Mobile operator lifecell opened 48 branded stores in 2023, increasing their total number by 11.4%, the lifecell press service said on Tuesday.
“Over the past year, lifecell has been actively expanding its network of sales outlets and opened 48 new stores in 18 regions of Ukraine, including cities where there were no branded stores before,” the company said in a statement.
According to the report, more than 470 stores have been opened in 247 cities and towns, employing about 1,000 people. In particular, residents of Artsyz, Bobrovytsia, Burshtyn, Vilnohirsk, Horodnia, Horodok, Dolynska, Yelanets, Zhovti Vody, Ivankiv, Irshava, Kamianets-Podilskyi, Kamianets-Podilskyi, Kotsiubynske, Lokhvytsia, Pyriatyn, Pochaiv, Staryi Sambir, Chornobai and Yarmolyntsi now have access to lifecell branded stores.
In addition, it is stated that in 2023 lifecell deepened its cooperation with the postal service Meest Express. According to the report, the mobile operator has equipped all stores with Meest delivery points where such services can be provided.
lifecell is a Ukrainian telecommunications operator with an active 3-month subscriber base of 9.1 million at the end of Q3 2023.
lifecell is owned by Turkcell, Turkey’s largest provider of converged telecommunications and technology services, but Turkcell announced at the end of last year an agreement to sell lifecell and other Ukrainian assets to French investment company NJJ Capital. Later it was clarified that the value of the assets in the deal is estimated at about $525 million.
The German company Rheinmetall has announced plans to supply weapons and equipment to Ukraine for 2024-2025. The planned supplies include ammunition, tanks, armored personnel carriers, air defense systems and other equipment, the company’s press service reports.
“Rheinmetall is the only defense contractor capable of supplying the Ukrainian military with a large number of new medium and large caliber ammunition, including 20-mm for the Marder infantry fighting vehicle, 40-mm ammunition, as well as 105-mm for the Leopard 1 tank and 120-mm tank ammunition for the Leopard 2,” the statement said.
The company recalled that by the end of 2023, 40,000 out of 300,000 rounds of 35-mm ammunition for the Gepard anti-aircraft tank had also been manufactured and delivered.
“Moreover, Rheinmetall is an important strategic partner of Ukraine in the supply of 155-mm artillery ammunition: several tens of thousands of shells have already been delivered, and tens of thousands more will be delivered in 2024. In December 2023, the German government also placed an order with Rheinmetall for the supply of several tens of thousands of ammunition in 2025,” the statement said.
In addition to Germany, another NATO member state has commissioned Rheinmetall to supply Ukraine with a large quantity of 155 ammunition rounds. The shells will be produced by the Spanish manufacturer Rheinmetall Expal Munitions and are to be delivered in 2025.
In addition, in 2024, it is planned to supply “in the double-digit range” of Marder armored personnel carriers, 24 Leopard 1A5 main battle tanks, as well as 5 armored evacuation vehicles and two Leopard 1 tanks for training. Another 14 Leopard 2A4 main battle tanks will be delivered on behalf of the governments of the Netherlands and Denmark.
Deliveries of Skynex air defense systems are also expected to continue.
In addition, a second rescue station (NATO Role 1 standard) and SurveilSPIRE drone defense systems are planned to be delivered.
“In addition to short-term deliveries of military equipment, in the long term Ukraine will need assistance in rebuilding its defense industry and reorienting production to Western standards. Therefore, in October 2023, Rheinmetall established a joint venture with the Ukrainian state-owned company Ukrainian Defense Industry JSC (formerly Ukroboronprom) in Kyiv – Rheinmetall Ukrainian Defense Industry LLC, the company added.
Currently, maintenance and repair work is already underway on military vehicles; in the second phase, Ukraine will also produce armored vehicles, such as Fuchs/Fox armored personnel carriers, Lynx infantry fighting vehicles and Panther main battle tanks.
