Business news from Ukraine

Business news from Ukraine

“Astarta” starts grain harvesting campaign on 61 thou hectares of land

Astarta Agro Holding has started the harvesting campaign, during which it plans to harvest early grain crops from an area of 61 thousand hectares, including winter wheat from 49 thousand hectares, the company’s press service reported on Facebook.

“Today we started threshing rapeseed. The work started in Poltava region. It is an ultra-early date – ahead of the average long-term calendar indicators – but the harvesting dates are predictable. We also plan to start harvesting wheat at the end of this week. Companies in the western region plan to start harvesting no earlier than July 7-9. Currently, we see the biggest challenges in ensuring the continuity of all harvesting stages in the context of simultaneous harvesting of several crops due to constant air raids and power outages,” said Roman Pavlyk, Head of Crop Production at the agricultural holding.

The agroholding’s farmers have also completed harvesting winter peas from an area of 599 hectares. This is a new crop for Astarta with ultra-early harvesting dates.

“Astarta is a vertically integrated agro-industrial holding 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.

In the first quarter of 2024, Astarta reduced its net profit by 44.1% year-on-year to EUR9.02 million, while its consolidated revenue increased by 1.4% to EUR165.78 million.

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WOG paid over UAH 5.8 bln in taxes and fees

In January-May 2024, the WOG filling station network transferred UAH 5.82 billion to the budgets of all levels.

According to the company’s press service, UAH 797.25 million were taxes on operating activities and UAH 5.023 billion were import taxes.

Personnel taxes for the first five months of 2024 amounted to over UAH 290.4 million, up 61% compared to the same period in 2023. This amount includes the unified social contribution (USC), personal income tax (PIT) and the fee.

The WOG filling station network is one of the largest in Ukraine, with about 400 locations.

West Petroleum Market LLC (manages the WOG filling station chain) was founded in 2018, with the ultimate beneficiaries being Serhiy Lagur and Svitlana Ivakhiv. In 2023, the company generated UAH 27.69 billion in revenue, which is 17.8% less than in 2022. Net profit more than halved to UAH 265 million 890 thousand in 2023 from UAH 560 million 515 thousand in 2022.

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Ukrainian corn exports reached 2.2 mln tons in June

As of June 22, Ukraine exported 2.2 million tons of corn, indicating a high level of activity in the market, according to the analytical cooperative “Start”, created within the framework of the All-Ukrainian Agrarian Council (AAC).

Analysts predict that June will be the most productive month for exports, but in July-August, the figures may decline significantly as the market switches to a new harvest.

“The global situation was unfavorable for Ukrainian corn. Although it is still in demand on the Italian market, its competitiveness is decreasing due to the pricing policy. For example, Argentine corn is sold at $212-213/ton on the Italian market, which is about the same level as Ukrainian corn. At the same time, Argentine corn is several dollars cheaper in Spain, making it more attractive to buyers. Under such conditions, Ukrainian traders are not in a hurry to sell their existing stocks, as their volume is limited,” the experts said.

According to their information, the corn market is entering the off-season, and prices are expected to stabilize in the coming weeks.

“If there is demand, the conditional prices for corn may fluctuate within $172-174 per ton. On average, on the CPT basis, the price will be around $170/ton in the coming weeks,” Pusk summarized.

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KD Life Insurance Company plans to increase its authorized capital to almost UAH 61 mln

Insurance company “KD Life” (Kyiv) plans to increase its authorized capital by UAH 7.267 million, up to UAH 60.569 million (+13.6%), without exercising the preemptive right of shareholders.

According to the information system of the National Securities and Stock Market Commission (NSSMC), it is planned to issue 4,910 thousand shares with a par value of UAH 1,480 thousand, with a selling price of UAH 1.5 thousand.

It is noted that the proceeds from the additional issue will be used to replenish insurance reserves to ensure compliance with the capital adequacy ratio and the company’s solvency. Financial resources will be placed in government bonds and bank deposits – 70% and 30%, respectively.

The report also notes that at the time of the decision, the company’s main shareholder is Volodymyr Polishchuk, who owns 95.99% of the insurer’s shares.

The shares will be sold from August 15 to September 10, 2024.

As reported, KD Life was founded in 2007.

Last year, the company collected UAH 57.6 million in insurance premiums, which is 7.3% more than in 2022. To ensure solvency under the concluded voluntary life insurance contracts, as of December 31, 2023, the company formed insurance reserves in the amount of UAH 428.0 million, which is 21.8% more than a year earlier.

The company’s assets increased by 21.3% to UAH 511.6 million, exceeding insurance reserves by 19.5%, or UAH 83.6 million. The actual solvency margin, calculated according to national standards, exceeds the regulatory solvency margin by 315%.

Investment income received from the placement of life insurance reserves amounted to UAH 34.5 million, which is 6.8% more than a year ago at the same date.

In 2023, the company paid UAH 9.7 million in claims for 244 insured events, which is 37.7% more than in 2022.

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External financing of state budget as of June 14, 2023, USD bln

External financing of the state budget as of June 14, 2023, USD bln

Source: Open4Business.com.ua and experts.news

Shareholders of Sukha Balka mine intend to allocate over UAH 1 bln for dividends

The shareholders of Sukha Balka Mine (Kryvyi Rih, Dnipropetrovska oblast), a part of Aleksandr Yaroslavskyi’s DCH Group, intend to allocate part of the company’s retained earnings for 2007, 2008, 2012, 2020 and 2022 in the amount of UAH 1 billion 4.865 million to pay dividends.

According to the agenda of the extraordinary general meeting of shareholders to be held on July 12 remotely, part of the net profit for 2007 in the amount of UAH 74 million 527.49 thousand and part of the net profit for 2008 in the amount of UAH 131 million 469.85 thousand are to be allocated for dividends.

In addition, it is proposed to allocate part of the net profit for 2012 in the amount of UAH 77 million 877.04 thousand, part for 2020 – UAH 240 million 330.23 thousand and part for 2022 – UAH 480 million 660.45 thousand for dividends.

“To pay dividends to the company’s shareholders for 2007, 2008, 2012, 2020, 2022 at the rate of UAH 1.2 per ordinary share, in particular: UAH 0.089 for 2007; UAH 0.157 for 2008; UAH 0.093 for 2012; UAH 0.287 for 2020; UAH 0.574 for 2022,” the draft resolution of the meeting states.

As reported, in 2023, Sukha Balka PrJSC reduced its net profit by 2.7 times compared to 2022 – to UAH 114.837 million from UAH 487.878 million.

According to the results of 2022, Sukha Balka PrJSC decreased its net profit by 2.7 times compared to 2021 – to UAH 487.878 million from UAH 1 billion 326.460 million.

It was also reported that an extraordinary meeting of shareholders of Sukha Balka on July 10, 2023 had already decided to allocate UAH 1 billion 4.865 million from retained earnings for 2008, 2010 and 2011 to pay dividends.

Sukha Balka Mine is one of the leading mining companies in Ukraine. It produces iron ore by underground mining. It includes Yubileynaya and Frunze mines. Frunze mine.

DCH Group acquired the mine from Evraz Group in May 2017.

According to the NDU for the first quarter of 2024, Yaroslavsky, who is designated as a non-resident of Ukraine (British citizen – IF-U), directly owns 77.4193% of the mine’s shares, and a resident individual, Artem Aleksandrov, owns 20%.

The authorized capital of Sukha Balka PrJSC is UAH 41.869 million, with a share par value of UAH 0.05.

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