“Kernel, one of Ukraine’s largest agricultural holdings, posted $682 million in gross profit in fiscal year (FY) 2024, up 7% from FY 2023.
According to the annual report published on the company’s website, Kernel earned $3.581 billion in revenue last fiscal year, up 4% year-on-year.
“This growth was driven by increased sales volumes across all key products – grain, sunflower oil and sunflower meal – due to the reopening of exports to Ukrainian Black Sea ports in mid-October 2023. This growth was partially offset by lower realized prices. Cargo transportation and other services reached a record high of $405 million, accounting for 11% of total revenue. Export sales accounted for 94% of total revenue,” the report says.
At the same time, Kernel recognized a loss of $10 million from changes in the fair value of biological assets and agricultural products in FY2024, compared to a loss of $115 million in FY2023.
The cost of sales in FY2024 increased by 7% year-on-year to $2.889 billion, driven by a 7% year-on-year increase in the cost of goods for resale and raw materials used, as well as a 7% increase in shipping and handling costs, the company explained.
At the same time, Kernel estimated losses from property damage and business interruption due to Russia’s war against Ukraine at $71 million, up 33% year-on-year, and reported that it received a one-time insurance payment of $34 million.
In FY2024, the agricultural holding received $9 million in profit from securities transactions (including Avere trading), inventory income, foreign currency gains, and income from contract termination.
In FY2024, Kernel’s other operating expenses amounted to $23 million, down 34% year-on-year. This included $17 million of shipping and other penalties (due to long waiting times for loading and unloading vessels in ports) and a $5 million loss from the Group’s securities and derivatives operations.
The agroholding increased salaries and related expenses by 24%, or $81 million. As a result, general and administrative expenses in FY2024 increased by 4% year-on-year to $213 million, mainly due to higher salaries and related expenses.
In addition, Kernel recognized net impairment losses on financial assets of $11 million, which reflects the provisions made for receivables and loans to third parties.
The agroholding also recorded a loss of $229 million in FY2024 due to impairment of property, plant and equipment ($117 million), impairment of goodwill related to two oilseed processing plants previously acquired by Kernel ($58 million), and impairment of intangible assets related to the port transshipment business ($24 million).
In addition, the agricultural holding mentioned the impairment of prepayments to suppliers and other current assets ($6 million), the write-off of assets destroyed by Russian shelling ($14 million), etc.
As a result, Kernel’s operating profit in FY2024 decreased by 37% compared to the same period in FY2023 to $276 million.
Financial expenses in FY2024 decreased by 22% year-on-year to $119 million, driven by a significant repayment of the group’s bank loans in December 2023 and a decrease in lease payments following the sale of a part of the agricultural business in March 2023.
Financial income in FY2024 increased by 62% year-on-year to $50 million, mainly due to interest accrued on financial assets held for cash management as additional liquidity balances were allocated to interest-bearing instruments. This also included a non-cash gain of $6 million on the repayment of certain credit facilities at a discount.
As a result, net financial expenses decreased by 43% year-on-year to $69 million.
Net foreign exchange gain amounted to $33 million, mainly due to the devaluation of the Ukrainian hryvnia against the US dollar during the reporting period and the corresponding revaluation of intra-group balances.
Other expenses, net, increased 2.5 times year-on-year to $29 million. Among them, the agricultural holding mentioned expenses for charitable and social projects of $25 million, fines and penalties of $6 million, as well as $2 million of profit from the sale of subsidiaries, as the Group completed the sale of three floor-type granaries in FY2024.
The Group reported operating profit of $604 million before working capital changes, down 20% year-on-year. This was 59% higher than EBITDA for the period, reflecting the impact of significant non-cash items recognized during the year.
After accounting for foreign currency translation differences, total comprehensive income attributable to shareholders in FY2024 amounted to $63 million, up 7% year-on-year.
The Board of Directors has recommended to the General Meeting of Shareholders to declare dividends of zero for the year ended June 30, 2024.
Before the war, Kernel Agro Holding was the world’s leading producer of sunflower oil (about 7% of global production) and its exports (about 12%). It is one of the largest producers and sellers of bottled oil in Ukraine. In addition, it is engaged in the cultivation and sale of agricultural products.
Ukrainian sports media outlet Tribuna.com, which currently has more than 12 million monthly users, has announced the launch of a global football platform in six international languages – English, Spanish, German, French, Italian and Arabic – and has an ambition to quadruple the number of users.
“Our ambition is 50 million monthly users worldwide,” Tribuna.com co-founder Maxim Berezinsky told Interfax-Ukraine.
According to him, this is a long-term goal that requires a strong team.
“In particular, to work with the international platform, we actively engage native speakers who understand not only the language but also the local context. For example, the Arabic-language version of Tribuna is overseen by the former editor of Manchester City’s Arabic website,” Berezinsky said.
