Franco-German defense concern KNDS has opened a subsidiary in Kiev, which under the name KNDS Ukraine LLC will support cooperation between Ukrainian government agencies, the Ukrainian defense industry and KNDS, the concern’s press service reports.
“The purpose of opening KNDS Ukraine LLC is, among other things, to consolidate the Ukrainian land industry and enable it to more effectively carry out maintenance, repair and overhaul of KNDS systems – including Leopard 1 and 2 tanks, CAESAR and AMX 10RC artillery systems and PzH 2000 self-propelled howitzers – which significantly increases their combat readiness. KNDS and Ukrainian industry also intend to jointly produce in Ukraine 155-mm artillery ammunition and spare parts using advanced technologies,” the report says.
It is noted that the creation of KNDS Ukraine LLC is the result of a joint French-German government initiative, the framework of which was presented on March 22, 2024 by French Defense Minister Sebastien Lecornu and the head of the German Defense Ministry Boris Pistorius in Berlin.
Natural gas supplies from Azerbaijan to Italy via the Trans Adriatic Pipeline (TAP) in January-July 2024 amounted to 6.075 billion cubic meters, which is 6.4% more than in the same period last year, the Italian Ministry of Environment and Energy Security reported.
The country imported a total of 35.273 billion cubic meters of natural gas in the first seven months of this year – 4.3% less than a year earlier. At the same time, the share of Azerbaijani gas accounted for 17.2%.
According to the agency, in July, Azerbaijani gas supplies to Italy amounted to 905 million cubic meters (an increase of 12.2% compared to July last year), or 21.5% of the total imports of natural gas, which is estimated at 4.201 billion cubic meters (a decrease of 1.8%).
In 2023, Italy received 9.988 billion cubic meters of gas from Azerbaijan via TAP (down 3.2% on the 2022 level). Azerbaijan plans to supply 9.6 billion cubic meters of gas to Italy in 2024. Azerbaijan started exporting gas to Europe on December 31, 2022.
Rush LLC, the owner of EVA network in Ukraine, will allocate UAH 133.8 mln from net profit for the second quarter of 2024 for dividends.
According to the company’s message in the information disclosure system of the National Commission for Securities and Stock Market (NCSSM), a single participant of the LLC made the relevant decision on September 27.
Thus, the distribution of 35% of net profit received in the second quarter of 2024, which amounts to UAH 133.8 mln, was approved for dividends. Accrual of dividends will be carried out no later than six months from the date of the decision.
Earlier, in July, the company allocated UAH 148.8 mln from the net profit for the first quarter of this year for dividend payment.
Rush LLC, which manages the EVA network, was founded in 2002. As of June 31, 2024, the chain had 1,080 operating stores.
According to Opendatabot, the owner of Rush LLC is Cyprus-based Incetera Holdings Limited (100%), with Ruslan Shostak and Valeriy Kiptyk as the ultimate beneficiaries.
According to the results of 2023, the company’s revenue increased by 33.7% to UAH 21 billion compared to 2022, net profit – by 26% to UAH 2.2 billion, the value of assets – by 45.2% to UAH 15.03 billion. In 2023, EVA paid UAH 2.02 bln of taxes and fees to budgets of all levels.
European paint manufacturers are pushing for a review of the European Union’s anti-dumping measures against Chinese exports of titanium dioxide, a key raw material for the industry, saying that they will lead to the closure of plants and further destruction of the region’s industrial base, the Financial Times reports.
Following an anti-dumping investigation launched last year, the European Union imposed temporary duties that could be adjusted or confirmed in January 2025. Paint companies fear that duties of up to 39.7% on titanium dioxide from China will bankrupt small producers and force large ones to move plants outside the EU.
“It’s a question of the survival of the industry,” believes Nicolas Dujardin, chief operating officer of family-owned French paint manufacturer Oceinde. – “If all these anti-dumping investigations lead to such high taxes in Europe, there will be a number of bankruptcies.
The paint and coatings sector will face a prolonged downturn if consumers are hit by higher prices, says Paula Salastie, owner of Finnish company Teknos. If Chinese supplies are diverted elsewhere, a shortage of raw materials will lead to disruptions in production, she says.
“If we can’t sell as much as we planned, we will need to cut jobs,” she said, adding that if duties are imposed, the company will probably look at options for investments outside the EU.
