Metinvest Mining and Metallurgical Group’s consolidated revenue in the first half of 2024 amounted to $4.319 billion, up 22% to the first half of 2023, this result is mainly due to a 63% increase in sales to $1.847 billion of the mining segment due to the easing of logistical restrictions for Ukrainian exports and increased demand for pellets.
“The Black Sea corridor has enabled the sale of iron ore products to China… External revenues of the steel and mining segments grew by 2% and 63% year-on-year respectively, with the steel segment accounting for 57% and the mining segment 43% of total revenues,” the company said in a report Friday evening.
According to it, adjusted EBITDA increased to $650 million, up 33% due to improved performance in both segments, with the metals segment contributing 25% and the mining segment 75%.
Total debt and net debt decreased by 12% and 4%, respectively, to $1.740 billion and $1.284 billion. It is noted that the group managed to repay more than $500 million of debt from the start of full-scale invasion until the end of June 2024.
Ukraine’s international reserves in August, according to preliminary estimates of the National Bank of Ukraine (NBU), increased by 13.7%, or by $5 billion 98.6 million – to $42 billion 330.5 million.
“Such dynamics is due to significant volumes of receipts from international partners, which exceeded the net sale of foreign currency by the National Bank and the country’s debt payments in foreign currency,” the central bank said in a statement on its website on Friday evening.
At the same time, the NBU’s net international reserves in August even slightly decreased – by $2 million – to $23.301 billion.
According to the Quantitative Performance Criterion (QPC) in the updated EFF Extended Funding Facility, Ukraine’s NIRRs should be at least $28.8 billion at the end of September this year and at least $26.3 billion at the end of the year.
According to the published information, the National Bank sold on the foreign exchange market $2.696 billion and bought back into reserves $0.3 million, the net sale of foreign currency by the NBU in August decreased from $3.05 billion to $2.696 billion.
It is noted that the government’s foreign currency accounts in the National Bank received $8.465 billion, of which $4.553 billion from the EU within the framework of the Ukraine Facility and $3.89 billion through the World Bank.
For servicing and repayment of the state debt in foreign currency, $724.1 million was paid, of which $266.0 million – servicing and repayment of debt to the World Bank; $239.9 million – payments related to the restructuring of Eurobonds, $130.1 million – payments on state derivatives and $88.1 million – payments to other international creditors.
In addition, Ukraine paid $392.4 million to the International Monetary Fund.
“In August, due to revaluation, the value of financial instruments increased by $443 million. The current volume of international reserves provides financing for 5.4 months of future imports,” the regulator stated in a release.
President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy met with representatives of Italian business – more than 30 leading companies from various sectors of the economy – on the sidelines of the Ambrosetti Forum in Cinobbio.
As reported on the website of the head of the Ukrainian state on Saturday, he thanked Italian entrepreneurs for developing their projects in Ukraine right now. Zelensky noted the companies that provide Ukrainian partners with energy equipment, in particular as humanitarian aid.
The participants of the meeting discussed the post-war reconstruction of Ukraine. “The reconstruction of Ukraine should include the introduction of innovative technologies and the latest infrastructure,” Zelensky said.
He noted that Italian business may be interested in cooperation with Ukraine primarily in defense production, mechanical engineering, energy, aerospace, and IT industries.
The Ambrosetti Forum takes place in Cinque Terre, Italy, on September 6-8. Zelenskyy arrived there after the 24th meeting of the Contact Group on Ukraine’s Defense, which took place on Friday at the Ramstein air base in Germany.
Bulgaria is interested in importing sunflower seeds, wheat, corn and milk powder from Ukraine, said Nikolay Nenchev, Chargé d’Affaires of the Embassy of the Republic of Bulgaria in Ukraine, during a meeting with Taras Vysotsky, acting Minister of Agrarian Policy and Food of Ukraine.
According to the press service of the Ministry of Agrarian Policy and Food, Nikolay Nenchev assured that Bulgaria is ready to continue to help and cooperate with Ukraine, to facilitate the transit of Ukrainian agricultural products to the country’s seaports.
Vysotsky, for his part, noted that Ukraine highly appreciates cooperation with Bulgaria and its assistance in exporting agricultural products.
“Ukraine and Bulgaria have always had a constructive dialog on various issues. This contributes to the strengthening of bilateral relations between Ukraine and Bulgaria,” the acting minister summarized.
Astarta Agro-Industrial Holding, Ukraine’s largest sugar producer, has received 40 grain railcars from the USAID Economic Support for Ukraine program, the donor organization’s press service reported on its Facebook page.
“They will increase the annual export of Ukrainian grain by 44 thousand tons, which will help feed the world. USAID assistance will also allow Astarta-Kyiv to offer better terms and more favorable prices to Ukrainian agricultural producers, which will directly improve their well-being,” the statement said.
USAID is confident that such assistance not only strengthens Ukraine’s economy through higher export revenues, but also helps Ukrainian farmers and plays an important role in ensuring global food security.
“Astarta is a vertically integrated agro-industrial holding company operating in eight regions of Ukraine. It comprises six sugar factories, agricultural enterprises with a land bank of 220 thousand hectares and dairy farms with 22 thousand cattle, an oil extraction plant in Globyno (Poltava region), seven elevators and a biogas complex.
In 2023, Astarta Agricultural Holding reduced its net profit by 5.0% to EUR61.9 million, and its EBITDA decreased by 6.1% to EUR145.77 million, while revenue increased by 21.3% to EUR618.93 million.
As reported, in 2024, the Karpaty Research and Mechanical Plant (Lviv region) will produce 300 grain carriers by order of the USAID Economic Support for Ukraine project, which will account for 45% of the company’s annual workload. The donor organization has already provided a number of Ukrainian agricultural holdings with railroad rolling stock, including 50 hopper cars to Nibulon, 10 units to IMC, 15 units to Cygnet, 25 units to AR Boryspil LLC, a member of the Agro-Region Group, and 25 units to grain traders Almeida Group and Louis Dreyfus, respectively.
The Varus chain has opened its fourth store in Odesa (91 Dacha Kovalevskoho Street), the retailer’s press service reports.
The new supermarket has the Varus Home format and was developed for the chain by YUDIN Design studio. The total area of the store is 1050 square meters, of which 622.31 square meters is the sales area, and in addition to standard cash desks, there will be self-service cash desks.
“The Varus Home format is an opportunity for our customers to buy their favorite products in a home atmosphere. The stylish design emphasizes the vector for continuous development and improvement, and it is also designed to make the time spent in the store even more enjoyable,” Anna Luganskaya, Varus Marketing Director, was quoted in the release.
She noted that more and more renovated supermarkets, in addition to a wide range of goods, offer products of their own production. The culinary department offers dozens of meat, vegetarian, diet and seasonal dishes. For lovers of pastries and hot pizza, Varus Cafe offers pizza and bread of its own production. The supermarket also has coffee machines that allow customers to make their own coffee.
Varus is a national supermarket chain represented on the Ukrainian grocery retail market by Omega. Omega’s authorized capital is UAH 111 million 129 thousand, owned by Weigant Enterprises Limited (Cyprus), with Valeriy Kiptyk and Ruslan Shostak as ultimate beneficiaries. In 2023, Omega’s revenue amounted to UAH 17.51 billion, which is 20% higher than in 2022, and net profit amounted to UAH 200 million, which is 69.5% higher than in 2022.
The first store of the chain was opened in 2003 in Dnipro, and the total number of its stores is 109 in different cities of Ukraine and a DarkStore in Kyiv.
The chain operates in several formats: classic supermarkets, To Go stores and the varus.ua conscious shopping service.
