State-owned Oschadbank has increased the credit limit for Druzhba-Nova, the largest cluster of Kernel’s agricultural holding, by almost four times – from UAH 340 million to UAH 1.253 billion, the bank’s press service reports.
According to the report, the funds are provided to replenish the working capital of the agricultural producer. Thanks to the funds raised, the company will be able to ensure an effective harvesting and sowing campaign this year, which will lead to an increase in foreign exchange earnings from Ukrainian exports.
“Supporting the agricultural sector continues to be a priority for us during the war, as it is not only food security, but also one of the main drivers of our economy and foreign exchange earnings in Ukraine,” said Yuriy Katsiyon, Deputy Chairman of the Board of Oschadbank in charge of corporate business.
The bank clarified that the loan portfolio of the Kernel group of companies in Oschadbank is already over UAH 2.2 billion.
Druzhba-Nova is one of the largest land clusters of Kernel, which cultivates more than 110 thousand hectares in Sumy, Chernihiv and Poltava regions. It specializes in crop and livestock production.
Prior to the war, Kernel was the world’s largest producer of sunflower oil (approximately 7% of global production) and a major exporter (approximately 12%). It is one of the largest producers and sellers of bottled oil in Ukraine. In addition, it is engaged in the cultivation and sale of agricultural products.
Kernel’s net profit for FY2023 amounted to $299 million, while the company ended the previous year with a net loss of $41 million. The agricultural holding’s revenue for FY2023 decreased by 35% to $3.455 billion, but EBITDA increased 2.5 times to $544 million.
In the first half of FY2024, Kernel’s net profit fell 3.6 times compared to the first half of FY2023 to $102 million, and EBITDA halved to $223 million on a 16% decline in revenue to $1.59 billion.
According to the National Bank of Ukraine (NBU), as of May 1, 2024, Oschadbank ranked 2nd (UAH 403.61 billion) in terms of total assets among 63 banks in the country. Last year, the financial institution’s net profit amounted to UAH 5.98 billion.
Revenue of Ukraine’s largest mobile operator Kyivstar in April-June this year increased by 9.5% compared to April-June 2023 to UAH 9.425 billion, and in dollars by 0.4% to $236 million, the company’s parent company VEON said in a report on Thursday.
“EBITDA increased by 9.8% yoy in local currency (+0.8% yoy in dollars) despite continued pressure from operating expenses in the second quarter of 2024, including electricity and fuel costs, as well as continued charitable donations in addition to employee support programs,” VEON said.
It is specified that EBITDA amounted to UAH 5.585 billion or $140 million. Compared to the first quarter of this year, when Kyivstar’s financial performance was significantly affected by the customer compensation program following a large-scale cyberattack in December 2023, revenue in hryvnia increased by 31.5% and EBITDA by 54%, while in dollars, the growth of these indicators was 26.1% and 47.9%, respectively.
According to the report, operating profit (EBIT) in April-June this year amounted to UAH 4.16 billion, which is 10.5% better than in April-June 2023 and almost twice as much as in January-March 2024.
In the second quarter, Kyivstar’s total operating income from mobile services increased by 8.7% to UAH 8.77 billion, including 10.8% from data transmission to UAH 5.18 billion, while income from fixed-line services increased by 16.4% to UAH 0.56 billion.
It is noted that the increase in profitability was achieved mainly due to the growth of mobile data revenues, supported by the careful implementation of cost control measures.
Kyivstar’s 4G customer base grew by 7.9% year-on-year to 14.1 million, and data usage per user increased by 11.1% to 11.3 GB per month, while voice traffic decreased by 4.5% to 540 minutes.
In general, the number of Kyivstar mobile subscribers in the second quarter of 2024 decreased by 2.9% compared to the same period in 2023 to 23.4 million, while ARPU (average monthly revenue from fixed-line voice services per subscriber) increased by 11.5% to UAH 122.9.
“Kyivstar explains the decline in its total mobile subscriber base by the number of Ukrainians living outside Ukraine.
