Agroholding KSG Agro because of the full-scale war launched by Russia ended 2022 with a net loss of $1.68 million compared to $17.71 million net profit in 2021, its EBITDA decreased 5.5 times to $1.79 million, the company said in its annual report on the Warsaw Stock Exchange.
“Disruption of traditional logistics, limitation of exports by the grain corridor, growth of personnel costs, security and energy autonomy – to list the negative factors of the new realities can be long. So, of course, the results of 2022 can not be compared with the previous year, which was a record result in terms of harvest, “- commented Sergey Kasyanov, the head of the Board of Directors and the majority shareholder of the agricultural holding.
According to the report, its revenue last year decreased 47.3% – to $16.2 million, gross profit – 3.3 times, to $3.18 million and operating profit – 18.8 times, to $0.44 million.
It is also specified that exchange losses increased 4.6 times to $2.63 million, net debt increased only 1.9% to $47.46 million and free cash at the end of the year was $0.27 million.
Last December, the inactive subsidiary Hlebna League LLC was also disposed of, and the loss on its disposal was $10.27 million.
“Despite the formal losses, our 2022 agroholding provided stable operations. Due to the vertical integration of building the business we did not increase the credit load, expanded the share of pork sales, providing 80% in the native Dnepropetrovsk region and entering the markets of Zaporozhye and Kharkov, where pork producers as a result of Russian aggression curtailed their activities,” – said Kasyanov.
“The Board of Directors is currently working on a new development strategy to expand the group’s operations in the European Union with the clear goal of having most of the group’s assets and revenues in the EU within the next 3-5 years,” the report said again.
It is pointed out that this can be achieved through a series of mergers and acquisitions, as well as equity and debt financing, including additional share issues.
“The board of directors has no plans to sell the group’s existing assets in Ukraine. On the contrary, the focus of the new strategy is on expansion and investment, thereby reducing the potential risks of investing in Ukraine alone and mitigating the negative impact on the group’s business of the current macroeconomic situation in Ukraine,” the document states.
According to it, the total number of pigs and piglets of agrarian group reduced only by 3.3% last year – to 42.26 thousand, while during the year it came to 106.04 thousand against 108.16 thousand a year earlier.
The report indicates that crop revenue fell more than fourfold to $4.5 million from $8.3 million.
According to the document, in December 2022, KSG Agro agreed with its main bank lender TAScombank on new loan terms from the first quarter of 2023, which better reflect the group’s wartime financing needs. According to them, the established total credit limit on TAScombank loans remains at 450 million UAH, the interest rates on tranches in UAH are 25% per annum and provide for partial compensation of the rate on state programs, and the interest rates on tranches in USD and euro are set at 9% per annum.
Under the new terms, the main part of the principal must be paid in December 2025, while under the previous conditions by the end of 2023 should already have been paid $ 9.57 million.
It is specified that in the first quarter of 2023, the company repaid a total of $7.08 million of the existing TAScombank loans and received new tranches under the new terms totaling $6.03 million.
In addition, the $15.5 million loan to Kasyanov’s OLBIS Investments S.A., which owns 57.96 percent of KSG Agro, has been extended through 2036, the report said.
“Based on management’s five-year financial projections, the group is expected to generate sufficient profits in the future to ensure that total capital will increase to a positive value in the long term. In addition, when Russia’s war in Ukraine eventually ends and the economy begins to recover, the fair value of the group’s assets is also expected to increase naturally. Until then, the group is dependent on continued external financing,” the paper said.
KSG Agro, a vertically integrated holding company, is engaged in pig breeding as well as the production, storage, processing and sale of grain and oilseeds. Its land bank is about 21 thousand hectares in Dnipropetrovsk and Kherson regions.
According to Agroholding, it is one of the top-5 pork producers in Ukraine.