Paint makers believe the duties would be acceptable if introduced gradually along with increased subsidies for local titanium dioxide production.
China’s titanium dioxide capacity has grown from 1.4 million tons in 2008 to a projected 6.1 million tons this year. As a result, China’s share of the global market has risen to 83% from 29%, according to industry information provider TZMI.
Meanwhile, outside China, about 1.1 million tons of capacity was closed during the period, including five plants in the EU, according to estimates by the European TiO2 Coalition, which filed a complaint that led to the launch of an anti-dumping investigation. Paint producers expect the duties imposed in the EU to benefit the UK and also strengthen Turkish competitors, as both countries will still be able to access cheap Chinese raw materials.
The electronic catalog Prozorro Market allowed the state to purchase goods and services worth more than UAH 30 billion in 2024 and at the same time save almost UAH 3 billion, First Vice Prime Minister and Minister of Economy Yulia Svyrydenko said.
“Since the launch of the tool (Prozorro Market – IF-U), the total amount of procurement has amounted to UAH 42 billion. The savings since the beginning of the instrument’s existence amounted to more than UAH 6 billion. This figure is explained by twice as much competition as compared to other procurement procedures. (…) Big savings are an opportunity for the state to buy more necessary goods. And this is especially important for me as the Minister of Economy: Prozorro Market is also a tool for active participation of Ukrainian producers in public procurement. For example, we were able to purchase more than 800 domestically produced school buses through this tool,” the press service of the Ministry of Economy quoted her as saying.
According to Dmytro Solovy, Deputy Director of Professional Procurement for Development, Prozorro Market is expecting a number of key innovations in the near future, including the introduction of a single electronic document that will combine ready-made contracts and terms of reference based on the constructor principle; expanding the range of complaints against unscrupulous suppliers; simplifying the process of qualifying suppliers; and speeding up the bidding procedure by half – from announcement to contract in three days.
“With the outbreak of full-scale war, Prozorro Market has become a tool that allows us to maintain a balance between transparency and competition on the one hand, and efficiency on the other. The e-catalog now effectively covers the needs of both civilians and the military. More than 90% of all food procured at the state level goes through Prozorro Market. The area of military goods is also developing very actively. Our goal is to make it as easy and transparent to buy a drone as a potato. And we are succeeding – 25 thousand different UAVs have been purchased by customers in the e-catalog in two years. In addition, through Prozorro Market, the military can buy tactical headphones, glasses, remote controls for drones, optical sights, night vision devices, etc.”, said Yevhen Yakubovsky, Director of Professional Procurement.
As part of the national forum “Prozorro Market: win-win for the state and business”, its direct customers – public procuring entities and businesses – shared their experience of using Prozorro Market. These include Fabrika-Kuhnya (Bucha, Kyiv region), Ukrnafta, the National Cancer Institute, the state-owned enterprise Forests of Ukraine, Zhytomyr City Council, etc.
The Ministry of Economy clarified that the further development of Prozorro Market is supported by a new 5-year project called Support for Digital Transformation, funded by USAID and UK Dev. They confirmed further support for the improvement of Prozorro Market and the implementation of best procurement practices within the project.
IMC Agro Holding has completed sunflower harvesting on 24.3 thou hectares, yielding 77.7 thou tons of gross harvest with a yield 60% higher than the national average of 3.2 t/ha, the company’s press service reported on its Facebook page.
According to the report, IMC also sowed winter wheat on an area of 20.7 thousand hectares.
“This year, September was abnormally dry and hot, so we managed to complete all field work in a short time. As a result, despite the hot and dry summer, we harvested a good sunflower crop with high quality indicators. As for the winter crops sown at the optimum time, we expect productive precipitation to sprout,” said Bogdan Krivitsky, Chief Operating Officer of the agricultural holding.
“IMC is an integrated group of companies operating in Sumy, Poltava and Chernihiv regions (north and center of Ukraine) in the crop production, elevators and warehouses segments. The company’s land bank is about 120 thousand hectares and storage capacity is 554 thousand tons, with a harvest of 1.002 million tons in 2023.
In the first half of 2023, IMC earned $6.28 million in net profit, down 44.6% year-on-year, while its revenue increased by 61.6% to $71.95 million, including a 41.2% increase in exports to $58.9 million. Normalized EBITDA amounted to $17.06 million, down 41% compared to the first half of 2022, due to higher selling costs and lower harvest prices.