He emphasized that the development of the existing Ukrainian team is supported in parallel, and the task of the resource in Ukraine remains unchanged – to remain the leading sports media.
“Of course, most users of the international versions come to us to read about their favorite team or find out the score of an exotic match. But we consider it our task and duty to also talk about the Ukrainian context and are consciously developing this area on our foreign-language versions,” Berezinsky said.
The co-founder of Tribuna.com added that the resource disseminates information about the destruction of Ukrainian sports facilities by Russia, as well as promotes famous Ukrainian athletes, such as football player Oleksandr Zinchenko, high jumper Yaroslava Maguchikh, fencer Olga Harlan or boxer Oleksandr Usyk.
He also announced plans to expand the use of artificial intelligence (AI) and implement specific AI projects in the near future.
Tribuna.com was founded over 10 years ago by Dmitry Navosha and Maxim Berezinsky. Currently, in addition to the international website, the company also promotes the Football Xtra app, which tries to combine media, football fan communities, and a sports statistics service covering more than 600 tournaments in 160 countries. In addition, the publisher’s products also include 12 mobile applications for iOS and Android, created for fans of the world’s leading football clubs, from Barcelona to Juventus.
According to YouControl, Belarusian citizens Navosha and Berezinsky own 85% to 15% of Sport Segodnya LLC. Last year, the revenue of the company headed by Berezinsky increased to UAH 15.44 million from UAH 9.92 million in 2023, and the net loss amounted to UAH 1.23 million against UAH 5.22 million of net profit a year earlier.
In addition, according to YouControl, Berezinsky has a historical connection with Tribuna Digital LLC, where he was a co-owner. Now this company, which last year received 6.42 million hryvnias in revenue with a net loss of 3.16 million hryvnias, is owned by its director Oleksiy Simchenko.
The Tribuna.com website lists the contacts of the Cyprus-based Tribuna Trading LTD, which was registered in 2016 and has Navosha as one of its directors.
Head of business security practice at Juscutum law firm Oleksandr Horobets supported the adopted amendments to the CPC regarding NABU and SAP.
“Instead of political manipulation – legal clarity. Bill No. 12414 for the first time clearly establishes the boundaries of authority and raises the standards of human rights protection,” he said in a comment transmitted to the Interfax-Ukraine news agency on Wednesday.
In his opinion, in the framework of expanding the powers of the Prosecutor General, the law returns the situation to the legal field, because the expansion of the competence of the SAP from January 1, 2024, according to the law №3509-IX, contradicted the norm of the Constitution that the powers of the Prosecutor General can not be transferred to another prosecutor.
“A significant achievement of the draft law is the elimination of the destructive practice of conducting searches without court orders. The draft clearly limits this right exclusively to cases where there is an urgent need to save a person’s life, health, sexual freedom, safety or to preserve evidence of these crimes. This approach is worthy of the highest praise, because it is a direct step towards strengthening the guarantees of protection of the rights and freedoms of Ukrainian citizens from unjustified interference in private life”, – the head of Juscutum’s business security practice is of the opposite opinion to the UBA.
He added that the adopted law also provides a number of additional guarantees for the participants of the proceedings, in particular, the request to extend the pre-trial investigation up to 12 months must now be coordinated personally by the Prosecutor General, and his deputies will not have such a right.
Horobets believes that the adopted law leaves a wide range of legal opportunities for this NABU to work in a civilized and productive manner, and reminds that the expansion of powers of the SAP occurred only from January 1, 2024, and before that this body also worked effectively.
The lawyer also noted that the changes made concern all law enforcement agencies and structures, not only anti-corruption, so we should not talk about selective intervention.
“Bill No. 12414 is not a threat, but an important step towards a more efficient, constitutional and human rights-based justice system in Ukraine. It is designed to eliminate imbalances, strengthen guarantees of citizens’ rights and make the work of law enforcement agencies more transparent and responsible,” summarized the head of Juscutum’s business security practice.
The adoption of the law with amendments to the Criminal Procedure Code (CPC) No. 4555-IX (in the Rada it was under No. 12414) significantly weakens the independence of anti-corruption bodies, jeopardizes Ukraine’s European integration aspirations, and violates the principles of the rule of law and legality, in particular, due to the violation of procedures provided for by the regulations of the Verkhovna Rada, the Ukrainian Bar Association (UBA) made a public statement on Wednesday.
Among the norms criticized by the UBA are the abolition of the exclusive jurisdiction of the NABU and the SAP for corruption crimes, the deprivation of the SAP prosecutors of the authority to refer to the competence of the NABU other proceedings not expressly provided for by the CPC, and the consolidation of the right of the Prosecutor General to request the materials of any proceedings and the possibility of assigning the analysis of such materials for compliance with the requirements of the law to any other prosecutor.
