Ukrainian tour operator Join UP! plans to launch franchising in the Baltic States and Kazakhstan in 2024, according to Marina Dayneko, head of the Join UP! sales office, in an interview with the Interfax-Ukraine news agency.
“Currently, more than 100 agencies are operating under this model in Ukraine, and four in Moldova, two of which opened this year. We are continuing to develop franchising in Poland and are currently signing agreements with both Polish and Ukrainian partners. This year, we are launching franchising in Kazakhstan and the Baltic states,” she said.
As reported, the travel company Join UP! LLC was established in 2013 with a registered capital of UAH 72.671 million. The ultimate beneficiaries are Yuriy and Oleksandr Alby. According to the OpenDataBot service, at the end of 2024, the tour operator’s revenue decreased to UAH 376,000 from UAH 16,639,000 in 2023, and its net loss decreased to UAH 217,451,000 from UAH 233,341,000, respectively.
The brand’s international expansion covers eight markets: the Baltic states, Kazakhstan, Moldova, Poland, Romania, and the Czech Republic. Preparations are underway to launch operations in Slovakia and Hungary. Last year, the brand also opened its first franchise agency on the international market in Katowice, Poland.
A large glass container manufacturer, Kostopil Glassworks (KZS, Rivne region), is in the process of acquiring Khmelnytsky Regional Brewery (Khmelpyvo, Proskurivske, Khmelnytske brands), a regional beer producer.
As reported by the Antimonopoly Committee of Ukraine (AMCU) on Thursday, it has granted KZS permission to acquire control over PJSC Khmelpyvo.
According to the disclosure system of the National Securities and Stock Market Commission (NSSMC), the main shareholder of Khmelpyvo, with a 78.0286% stake, is the company’s director, Oleksandr Lysyuk.
The company has convened an extraordinary shareholders’ meeting on June 13, at which the supervisory board headed by Lysyuk will be dismissed and replaced by a new one headed by the chairman of the Federation of Employers of Ukraine, Dmytro Oliynyk, who owns 19.46% of KZS and, together with his family, 49.53%.
It was proposed to keep Oleksandr Mazur on the supervisory board and replace Nadiya Kravets with Yuriy Matsak.
In 2024, Khmelpyvo increased its revenue by 2.8% to UAH 146.41 million and reduced its net profit by 3.9% to UAH 76.86 million. At the meeting on April 8 this year, the issue of allocating all profits to the technical re-equipment of the company was raised.
Its equity capital at the beginning of this year amounted to UAH 547.97 million, cash – UAH 326.04 million, assets – UAH 559.4 million, and the number of employees – 125.
Kostopil Glass Factory is one of the largest industrial enterprises in the Rivne region and is one of the five largest manufacturers of glass containers in Ukraine. The company ended 2024 with a net profit of UAH 76.5 million, which is 6.6 times less than in 2023, and its net income decreased by 18% to UAH 1 billion 467.8 million.
The main products of KSZ are beverage containers (91% of last year’s production), with bottles accounting for 9%. According to the plant, last year 51% of its products (UAH 755.3 million) were exported, in particular to Poland, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria, Slovakia, Moldova, Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia.
KZS reported that it plans to increase glass container production by 10-15% annually and increase sales accordingly. As of early 2025, the plant employed 503 people.
According to YouControl, Oliynyk owns 19.46% of KZS LLC, his family members Tetyana, Kyrylo, and Ivan Oliynyk own 16.27% and 6.9% respectively, Another 22% is owned by the Bulgarian company Fisherman Investments, 9.06% by Andriy Rybitsky, 4.85% each by Anatoliy Kucheruk, Leonid Smilyants, Andriy Filimonuk, and a private enterprise, the company Sava.
The Antimonopoly Committee of Ukraine (AMCU) fined Bauer Medical GmbH Subsidiary Company (Ivano-Frankivsk) a total of UAH 300,000 for false information on the packaging of Heparin Dr. Bauer cream in 25-gram tubes.
According to the AMCU, the committee concluded that the information stating that this cream is an “anti-varicose, anti-edema, and tonic agent” is false and misleading. At the same time, the company did not provide the committee with sufficient evidence to confirm the information about the properties of the cosmetic product.
At the same time, the company acknowledged the violation, ceased it, and recalled and returned the relevant products, which was taken into account by the committee when calculating the amount of the fine.
The AMCU specifies that the company was fined UAH 100,000 for violating the law on protection against unfair competition and another UAH 200,000 for violating the legislation on protection of economic competition.
LLC “Subsidiary Company Bauer Medical GmbH” was founded in 2001 and is engaged in the retail sale of pharmaceutical and cosmetic products. The ultimate beneficiary of the company is Oksana Shevchenko.
Shareholders of PrJSC “Production Association ‘Stalkanat’ (Odessa) once again intend to allocate UAH 60,511,837 thousand for the payment of dividends at a rate of UAH 0.58 per share from the profit for 2024.
The relevant issue has been included in the agenda of the extraordinary general meeting of shareholders scheduled for June 11 this year in remote mode.
According to the draft decision, which was reviewed by Interfax-Ukraine, it is planned to pay dividends from part of the net profit for 2024 in the amount of 60 million 511 thousand 836.74 UAH, calculated at 0.29 UAH per share, through direct payment to shareholders.
The deadline for dividend payments is December 11, 2025. Payments will be made directly to shareholders’ accounts.
Earlier, Stalkanat shareholders included this issue on the agenda of the general meeting of shareholders scheduled for March 10, 2025.
At the same time, the overall profit figures for 2024 are not provided.
Stalkanat is one of the largest manufacturers of steel ropes and reinforcing bars in Eastern Europe and a leader in the production of metal products in Ukraine.
According to the National Securities and Stock Market Service for the fourth quarter of 2024, Davyd Nemirovsky owns 50% of the shares, Anton Mikhalenko owns 23.7%, and Maria Kondratyuk owns 23.1%. Earlier, the company reported that Vitaly Dubovich, a natural person, owned 3.199998% of its shares.
The authorized capital of Stalkanat is currently UAH 17.736 million, with a par value of UAH 0.17 per share.
The state-owned enterprise Ukrainian Sea Ports Authority (USPA) increased its revenue by 55.56% to UAH 6.3 billion in 2024.
According to the annual report available to Interfax-Ukraine, the company’s net profit increased 3.4 times to UAH 2.77 billion.
According to the results of 2024, the cargo turnover of six seaports in Chornomorsk, Odesa, Pivdennyi, Reni, Izmail, and Ust-Dunaysk increased by 57.1% compared to the same period in 2023, reaching 97.3 million tons.
The USPA manages state-owned ports and a number of state-owned enterprises, pursuing the goal of ensuring the functioning and development of seaports through the efficient use of state property, the reconstruction and construction of port infrastructure facilities, and the provision of maritime navigation.
The company’s activities are financed by port fees collected in accordance with the law, fees for services subject to state regulation, rent, and other sources not prohibited by law.
