Dynamics of import of goods in Jan-Apr 2024 by the most important items
Source: Open4Business.com.ua
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.