The statement also notes the consolidation of the exclusive competence of the Prosecutor General to report suspicion of top officials and authorizing him to close criminal proceedings against top officials.
“The possibility of appointing a prosecutor without a competition – on the basis of a personal application and based on the results of a special inspection. Such a norm levels the selection standards, contradicts the principle of independence of the prosecutor’s office and creates risks for the legitimacy of personnel decisions”, – commented in the UBA another of the norms of the adopted law.
In its opinion, the fixing of such grounds for suspension of an investigator/detective as non-compliance with the prosecutor’s instructions can be used as a tool to influence the procedural independence.
The Association also pointed out that the grounds for conducting an “urgent” search without a court decision have been expanded to include the seizure or preservation of evidence, whereas previously it was possible only to ensure the life of persons, the safety of property or in the case of prosecution of persons.
The UBA notes that the independence of anti-corruption bodies is a key requirement of international partners and a condition for financial support to Ukraine. Its provision was envisaged, in particular, in the framework of visa liberalization with the EU and programs with the IMF.
“Moreover, such a law may create obstacles for Ukraine’s accession to the EU, because it violates the principles of the rule of law, which is a fundamental component of the European integration process. Given the above, the Ukrainian Bar Association calls on the Verkhovna Rada to initiate an immediate review of the provisions of the law, which undermine the institutional independence of the NABU and SAP,” the statement reads.
The Association also calls on international partners to continue monitoring and promoting compliance with the principles of independence of Ukraine’s anti-corruption system, and on the professional legal community and the public to work out changes that will comply with international standards of the rule of law.
The processing of alternative oilseeds in the new season may increase in case of signing the bill containing “soybean-rape amendments”, but not significantly, with the processing of rapeseed amounting to 500-550 thsd tonnes, soybeans – 2.7 mln tonnes, sunflower – 13.6-13.8 mln tonnes, APK-Inform news agency reported.
“Indeed, the export duty for soybean and rapeseed may make the domestic prices for oilseeds more attractive for the processing companies, but there are a number of factors that may limit the processing volumes, including the expected lower harvest of alternative oilseeds and higher harvest of sunflower, as well as the existing difficulties with the sale of the processed products,” – the analysts explained.
According to the experts, the potential of rapeseed harvest in Ukraine is decreasing as the harvesting campaign progresses, as it shows much lower yields than expected. Currently, APK-Inform estimates the gross harvest of this crop at about 3 mln tonnes (-18% compared to 2024/25 MY).
At the same time, the competition in this sector between exporters and processors will remain high even with the export duty, as a number of companies already have the obligations under the foreign economic contracts, and the supply of raw materials from farmers remains low, which will support the prices of rapeseed, while the prices of rapeseed oil are still under pressure due to the oil market conditions and the increase of oilseed production in the EU.
“Our estimate of rapeseed processing in Ukraine in 2025/26 season does not exceed 500-550 thsd tonnes (as compared to the previous season). At the same time, if the margin prospects in this sector improve, we may revise the estimate upwards,” the analysts predict.
The prospects of the soybean sector, in their opinion, are also ambiguous.
The area of soybean planting in 2025 turned out to be bigger than forecasted, but according to APK-Inform, the harvest is unlikely to exceed the previous year’s figure and, given the growth of the yield potential, is expected to reach 6.3 mln tonnes (-8%). However, this could be one of the largest figures for the industry, which could have a corresponding impact on prices and keep it attractive for processors.
In the new season, subject to the export duty on soybeans, the processing of soybeans may reach 2.7 mln tonnes (+3%) and become a new record for the industry.
Another important factor will be the amount of sunflower harvested and the margin of its processing.
“It is expected that the production of this oilseed may grow by 8% to about 14 mln tonnes, and the crushing – to 13.6-13.8 mln tonnes, which may slightly reduce the interest of large mills to alternative oilseeds,” APK-Inform summarized.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has appointed Olga Selikh as Ukraine’s ambassador extraordinary and plenipotentiary to the Sultanate of Oman. The relevant decree No. 531/2025 has been published on the website of the head of state.
Olga Selikh has many years of diplomatic experience working in the Ukrainian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. She has held various positions in the central office of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and diplomatic missions abroad. Until recently, she worked in one of the departments of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs responsible for the Middle East and North Africa.
The Sultanate of Oman officially established diplomatic relations with Ukraine in 1992. The Ukrainian Embassy in Muscat began its work in 2018. Bilateral cooperation is developing in the fields of trade, education, agriculture, and energy. Oman remains one of Ukraine’s key partners in the Persian Gulf region.
The appointment of a new ambassador to Muscat reflects Ukraine’s desire to intensify bilateral ties and expand its economic and political presence in the region.