“During 2024, Kyivstar recovered from the cyberattack in December 2023, with the subscriber base returning to pre-attack levels thanks to the successful implementation of a special customer retention program,” the report says.
It is also noted that the operator maintained access to key services, including digital healthcare, information and entertainment services, resulting in the number of Kyivstar’s multi-user subscribers increasing by 53.0% year-on-year, and revenues from multi-user services growing by 58.9%.
In particular, it is noted that Helsi, the country’s largest digital healthcare platform, continues to develop digital medicine in Ukraine: about 28 million registered patients (+11.1% compared to last year) have access to 1.6 thousand existing medical facilities and more than 38 thousand specialists active on the platform (+12.5% compared to last year).
It is specified that the number of downloads of the Helsi mobile application reached 8.2 million at the end of the quarter, which allowed customers to book 2.3 million appointments through the platform during the reporting period (+27.7% compared to the same period last year).
According to the report, Kyivstar TV streaming service ended the quarter with a 51.7% increase in monthly active users (MAUs) compared to the same period last year.
Kyivstar emphasized that thanks to the company’s efforts, almost 100% of its telecom network in the government-controlled area is operating normally, providing subscribers with communication and data services around the clock.
In Q2 2024, VEON generated revenues of $1.03 billion, up 12.1% year-on-year, with service revenue accounting for $987 million, up 11.3% year-on-year.
The telecom holding’s EBITDA increased by 10.6% year-on-year to $0.46 billion.
VEON’s revenue in national currencies increased by 15.1% and EBITDA by 13.9%. In addition to Ukraine, six other VEON subsidiaries showed revenue growth in Pakistan, Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan.
VEON’s subscriber base increased by 1% to 157.4 million in the second quarter. The number of 4G users reached 98.4 million (up 11.2%). The share of 4G users in the total subscriber base increased by 5.7 percentage points to 62.5%.
The group’s CAPEX increased by 5.8% to $181.4 million. The balance of cash and cash equivalents amounted to $722 million compared to $632 million as of March 2024. At the same time, the amount of funds decreased by 70% year-on-year.
VEON’s net debt increased by 17.6% to $3.2 billion in the second quarter.
VEON has maintained its forecast for the whole of 2024 for revenue growth in local currencies by 16-18% and EBITDA growth in local currencies by 18-20%.
Open4Business, Ukraine’s leading economic and business information portal, is now available in six languages. The new language version of the site is Chinese, with both traditional and simplified spelling used in articles.
The Open4Business project, created to meet the needs of foreign investors, specializes in providing consulting services for companies seeking to enter the Ukrainian market. The company uses an individualized approach to each project, engaging internal and external experts in the required fields.
The new Chinese version of the website is aimed at facilitating interaction with Chinese-speaking clients and partners, as well as providing a deeper understanding of the unique opportunities offered by the Ukrainian market. This initiative reflects the expansion of the international presence of the Open4Business project and its ability to promote global integration and development of the Ukrainian business environment.
“This step is an important milestone in our efforts to provide foreign companies with easy access to the Ukrainian market and strengthen international business ties. The Chinese market has a huge potential for cooperation and investment in the Ukrainian economy. The new version of our website, in my opinion, will help improve the access of Chinese companies to the Ukrainian market and facilitate the search for business partners,” – said Maxim Urakin, Open4Business project manager.
The Chinese language has two main writing systems: traditional and simplified. Traditional Chinese characters are used mainly in Hong Kong, Macau, and Taiwan. They preserve more ancient forms that have more strokes and are often more difficult to write and read.
Simplified Chinese was introduced by the Chinese government in the 1950s and 1960s with the aim of increasing literacy among the population. It uses less complex characters with fewer strokes and is widely used in mainland China, Singapore, and Malaysia. Despite the different forms of writing, both variants have many similarities and can be largely understood by speakers of both systems.
Open4Business is a joint project of the Interfax-Ukraine News Agency and Open4business.com.ua, created to meet the needs of foreign companies to enter the Ukrainian market and find business partners in Ukraine.
