Business news from Ukraine

EX-TOP MANAGERS OF UKRAINIAN PRIVATBANK CREATING RETAIL MOBILE BANK IN UK

The former top managers of PrivatBank (Kyiv) are creating a bank in the UK, a counterpart of the mobile bank Monobank, Dmytro Dubilet, the ex-director for information technologies at PrivatBank, said on his Facebook page.
“I publish the first episode about how Oleh Horokhovsky, Mykhailo Rohalsky and me are launching a bank in the UK … We’ve decided to open a bank in the UK – a counterpart of Monobank. And we decided to do something like a reality show from it. We have to find contractors and partners, get licenses, and, most importantly, we have to raise capital. And we will make videos about all this and post on this channel (YouTube),” he wrote.
Ex-first deputy head of PrivatBank Oleh Horokhovsky said on Facebook “the English project is not just a business project. It’s a real test that sums up everything that was done before and sets an incredible bar.”
As reported, Horokhovsky, Dubilet and ex-head of the Payments and Transfers business at PrivatBank Mykhailo Rohalsky in January 2017 announced their intention to create an IT company, Fintech Band. According to Dubilet, the company will deal with processing, CRM systems, credit cards, Internet banking, etc.
By October 2017 Monobank issued the first thousand credit cards, and in February of this year it starts to attract deposits.
Dubilet’s father, Oleksandr Dubilet, before the nationalization of PrivatBank in late 2016 headed the board of this financial institution.

PARLIAMENT PASSES BILL REGULATING CONCESSION IN CONSTRUCTION OF ROADS IN UKRAINE

The Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine has settled the issue of construction of new roads in Ukraine on the concession conditions.
A total of 233 lawmakers backed bill No. 6766 at second reading on Tuesday.
According to the explanatory note to the document, concession roads are roads of higher quality, which meet high standards, since the main thing for the users of these roads will be the quality and speed of traffic. These roads are built to cut and straighten the route bypassing populated areas and connect the two towns directly, reducing the route by 50-100 km, resulting in a reduction in fuel costs and time savings.
Meanwhile, the law of Ukraine on concessions for the construction and operation of roads indicates that the decision on the construction and/or operation of roads on concession terms is taken by the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine on the basis of a feasibility study, but it is not determined what exactly should be mentioned in this decision. In addition, the law does not provide for the concessionaire to compensate for failure to reach the actual traffic intensity and when income is not received.
“It is also worth noting that the mechanism for allocating land for the construction, operation and maintenance of highways has not been clearly regulated,” the explanatory note stated.
Thus, the bill in particular provides: roads of general use of state importance can be transferred for the construction and operation on concession terms; after making a decision on the construction and operation of highways that can be provided for concession, the executive authorities are prohibited from taking any actions with land parcels foreseen for the construction and operation of these highways for use and/or ownership of citizens or legal entities.
According to the document, the decision on holding a concession tender is taken by the Ukrainian government, which, inter alia, specifies the technical parameters of the highway, the basic financial indicators for granting the road to the concession, the deadline for which the concession is granted, the maximum amount of compensation to the concessionaire and the alternative route which can be taken free of charge.
The Cabinet of Ministers also determines the largest amount of a flat toll for using motor roads built on the terms of concession, which is paid taking into account the level of inflation and the conditions under which the concession award is made to the concessionaire.
Concession payments are sent to the national budget of Ukraine.

OVOSTAR SEES 26% RISE IN REVENUE IN 2017

Ovostar Union, a leading shell egg and egg goods producer in Ukraine, increased revenue by 26.9% in 2017, to $99 million, according to an unaudited preliminary report.
According to a company report on the Warsaw Stock Exchange (WSE), earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) last year grew by 8.3%, to $26 million.
The group plans to boost egg production by 5% in 2018, to 1.75 billion eggs, dry egg products output – by 9%, to 3,550 tonnes and liquid egg products – by 12%, to 13,000 tonnes.
Ovostar Union expects that the number of laying hens this year would grow by 9%, to 7.2 million.
Currently, the group continues its investment program at the site of the Stavyschanska poultry farm, which was started in April 2014 and will be completed in 2019-2020. Upon completion of the investment project, the bird population will reach 10 million heads, egg production – 2 billion eggs a year. Now the program is completed by 60%.
In 2018, the group plans to build two bird houses, two premises for young hens and a feeding installation. According to the company’s estimates, capital investments will amount to about $15 million.

REAL WAGES IN UKRAINE 12.3% UP

Real wages in Ukraine in January 2018 increased by 12.3% compared to January 2017, while compared to December 2017 it fell by 13.4%, the State Statistics Service has said. According to its data, the average nominal salary of full time workers in January compared with December 2017 decreased by 12.1%, in annual terms it grew by 28.4%, amounting to UAH 7,711, whereas in December it stood at UAH 8,777, in November at UAH 7,479, in October at UAH 7,377, in September at UAH 7,351, and in August at UAH 7,114.
According to statistics, the largest growth in the average salary of full time workers in January this year compared to January 2017 was observed in Dnipropetrovsk (32.7%), Vinnytsia (32.4%), Kyiv (32.2%), Zhytomyr (31.9%), Zakarpattia (31%), Lviv (29.4%), Zaporizhia (28.3%), Odesa (27.6%), Poltava (30.6%), Chernihiv (28.2%), Ivano-Frankivsk (27.7%), Cherkasy (27%), Kharkiv (26.9%), Kirovohrad (26.5%), Ternopil (26.4%), Sumy (25.6%), Chernivtsi and Volyn (25.4% each), Khmelnytsky (24.8%), Kherson (24.6%), Rivne (23.8%) regions and Kyiv City (25.6%).
The wage growth in Donetsk and Luhansk regions (excluding part of the ATO zone) was 29% and 19% respectively.
The largest level of wages in the past month was recorded in Kyiv (UAH 11,668), the lowest one in Chernihiv region (UAH 5,865).