“The goal is to turn Ukraine into an effective partner, rebuild its once powerful defense sector and ensure its strategic autonomy,” the statement emphasizes.
air defense systems, LEOPARD TANKS, RHEINMETALL, shells, Skynex
Internal and external debt of Ukraine in 2010-2023
Source: Open4Business.com.ua and experts.news
Emporium LLC from Rinat Akhmetov’s SCM group has become the owner of 8.856607% of shares of PFTS, Ukraine’s largest stock exchange by trading volume (both in Kiev), on the eve of its announced plans to increase its authorized capital by 93.7%.
According to PFTS’ message in the NSCM disclosure system, the exchange received information about the new shareholder on February 2.
It is specified that Emporium is owned by Crossgold Limited, which, in turn, is owned by SCM Financial Overseas Limited, 100% owned by Akhmetov
There is no information about the seller of these shares yet.
As reported, PFTS earlier announced plans to consider at the extraordinary remote shareholders’ meeting on February 6 an increase in the authorized capital (AC) from UAH 32.01 million to UAH 62.01 million, or by 93.7%, through the placement of an additional 30 thousand shares with a par value of UAH 1 thousand through additional contributions without making a public offering.
Preliminarily, the list of persons among whom the shares of the additional issue will be placed is limited to the existing shareholders, however, the meeting may expand it by other investors intending to purchase the shares.
The largest shareholder of PFTS since the beginning of 2022 is Bohai Commodity Exchange (BOCE Co. Limited, Hong Kong) with 49.9% of shares. According to the SEC disclosure system, there were no other shareholders with a stake of more than 5% at the end of the third quarter of 2023.
At the same time, Prime Holding LLC in mid-October 2023 announced its intention to acquire 2,835 shares of the exchange, which is 8.8566% of its authorized capital.
PFTS did not publish financial statements after 9 months of 2021. According to information from the last annual shareholders’ meeting, the exchange reduced its net loss in 2022 compared to 2021 by 8.6% to UAH 3.641 mln.
The volume of trading on PFTS in 2023, according to its data, increased 3.6 times – up to 320.8 billion UAH, which amounted to 63% of the total trading volume of securities trading organizers in Ukraine, including in December – 28.6 billion UAH, or 66% of the total trading volume in the country.
In particular, the volume of government bonds traded on PFTS in 2023 increased 3 times to UAH 308.6 billion, corporate bonds of Ukrainian issuers – 20 times to UAH 1 billion (due to the recovery of primary placements), bonds of foreign countries – 5 times to UAH 0.7 billion, but transactions with shares were carried out for only UAH 19.4 million.
In December 2023, 39 participants of trades on PFTS concluded transactions with 48 issues of securities (Ukrainian government bonds – 33, Eurobonds of Ukraine – 1, corporate bonds of Ukrainian issuers – 7, bonds of a foreign state – 6, shares of Ukrainian issuers – 1), and in total in 2023 transactions were concluded by 49 participants with 114 issues of securities.
As of January 1, 2024, the number of PFTS members admitted to trading was 51: 30 banks and 21 financial companies. 353 issues of securities were admitted to trading on the exchange, of which 119 were in the Exchange Register.
At one time, LLC Emporium, established in 2007, was the owner of regional breweries OJSC PBC Krym, CJSC Dnipropetrovsk Brewery Dnipro, CJSC Firma Poltavpivo and OJSC Lugansk Brewery, but later SCM withdrew from this business. Emporium’s core business is commercial and management consulting.
The article collects and analyzes the main macroeconomic indicators of Ukraine. In connection with the entry into force of the Law of Ukraine “On Protection of the Interests of Business Entities during Martial Law or a State of War”, the State Statistics Service of Ukraine suspends the publication of statistical information for the period of martial law, as well as for three months after its termination. The exception is the publication of information on the consumer price index, separate information on statistical indicators for 2021 and for the period January-February 2022. The article analyzes open data from the State Statistics Service, the National Bank, and think tanks.
