Business news from Ukraine

“Nova Poshta” has opened its first branch in Spain

Nova Poshta has opened its first Nova Post office in Spain – in Barcelona – and plans to expand its network to Valencia, Alicante, Murcia, Malaga, Estepona and Madrid in the near future, the group’s press service said on Tuesday.

“The opening of the first branch in Spain is just the beginning. We strive to be as close to our customers as possible, so in the near future we will open another branch in Barcelona, and during the year we will actively develop a network of parcel delivery service points together with our partners,” the release quotes Nova Post CEO in Spain Alexander Pavlovsky as saying.

According to the company’s press release, Nova Post’s Barcelona branch, which operates daily, allows customers to receive and send documents, parcels and cargo up to 100 kg to Ukraine. The declared delivery time is 8 days or more.

The cost of delivery from Ukraine to Spain is: UAH 1 thousand for documents, as well as UAH 1.05 thousand, UAH 1.7 thousand, and UAH 3 thousand for parcels up to 2 kg, 10 kg, and 30 kg, respectively. When sending a parcel from 30 to 100 kg, UAH 120 is paid for each kilogram.

It is noted that in May, Nova Poshta will launch targeted services in Spain, which will allow sending and delivering cargo up to 1 thousand kg to any address in the country. Delivery by courier will cost an additional UAH 100 for shipments up to 30 kg or UAH 120 for every 100 kg.

It is specified that Nova Poshta currently has more than 35 thousand points of service for sending and receiving parcels in Europe, of which 90 are Nova Post’s own branches in 11 countries: Estonia, Poland, Lithuania, Latvia, Czech Republic, Romania, Germany, Slovakia, Italy, Hungary and Moldova.

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Tigipko’s Dneprometiz reduced profits by 2.6 times

In 2023, Dneprometiz-TAS LLC (Dnipro), owned by Ukrainian businessman Sergiy Tigipko, reduced its net profit by 2.6 times compared to 2022, to UAH 9.658 million from UAH 24.733 million.

According to the company’s annual report, net income increased by 8.2% to UAH 2 billion 677.836 million last year.

At the same time, the company’s retained earnings amounted to UAH 248.899 million by the end of 2023.

As reported, in the first quarter of 2023, Dneprometiz earned a net profit of UAH 17.581 million, while it ended the same period in 2022 with a net loss of UAH 8.645 million, and net income increased by 54% to UAH 683.802 million.

In the first half of 2023, Dneprometiz posted a net profit of UAH 17.253 million against a loss of UAH 12.346 million a year earlier, while net income increased by 15.4% to UAH 1 billion 426.222 million.

“In January-September 2023, Dneprometiz posted a net profit of UAH 22.386 million, while the company ended the same period in 2022 with a net loss of UAH 14.371 million, and net income increased by 8.3% to UAH 2 billion 42.627 million.

“In 2022, Dneprometiz reduced its net profit six times year-on-year to UAH 25.572 million, while net income increased by 1.1% to UAH 2 billion 474.397 million.

“Dneprometiz-TAS produces hardware products from low-carbon steels. The company’s annual production capacity is 120 thousand tons.

As of the third quarter of 2023, the company is owned by T.A.S. Overseas Investments Limited (Cyprus) owned 98.6578% of the shares of PJSC Dneprometiz.

According to the annual report, the general meeting of shareholders of the company held on August 4, 2023, decided to liquidate Dneprometiz PrJSC by transforming it into Dneprometiz-TAS LLC (with a change of name). The state registration of the LLC as a result of the transformation took place on December 4, 2023.

The authorized capital of Dneprometiz-TAS LLC is UAH 83.480 million.

Balanutsa dismissed from post of Ambassador of Ukraine to Kuwait – decree

Oleksandr Balanutsa has been dismissed from the post of Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Ukraine to the State of Kuwait.

The corresponding decree of the President of Ukraine No. 251/2024 was published on April 30 on the official website of the President of Ukraine.

Source: https://www.president.gov.ua/documents/2522024-50513

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“Nova Poshta” to issue E and F series bonds

Nova Poshta LLC, the largest logistics operator in Ukraine and a member of the NOVA group, is issuing interest-bearing unsecured corporate bonds of series E and F.

According to the National Securities and Stock Market Commission of Ukraine (NSSMC), it registered both issues on April 26 this year.

At the same time, information on the parameters of these issues, including the volume, maturity and yield, is not yet available on the regulator’s website or on the issuer’s website.

Last year, Nova Poshta made two bond issues – “C” and “D” – each with a nominal amount of UAH 800 million. The C series bonds were issued for a 12-month term with a 24% p.a. rate, while the D series bonds were issued for a 20-month term with a 23% p.a. rate.

Earlier in February 2023, Nova Poshta redeemed the UAH 700 million of Series B bonds issued in March 2020.

According to the clarity-project, in 2023 the company increased its net profit by 85.7% to UAH 3 billion 967.2 million, and its revenue increased by 54% to UAH 36 billion 468.9 million.

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Prydniprovsky Plant increased its net profit by 24%

PrJSC Prydniprovsky Plant (Dnipro), one of the largest dairy processing companies in Ukraine (Zlagoda and Lyubimchik brands), increased its net profit by 24% in 2023 compared to 2022, to UAH 165.116 million.

