IC “Express Insurance” (Kiev) in January-April of this year made payments to the amount of UAH 148.3 million, which is 61.3% more than the same period of 2023.
According to the insurer’s website, including payments on CASCO amounted to UAH 125 million (58.2% more), on MTPL – UAH 19.6 million (+2.1 times), VHI – UAH 2.1 million (-11.9%), from other types of insurance – UAH 1.6 million (+14.9%).
Express Insurance Ltd. was founded in 2008 and is a part of UkrAvto group of companies. The company specializes in motor insurance. Since April 2012 it is an associate member of the Motor Transport Insurance Bureau of Ukraine.
President of the Slovak Republic Zuzana Chaputova arrived in Kyiv on a farewell visit, the press secretary of the Slovak head of state Martin Stryzhynets said, Extra Plus reports.
It is noted that for security reasons, the program of the visit is not reported.
“President of the Slovak Republic Zuzana Chaputova arrived in Kyiv on Friday morning on a farewell visit to Ukraine, the press secretary of the head of state Martin Stryzhynets said. The president’s term in office is coming to an end. During her farewell visits, she visits different countries,” the newspaper writes.
Land plots are being bought even more than in 2021
Ukrainians began to buy and sell land and real estate more actively in the first quarter of 2024, according to the Unified Register of Notarial Forms of the Ministry of Justice. Over 185,000 land alienation agreements were registered during this period. This is 36.4% more than before the full-scale invasion. And alienations of other real estate increased by 55% – but this is still less than in 2021.
In 2024, Ukrainians are more likely to sell or transfer land to other ownership. In particular, 185 thousand land alienation agreements were drawn up by notaries in the first quarter of 2024. This is 56% more than in the same period last year: then notaries certified almost 119 thousand such forms.
The number of such agreements is already a third higher than before the start of the full-scale war. Back then, in 2021, more than 136 thousand land alienation agreements were formalized.
At the same time, the number of alienations of real estate other than land has increased by one and a half times this year. Thus, in the first quarter of this year, notaries certified more than 181 thousand such forms. For comparison, in the same period last year, there were almost 117 thousand such transactions.
However, this is still 16% less than before the full-scale campaign began: just over 216 thousand forms were used for land alienation.
It should be noted that one notarial act does not always require only one notarial form. Accordingly, the number of actions is approximate and is compared to previous years.
It should be reminded that the total number of notarial forms used last year increased by 2.6 million) , but still remains lower than before the outbreak of full-scale war.
On Thursday, the Antimonopoly Committee of Ukraine (AMCU) allowed GNG Retail Limited (Nicosia, Cyprus), a holding company of Galnaftogaz, to acquire stakes in the authorized capital of Gadz-Agro LLC with a land bank of 25 thousand hectares and Ukrpolfrukt LLC (both in Tribukhivtsi village, Buchach district, Ternopil region).
According to the agency’s website, applications for the acquisition of shares were received by the AMCU on March 29, 2024, the size of the shares is not specified.
According to the website, Gadz-Agro was founded in 2004 in Chortkiv district of Ternopil region and currently leases about 25 thousand hectares located in one area in three districts of Ternopil region. The company is engaged in the production and sale of basic and certified seeds, cultivation and storage of grain and industrial crops, their trade, production of flour and cereals, as well as breeding of dairy cattle. Petro Gadz owns 100% of Gadz-Agro.
According to the Opendatabot project, in 2023, the company reduced its net profit by 28.2 times to UAH 11.49 million, while its revenue increased by 19.1% to UAH 2 billion 274.15 million and its assets increased by 20.1% to UAH 4 billion 247.65 million. During the year, the number of employees increased by 35 people to 1,017.
Ukrpolfrukt LLC was established in 2017 and specializes in growing berries, nuts, pome and stone fruits, fruit trees and shrubs, and nursery farming. Petro Gadz owns 75% of the company, while Taras Melnyk and Oleg Hrytsak own 15% and 10%, respectively.
In 2023, the company increased its profits and assets by 4.2 times to UAH 2.182 million and UAH 11.22 million, respectively. At the same time, the company’s debt obligations increased 16.8 times to UAH 6.75 million, and revenue decreased by 33.4% to UAH 7.39 million. It has 1 employee.