Demographic indicators of Ukraine
Director of the Ptukha Institute of Demography and Social Studies of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, Academician Ella Libanova, predicts that about 50% of citizens will return to Ukraine after the war ends. At the same time, Libanova believes that if the economy is restored to pre-war levels, Ukraine will not be able to return the projected 4.5 million citizens.
She also drew attention to the fact that, according to Eurostat, there are currently 4.2 million Ukrainian military migrants in the European Union.
Earlier, Libanova described depopulation and labor shortages as an inevitable scenario for Ukraine.
According to the estimates she presented at the Regional Economic Forum, as of the beginning of this year, the population in the government-controlled areas was 31.6 million people, and now it has slightly increased.
Libanova pointed out that the population forecast for the beginning of 2033 within the borders of 1991 Ukraine ranges from 26-35 million people.
Economic recovery
Ukraine’s real gross domestic product (GDP) growth slowed to 8.2% in the third quarter of 2023 compared to the same period last year.
The NBU, which has raised its overall GDP growth forecast for this year to 4.9%, estimates the direct positive contribution of a higher harvest at 1.3 percentage points.
“At the same time, the key risk for our economy remains a longer duration and intensity of the war, as well as a decrease in the volume or loss of rhythm of international assistance, the resumption of a significant electricity shortage due to further destruction of the energy infrastructure and other risks,” said Maksym Urakin.
Analysis of Ukraine’s foreign trade
Maksym Urakin also drew attention to the factor of the growing negative foreign trade balance, which has been observed since the beginning of the war.
“The negative balance of Ukraine’s foreign trade in goods in January-September 2023 increased by 3.2 times compared to the same period in 2022 – $19.402 billion. This means that the cost of purchasing the goods Ukraine needs is almost $20 billion more than the income from exporting Ukrainian goods to other countries,” said Urakin, PhD in Economics.
Ukraine’s financial situation in 2023
According to the expert, the main factors characterizing the state of the Ukrainian economy are public debt, international reserves, and inflation.
“As of September 30, 2023, Ukraine’s public and publicly guaranteed debt amounted to UAH 4,886.13 billion, or USD 133.62 billion. This is a slight decrease compared to the historical maximum set in August,” Maksym Urakin said.
The expert noted that the main risks to the economy remain the duration of the war and the instability of international aid.
“In the third quarter of 2023, Ukraine’s GDP growth slowed to 8.2%. The negative balance of foreign trade increased 3.2 times, which is an alarming signal. The public debt has slightly decreased compared to August figures, but in 2024 it may exceed the country’s GDP for the first time, which poses significant risks to economic stability,” the economist said.
Thus, the economic situation in Ukraine, according to the founder of the Club of Experts, continues to require close monitoring and adaptation of strategies in response to changing conditions. Macroeconomic indicators of Ukraine and the world were discussed in more detail in one of the video programs of the Experts club
According to preliminary estimates by the National Bank of Ukraine (NBU), Ukraine’s international reserves decreased by 4.9%, or UAH 1.98 billion, to $38.525 billion in January. “This dynamics is due to the NBU’s foreign exchange interventions to maintain exchange rate stability, the country’s debt payments in foreign currency, and lower international aid inflows compared to previous months,” the NBU explained on its website on Tuesday.
Among other factors that determine the amount of reserves, the NBU cited operations in the foreign exchange market: in January, the regulator’s net sale of foreign currency amounted to $2.53 million, which is 29% less than the previous month.
The regulator noted that in January, the Cabinet of Ministers transferred $898.9 million to the NBU account, and paid $441.6 million for servicing and repaying the public debt.
The NBU also pointed out that the current volume of reserves was positively affected by the revaluation of financial instruments, adding $86.3 million.
“The current volume of international reserves provides financing for 5.1 months of future imports,” the central bank stated.
As reported, in January, the NBU lowered its forecast for Ukraine’s international reserves at the end of 2024 to $40.4 billion from $44.7 billion and to $42.1 billion from $45 billion at the end of 2025.