According to the company’s report in the NSSMC disclosure system, its revenue for the year increased by 22.8% to UAH 2.522 billion, assets by 37.1% to UAH 788.76 million, and debt obligations by 1.7 times to UAH 127.914 million. At the same time, the company increased its staff by 12 people to 932 employees.

At the annual meeting on April 19, the shareholders decided to pay UAH 4.340 million in dividends based on the company’s performance in 2023. The Supervisory Board of PrJSC Prydniprovsky Iron and Steel Works decided to draw up a list of persons entitled to receive dividends by June 1, 2024. The amount of dividends per 1 ordinary registered share is UAH 0.62. Dividends will be paid from June 1 to October 30 directly to shareholders, in particular, to individuals through the cash desk, and to legal entities to their bank accounts.

The Supervisory Board is confident that the payment of dividends will not worsen the company’s condition.

Prydniprovsky was founded in 1990 on the basis of Dnipropetrovs’k Hormone and Milk Plant No. 2. It manufactures products under the Zlagoda and Lyubimchyk brands. It includes: Vasylkivsky Cheese Plant, Tsarychansky Butter Plant, Pereshchepynsky Dairy Plant, and Novomoskovsky Fruit Fillers Production Shop. The company’s milk processing capacity exceeds 250 tons per day.

According to the Unified State Register of Legal Entities and Individual Entrepreneurs, the ultimate beneficiaries of Prydniprovsky Plant are Andriy Veretennikov (46.71%) and Tetiana Nenarochkina (43.42%), former deputy of the Dnipro City Council.

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Sales of agricultural land increased in Ukraine, land prices increased by 11.2%

In January-March 2024, the capitalization of the agricultural land market in Ukraine increased by UAH 202.5 billion, due to a 7% increase in the number of agricultural land sales transactions and an 11.2% increase in land prices, said Vice President of Kyiv School of Economics (KSE) for Economic Education, Professor Oleg Nivievsky at the seminar “Land Market: New Players, New Challenges, New Prospects” organized by KSE and the USAID AGRO program.

According to his information, in the first quarter of 2024, 25.7 thousand transactions of purchase and sale of agricultural land plots with a total volume of 58.8 thousand hectares were concluded in Ukraine, which is 7% higher than in the fourth quarter of 2023, which recorded a record number of transactions of purchase and sale of agricultural land for the entire time after the start of the full-scale invasion.

In the first three months of this year, the weighted average price of a hectare of agricultural land increased by 11.2%. While in the fourth quarter of last year it amounted to UAH 37.7 thousand, in January-March 2024 it increased to UAH 42.0 thousand per hectare. Thus, the capitalization of the agricultural land market has increased by UAH 202.5 billion since the beginning of this year, stated Nivievsky, and attributed these phenomena, in particular, to the opening of access to the land market for legal entities from January 1, 2024.

“Despite the full-scale war and a rather limited model, the agricultural land market in Ukraine is developing successfully. A clear indication of this is the recent decision of the National Bank to increase the liquidity ratio of agricultural land from 0.35 to 0.5. This has already opened up the possibility for the agricultural sector and landowners to attract additional funding worth $25 billion, which is comparable to the annual financial needs of farmers and landowners,” said the KSE Vice President.

Roman Neter, KSE Agrocenter expert, said that in January-March 2024, 436 legal entities purchased 2957 agricultural plots with a total area of 8.5 thousand hectares. At the same time, a little less than half of the transactions took place in March 2024, when 276 legal entities exercised their right to purchase agricultural land, acquiring 1253 land plots with a total area of 3.5 thou hectares.

He recalled that at the end of 2023, before the launch of the second stage of the land market, a number of experts expressed concerns about the possibility of large players accumulating large areas of farmland. But in the first quarter of 2024, these fears were not confirmed.

“The share of legal entities in the land market in the first quarter was only 14.5%, while the rest of the transactions are still made between individuals. At the same time, the opening of access to the land market for legal entities is already having a positive impact not only on liquidity but also on market transparency,” Nater emphasized.

Ksenia Sydorkina, USAID AGRO Program Director, said that the development of the agricultural land market is increasingly affecting the public finance system of communities after the personal income tax paid by military personnel was redirected to the state budget. Since January 2024, the increase in revenues related to agricultural land has offset the decline in other community tax revenues by a quarter. For example, in February of this year alone, taxes related to agricultural land accounted for 13% of all community tax revenues, compared to 10% in February 2023, and reached UAH 3 billion, which is 20% higher than the same period last year.

“The agricultural land market is an additional resource for the restoration of territories, the potential of which has yet to be realized by joint efforts of the government, lawmakers and communities,” said USAID AGRO Chief of Party and expressed confidence in the need to implement the reform of spatial development of territories and a number of other projects on land consolidation, irrigation development, affordable lending for small and medium-sized agricultural producers, including with the support of the Partial Guarantee Fund for Agricultural Loans, as well as with the support of the Fund.

Sydorkina said that international law experts from the Civitta, Aequo, and EasyBusiness consortium, with the support of the USAID AGRO program, have developed a concept for harmonizing Ukraine’s land legislation with EU law. The concept envisages the development and adoption of 14 legislative acts that will facilitate the approximation of Ukrainian legislation to European law, the development of land relations and the agricultural sector as a whole.

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