GNG Retail Public Limited is the holding company of Galnaftogaz. It owns 90% of the shares. The founder and ultimate beneficiary of the group is Vitaliy Antonov, and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development owns a minority stake in GNG Retail Public Limited.
In addition, on Thursday, the AMCU granted permission for Saroubas Limited, a company controlled by Antonov, to purchase more than 50% of Developer AV LLC and Developer VD LLC, which organize the construction of buildings (both in Lviv), owned equally by Israeli citizen Alon Holstein and Austrian citizen Maximilian Dejako through Cyprus-based Pleinmont Capital Ltd.
On Thursday, May 9, the international chain JYSK opened a new store in the capital’s Nyvky shopping center (58 D. Shcherbakovsky Street), the company’s press service reports.
“I am sure that the visitors of Nyvky shopping center on Danylo Shcherbakovsky Street will be pleased with the JYSK store in the SC3.0. Compact”. This format allows us to use the retail space more efficiently, presenting a wider range of home and garden furniture to consumers,” Yevhen Ivanitsa, Country Director of JYSK Ukraine, was quoted in the release.
The new store is located on the ground floor and occupies 1,019 square meters of retail space plus a 210 square meter warehouse. The store has non-standard equipment, higher than usual, which has increased the area for furniture display.
Like all new JYSK stores, it is built in the 3.0 concept, which includes modern spot lighting, spacious design, customer-friendly zoning of product categories, a spacious mattress studio, etc., as well as an enlarged social area and improved conditions for staff, the company said.
Currently, there are 94 stores and the jysk.ua online store in Ukraine, and the company plans to reach 100 stores by the end of 2024. Ivanitsa said that there will be some news about the expansion of the network next week. JYSK has more than 800 employees in the country.
JYSK is part of the family-owned Lars Larsen Group with more than 3.4 thousand stores in 48 countries.
JYSK’s revenue in the financial year 2022/23 amounted to EUR 5.2 billion.
Comprehensive “green” transformation in Ukraine is gaining special importance and is already affecting business. JSC OTP BANK takes into account the trends and has planned a number of activities to create its own system of social and environmental management, said Maxim Oliynyk, ESG Manager of the Bank, during the open dialogue “Green Agenda for Ukraine: Special Role and Unique Challenges for Banks” with the participation of representatives of the NBU, EBRD, KSE and a number of Ukrainian financial institutions.
“OTP Bank is actively working to support and develop green technologies and social responsibility of Ukrainian business. We are currently developing our own environmental and social management system, which will be harmonized with the requirements of the European Union and will help the Bank to create its “green” portfolio,” said M. Oliynyk.
According to the ESG manager, OTP BANK is guided by EU standards in the field of green and sustainable technologies and practices aimed at reducing the risks and uncertainty that investors face when financing such projects. “In supporting green and sustainable technologies and practices, the Bank must not only meet the requirements of the EU and the Parent Bank, but also strictly adhere to the rules dictated by the National Bank of Ukraine, as ESG is becoming a necessity,” he emphasized.
According to Maxim Oliynyk, a comprehensive “green” transformation opens up access to the resources of global investors and modern European technologies, which, in turn, will contribute to the development of Ukraine’s economy and increase the number of potential requests for financing. Taking this into account, as well as the desire to use the opportunities that are opening up, OTP BANK has developed an ESG Strategy that provides for
– creation and implementation of all components of the social and environmental management system (policy on environmental and social issues, a separate communication channel, building institutional and human capacity)
– creation of separate “green” products and development of its own “green” portfolio, taking into account clearly defined and verified sustainability criteria for products (EU Taxonomy, Climate Bonds Taxonomy, Sustainable Finance Framework and Green Loan Framework of the Parent Bank);
– Inventory of the Bank’s greenhouse gas emissions and development of measures to reduce the carbon footprint;
– improvement of the ESG and sustainability training program for all OTP Bank employees, as well as other tasks in the field of environmental protection and social responsibility of the Bank.