchmark oil prices are falling on Tuesday morning after hitting three-week lows the day before.
The price of December futures for Brent on the London ICE Futures exchange at 8:17 a.m. is $89.74 per barrel, which is $0.97 (1.07%) lower than at the close of the previous session. On Monday, these contracts fell by $1.49 (1.6%) to $90.71 per barrel.
Quotes for November futures for WTI in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange (NYMEX) by this time decreased by $0.74 (0.83%) to $88.08 per barrel. At the end of the previous session, they fell by $1.97 (2.2%) to $88.82 per barrel.
The main negative factor for commodity markets on Monday was the strengthening of the dollar on the news that the US government had managed to avoid a shutdown, as well as fears of new Federal Reserve rate hikes. The ICE index, which measures the dollar against six major world currencies, is at its highest level since last November.
“The decline in oil prices has very little to do with fundamentals and is driven by rising US government bond yields and a stronger dollar,” wrote Warren Patterson of ING. – “I think that the quotes have the potential for further growth.
Oil grew strongly in the summer and is still supported by concerns about fuel supply on the global market, said Colin Czeszynski, senior market strategist at SIA Wealth Management. “At the same time, from a technical point of view, oil is overbought, and it seems to be entering a correction phase,” he added.
Investors’ attention is now focused on the meeting of the OPEC+ Ministerial Monitoring Committee (JMMC), which will be held on Wednesday.
The Business Confidence Index (BCI), calculated by the National Bank of Ukraine (NBU) on a scale from zero to 100, rose to 50.1 points in September from 49.3 in August, the National Bank of Ukraine (NBU) said on Monday.
“In September, businesses positively assessed their current performance after two months of restrained expectations. A gradual recovery in production rates, the establishment of new supply routes, a decrease in the growth rate of raw material and energy costs, improved inflation and exchange rate expectations, and strong domestic demand led to an improvement in respondents’ expectations,” the regulator said.
In particular, in September, assessments of the economic situation slightly improved in industry, services and trade, respectively from 48.8 to 50 points, from 47.3 to 47.9 points and from 52.5 to 53.3 points.
Respondents in the industrial sector improved their assessment of their economic performance, given the gradual recovery in production, new ways of supplying products, and slowing inflation.
Enterprises expect prices for their own products to rise further (from 58.8 points in August to 61.4 points in September), while lower expectations of rising prices for raw materials and supplies (from 32.3 points to 30.9 points).
According to the central bank, respondents maintained positive expectations about the volume of manufactured products and new orders for them, as well as inventories of raw materials.
It is indicated that respondents expect new export orders for products at the level of the previous month. At the same time, negative assessments of work in progress have eased somewhat, while assessments of finished goods stocks have deteriorated.
According to the NBU, trade enterprises remain the most optimistic among other sectors: for the seventh month in a row, they have been assessing their performance positively. In particular, this is due to strong consumer sentiment, sufficient supply of goods, and slowing inflation. The sectoral index in September was 53.3, up from 52.5 in August.
It is emphasized that traders are set to further increase their turnover and the volume of goods purchased for sale. At the same time, against the backdrop of stronger forecasts of higher purchase prices, respondents softened their estimates of the growth in the value of goods purchased for sale, while maintaining positive estimates of inventories of goods for sale and weakening estimates of a decline in trade margins.
As for service companies, their assessments softened somewhat, while this is the only sector that retained negative assessments of its business activity, given the destruction of transport logistics, higher fuel prices, and weak demand. The sectoral index for services rose to 47.9 last month from 47.3 in August.
According to the central bank, unlike the previous two months, respondents expected a slight increase in the volume of services provided and mitigated negative expectations of new orders. However, after three months of positive expectations, they predict a decrease in the volume of services in progress.
According to the NBU, construction companies maintained positive assessments of their performance for the fifth consecutive month due to a revival in demand for mortgage loans under preferential government programs, budget financing for construction and road rehabilitation, and seasonal factors. However, the sectoral index still fell to 50.6 points in August from 51 points in August.
It is noted that builders were somewhat more confident about the growth in construction volumes and were set to increase new orders, as well as purchases of raw materials and supplies. Also, respondents’ expectations for growth in the procurement and cost of contractor services have significantly increased, while negative assessments of their availability have softened.
Overall, most respondents expect their own products and services to rise in price amid rising purchase prices.
As for employment, the NBU assesses it as “heterogeneous.”
For the third month in a row, trade companies have been expecting an increase in staff (51.4 points), while construction managers, like last month, do not expect any changes (50 points). At the same time, respondents in industry and services still expect a reduction in the total number of employees (48.2 and 47.2 points, respectively).
The NBU clarified that the monthly survey of enterprises was conducted from September 4 to 22. It involved 502 companies. Among the surveyed enterprises, 44.4% are industrial companies, 28.9% are service companies, 20.7% are trade companies, and 5% are construction companies; 32.3% of respondents are large enterprises, 29.3% are medium-sized enterprises, and 38.4% are small enterprises.
At the same time, 31.9% of the surveyed enterprises carry out export and import operations, 9.6% – only export operations, 15.5% – only import operations, 43% – do not carry out external economic operations.
Starting from October 3, banks that have been able to buy and sell foreign currency at the request of their clients only within the official exchange rate of the National Bank of Ukraine +/- 1% may set it independently without this restriction.
The relevant provision is enshrined in the NBU Board Resolution No. 121 of October 2 on the transition to a regime of managed exchange rate flexibility, which amended the “military” NBU Board Resolution No. 18 of February 24, 2022.
“You read our amendments to Resolution No. 18 correctly: that is, there is no peg plus +1% now,” NBU Deputy Governor Yuriy Heletiy confirmed at a briefing on Monday.
