Agro-industrial group Astarta, the largest sugar producer in Ukraine, refused to pay dividends for 2021 and will direct EUR94.1 million to the retained earnings reserve.
As stated in the message of the company on Friday night, such a decision was made by its shareholders meeting on Thursday.
Shareholders also approved Astarta’s continuation of the buyback program for up to 12.5 million shares (50% of those outstanding) at a maximum price of PLN125 per share.
In addition, the meeting delegated to the board of directors the right to issue shares and grant options in the amount of not more than 10% of Astarta’s authorized capital for one year.
The shareholders also instructed the board of directors to select an auditor company to audit the company’s financial statements for 2022. Candidates for the review include international drug companies Ernst & Young, KPMG, Deloitte & Touche, PricewaterhouseCoopers, Grant Thornton, BDO and Baker Tilly.
The meeting reportedly approved the replacement of Marc M.L.J. van Campen as a member of the company’s board of directors with Savvas Perikleous.
Astarta is a vertically integrated agro-industrial holding operating in eight regions of Ukraine. It includes six sugar factories, agricultural enterprises with a land bank of 220 thousand hectares and dairy farms with 22 thousand heads of cattle, an oil extraction plant in Globino (Poltava region), seven elevators and a biogas complex.
In 2021, the agricultural holding increased its net profit by 14 times compared to 2020 – up to EUR122.5 million, EBITDA – by 1.8 times, up to EUR201.5 million. Its revenue increased by 18.2% – up to EUR491.35 million, a third of which (EUR170 million) was generated by the production and sale of sugar.
