Polish egg producers believe that the arrival of the Avangard agroholding, a large egg producer in Ukraine, to the European market would result in growth of competition and “serious consequences” for Polish egg exporters. “The decision of the European Commission will have very serious consequences for Polish egg producers. Expansion of export competition and a significant deterioration in the profitability of egg exports from Poland should be expected,” the National Chamber of Poultry and Fodder Producers (KIPDiP) said.
They said that Avangard has long ago focused on the recovery of exports to the European Union, seeking a “cure” to reduce the dependence on sales in the MENA markets as its main export market.
KIPDiP said that in recent years, the company’s sales to the countries of the region have deteriorated due to the unfavorable geopolitical situation there. The Polish Chamber said that that the first plant that was placed on the list of European Commission enterprises admitted to import Class A food eggs into the EU market was the Yasensvit plant from the Ovostar Union. The permit for Yasensvit is effective from September 12, 2017, and in October the Ukrainian company started selling eggs to the EU.
The Chamber said that imports of eggs and processed products from Ukraine are steadily growing : in 2014, Ukraine’s share of EU imports was 4%, and in 2016 – already 50%.
As reported, Ukraine’s largest producer of eggs Avangard agricultural holding, controlled by Ukrlandfarming, whose shares are traded on the London Stock Exchange, in October 2015 completed the restructuring of eurobonds for $200 million. Previously American Cargill has withdrawn from among the shareholders of Ukrainian-based UkrLandFarming (ULF) agrarian holding, according to a ULF financial report for 2016. Cargill’s subsidiary, Cargill Financial Services International Inc. by the end of 2015, had held 1,668,749 ULF shares, or 5% of the total number. By the end of 2016, the number of shares owned by Avonex Limited had not changed, whereas the package held by Cargill was transferred to Cyprus-based Quickcom Limited’s ownership. The report says that the sole owner of Avonex Limited and Quickcom Limited is Oleh Bakhmatiuk. Cargill acquired a 5% stake in ULF early in 2014 for $200 million. Based on the sum of the deal, the total value of the holding was assessed at $4 billion.
Ukraine International Airlines (UIA, Kyiv), a leading airline of the country, seeks to double passenger transportation in four years, reaching 13.3 million people in 2021, Head of the UIA Supervisory Board Aron Mayberg said at a press conference at the Boryspil international airport.
According to him, the share of transit passengers for this period is planned to increase by 16 percentage points, to 60.4%.
In general, if according to the airline in 2017 its passenger transportation amounted to 6.9 million people, the planned figure for 2018 is 8.2 million people, 2019 – 9.9 million, 2020 – 11.4 million.
The share of transit in 2017 was 52%, and in 2018 is planned to have it at 54.4%, 2019 – 56.9% and 2020 – 59.2%.
The increase in passenger traffic proportionally requires expansion of the fleet, which the airline intends to increase by 90% over four years – from 34 aircraft in 2017 to 74 in 2021. In 2018, the planned fleet of UIA will be 46 aircraft, in 2019 – 56 and in 2020 – 64.
“Starting from 2018, the airline will actively build up the fleet with Embraer aircraft, which will grow from the five aircraft we have today to 11 planes in 2020. This year we will take two or three of these aircraft. We need them in order to develop domestic Ukrainian market and expand our presence,” Mayberg said.
Britain’s Cadogan Petroleum Plc with assets in Ukraine after a work-over to stimulate the Blazh-1 well on the Monastyretske field in Lviv region has almost doubled production at the well, to 63 barrels per day (bpd), which allowed boosting Cadogan’s current production (oil and gas combined) has increased by 15.3%.
“As a result of this stimulation, Cadogan’s current production (oil and gas combined) has increased to 219 boepd (205 boepd net to Cadogan),” the company said on the London Stock Exchange on Thursday.
According to the report, the team and the equipment have been relocated to the Blazh-3 well to execute a work-over and chemical treatment. This operation is scheduled to be completed in approximately four weeks.
Horizon Capital, an asset management company, that invested over $500 million via private equity funds, plans to invest $100-200 million more in the country in the coming five years, Horizon Capital founder and CEO Lenna Koszarny has said.
“We continue investing after this difficult 2013-2014 period – more than $50 million over this period. Our plans for the next five years are to invest another $100-200 million. Now we see many opportunities,” she said in an interview with the Business weekly.
According to her, at present the company is discussing the possibilities of entering into the charter capital with more than 30 companies, trying to find “founders-visionaries”.
Koszarny said that the offer of lending to Ukrainian business has recently increased. It must be supplemented with foreign direct investment (FDI), and its volume today is only $1-1.5 billion per year.
“For five years, I would like to see investments at $6-7 billion annually: from America, Europe, but also from the Middle East, Asia, India and China,” the Horizon Capital CEO said.
According to Koszarny, the IT industry can be the driver of export for Ukraine due to the switch from the model of export of raw materials to the model of export of goods and services with high added value.
Horizon Capital was established in 2006. It manages private equity funds Western NIS Enterprise Fund (WNISEF, established in 1994 with a capital of $150 million), Emerging Europe Growth Fund, L.P. (EEGF, established in 2006 with a capital of $132 million) and EEGF II (EEGF, established in 2008 with $370 million capital).
The money of these funds is invested in projects in Ukraine, Moldova, and Belarus.
In June 2016, OPIC (Overseas Private Investment Corporation) said that the OPIC would provide up to $37.5 million to EEGF III launched by Horizon Capital for the period of up to 10 years.
JSC Lekhim pharmaceutical company (Kyiv) in 2017 posted UAH 101.7 million of net profit, which is 6% more than in 2016 (UAH 95.5 million).
According to information on the agenda of a general shareholders’ meeting scheduled for March 27, the assets of Lekhim amounted to UAH 647 million, which is 9.7% higher than in the previous year.
Total debtor indebtedness in 2017 decreased by 3.7%, to UAH 458 million.
As reported, in 2016 Lekhim saw net profit rise by 19% compared to 2015.
Lekhim was founded in 1992. The group of companies headed by Lekhim includes PrJSC Lekhim-Kharkiv and CJSC Technolog.