China has traditionally been one of Ukraine’s largest trading partners. In the first half of 2024, according to the State Customs Service, Ukraine exported about USD 1.6 billion worth of goods to China, while imports from China to Ukraine amounted to more than USD 6.4 billion.
Impact of electricity deficit on real GDP vs no deficit, % (forecast up to 2024)
Source: Open4Business.com.ua
Ukrainian Oleksandr Khyzhnyak has won the title of Olympic champion in the final of the boxing competition in the 80 kg weight category at the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris.
In the final, Khyzhnyak defeated Nurbek Oralbay of Kazakhstan by a split decision.
Management company Astrobuild, the ultimate beneficiary of which is entrepreneur Vasyl Khmelnitsky, has consolidated under management the industrial assets of two industrial parks – Belaya Tserkva and Belaya Tserkva 2 – projects of Khmelnitsky’s holding company UFuture.
According to the press release of IP “Bila Tserkva” on Wednesday, the consolidation process was finalized by signing an agreement of the initiator of the creation of IP “Bila Tserkva 2” with the management company Astrobuild, which became the management company of IP “Bila Tserkva” earlier this year.
“This company is a professional developer, performs construction and service works on the territory of the IP and adjacent areas owned by the initiator of the creation of the IP, actively helps in attracting residents, so it is logical that the list of areas of cooperation was expanded”, – explained to the agency “Interfax-Ukraine” the conclusion of contracts with the new management company.
According to the director of FE “Bila Tserkva” Andrey Ropitsky, which are cited in the press release, the purpose of consolidation is to create a more effective mechanism for managing the portfolio of assets of FE “Bila Tserkva” and “Bila Tserkva 2”, centralization of some service and management functions.
According to the information in the press release, in particular, the full development of IP “Belaya Tserkva 2” should create more than 1100 new jobs, with an annual payroll of more than UAH 400 mln.
The total investment in its full development and functioning will amount to about $154.9 million.
“In terms of 1 hectare of IP territory it is from $4.5 mln to $6.6 mln depending on the stage of park development. If all the works planned by the business plan are performed, the IP will generate up to UAH 30 million of taxes and fees per year for Bila Tserkva community,” the report says.
The press service notes that to achieve this indicator in 2024 attracted the first resident and began work on the development of the territory of the industrial site for new construction.
“On the territory of the IP is planned to build production and warehouse premises”, – specified to the agency in the press service, noting that given the fact that the territory of the Kiev region periodically falls under enemy attacks ballistics or drones, information about construction plans is disclosed only with the consent of residents.
In turn, the business plan of Bila Tserkva, where only 33% of the land area (12 hectares) remains free for lease or sale, has not undergone significant changes.
On the developed territory of the park 41 square meters of production and storage facilities were built and 14 residents were attracted, including Unilever, InTiCa Systems, Pripravka, as well as companies that became residents before the full-scale military invasion of Russia in Ukraine – logistics office of “Novaya Posta”, a complex of storage of sod “Volytsya Agro”, a factory of electrical fittings Plank Electrotechnic, a manufacturer of high-rise stepladders Virastar.
About $50 million has been invested in the development of the IP “Bila Tserkva”, and its concept provides for the construction of additional 52 thousand square meters of industrial buildings and attraction of another $47.5 million of investment.
The press service of the agency noted that information about all residents of the park is not disclosed for security purposes.
IP “Belaya Tserkva” and “Belaya Tserkva 2” were included in the Register of industrial (industrial) industrial parks in 2018. They offer industrial land with all engineering and transportation infrastructure, as well as production and warehouse buildings and logistics complexes for lease or purchase.
Astrobuild LLC has developed more than 10 hectares of industrial land and commissioned more than 12,000 square meters of production and warehouse space since its establishment in 2019.
The founders of the company, according to Clarity Project, are two closed-end venture capital corporate investment funds, Navis and Yufuche Ventures, with Vasily Khmelnitsky as the ultimate beneficiary.
