The share of chain tenants in tenant-mix shopping and entertainment centers of the Dragon Capital investment company increased due to a decrease in the share of non-systemic tenants, a trend noted by Tomas Fiala, founder and CEO of Dragon Capital, which actively invests in real estate.
“We get our rental income more as percentage of turnover. The base rental rate during COVID-19 has become significantly lower, and percentage of turnover – higher. Therefore, we are more attached to the success of our tenants and are interested in their profitability. It happened so that the share of non-systemic tenants – private entrepreneurs who supply goods non-systematically – decreased, while the share of chain tenants increased,” he said in an exclusive interview with Interfax-Ukraine.
According to the head of Dragon Capital, the company monitors the real turnover of tenants, which is one of the terms of the lease.
According to Fiala, the share of electronics stores in the tenant pool has increased, sales of which have grown significantly during the pandemic.
According to him, in shopping centers there is still no trend towards a reduction in retail space due to an increase in the share of online trading.
“We already have good traffic in some shopping centers. Although even with a decrease in the number of customers amid COVID-19 [last summer, the attendance in malls was 20-25% lower], on more rare visits, they bought more, made larger purchases, so the turnover recovered,” Fiala said.
Speaking about investments in shopping mall projects, the head of Dragon Capital noted that large shopping centers are a risky investment, and the company prefers small projects.
“We prefer such small malls as Piramida or Aladdin, located in a densely populated residential area near the subway. But such objects also require attention, they need to be dealt with, they need to be modernized, adjusted to the needs of customers,” he said.
Fiala, in particular, specified that the company had invested about $9 million in the construction of a gallery expansion and completion of an office center of Piramida mall.
The head of the investment company added that Dragon Capital was also considering the acquisition of Dream Town mall.
“We considered Dream Town. Ocean Plaza is also kind of for sale. But in such huge malls there should be a very interesting price, because they will work for the next five years, but with the development of e-commerce, the tenant-mix will also change there. There will be more entertainment and dining, less commerce, as it has been in America for the past five years. So far it is not very visible, but sooner or later it will also start to happen in Ukraine,” Fiala summed up.
The prices of industrial producers in Ukraine in November 2021 increased by 4.3%, while in October by 12.5%, in September – by 0.7%, in August – by 5.4%, in July – by 2.6%, in June – 2.4%, the State Statistics Service said.
The service clarified that within Ukraine in November from October 2021, prices of industrial producers increased by 4.8%, for supplies outside the country – by 2.5%.
According to the report, in annual terms (in relation to the same month last year) in November 2021 prices in industry increased 1.6 times, in October – by 57.2%, in September – by 45.1%, August – by 46.5%, in July – by 42.2%, in June – by 39.1%.
For the 11 months of 2021, the growth in prices of industrial producers amounted to 38.7% compared to the same period in 2020.
According to the statistics department, in extracting industry and quarrying in November this year, compared with the previous month, the prices for products increased by 7.2%. The rise in prices in extraction of coal was 9.3%, in extraction of crude oil and natural gas – 9.1%, in extraction of metal ores – 6%.
Prices for the supply of electricity and gas increased by 11.3%, in energy production – by 10.2%, chemical products – by 7.7%, coke and petroleum products – by 3.5%, in production of rubber and plastic goods – by 2.9%, in production of intermediate consumption goods – by 2.4%, wood products – by 2.2%, motor vehicles – by 1.8%, in production of pharmaceuticals – by 1.8%, at enterprises of mechanical engineering – by 1.2%, processing industry – by 1.2%, electrical equipment – by 1.1%, in production of non-durable goods – by 0.9%, in textile industry – by 0.4%, in production of long-term consumption goods – by 0.3%,
At the same time, prices decreased in production of intermediate consumption goods by 3.8%, in metallurgy – by 3.6%.
Production of vehicles in Ukraine in November of this year decreased by 17% compared to the same month of 2020 – to 531 units, in particular 16.5% less cars were produced – 455 units, Ukrautoprom said.
As reported, in November last year, Zaporizhia Automobile Plant already produced passenger cars – 234 of them were produced, another 311 cars were produced by Eurocar.
According to a report on the association’s website, compared to October of this year, car production increased by 82%, in particular production of passenger cars more than doubled.
Ten commercial vehicles (excluding AvtoKrAZ products) were produced in November – one more than in November 2020 and seven units more than in October this year.
At the same time, production of buses turned to negative dynamics, having decreased by 21% from November last year and by a quarter from October this year – to 66 units.
According to the Ukrautoprom data, in total in January-November 7,533 vehicles were produced in Ukraine, which is 70% more than in the same period last year, but the growth is maintained due to the low comparative base of the last year, when ZAZ did not produce passenger cars until September.
Production of passenger cars increased by 81% – up to 6,792 units, commercial ones decreased by 18% – to 37 units, and production of buses increased by 12% – up to 704 units.
As reported, in 2020, auto production in Ukraine decreased by 32% compared to 2019 – to 4,952 units, while the capacities created in the country allow the production of 400,000 vehicles annually.
At the same time, production of passenger cars fell by 33% – to 4,202 units, commercial by 63% – to 51 units, buses by 20% – to 699 units.
Since the beginning of 2021, the insurance market of Ukraine has decreased by 54 insurance companies, of which 11 were excluded from the state register of financial organizations on the basis of submitted applications, 43 at the initiative of the National Bank after the revocation of licenses.
This was announced by the head of the NBU insurance market supervision department, Iryna Sirenko, during the presentation by the regulator of the results of the insurance market’s work for the nine months of this year.
She also noted that as of December 8, 2021, some 156 insurance companies were registered in the state register, of which 13 are life insurance.
The number of licensed insurers for the specified period decreased by 43 companies, including six for life insurance. Almost all insurance companies, whose licenses were canceled on their applications, confirmed the absence of obligations to policyholders and reinsurers.
As a result of law enforcement, the NBU canceled the licenses of 16 insurance companies, one of which was life insurer, and two more operated on the OSAGO market.
Sirenko stressed that the managers, chief accountants and owners of insurance companies that the NBU has withdrawn from the market will not have an impeccable business reputation over the next five years and will not be able to work and be present in the insurance market.
According to her, despite a significant reduction in the number of insurance companies, the insurance market of Ukraine in 2021 shows an increase in the volume of assets. At the same time, the increase in eligible assets in insurance reserves is twice as high as the increase in total assets – 15% and 20%, respective
Director of the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU) Artem Sytnyk has said that the next year will show whether the anti-corruption processes in Ukraine will become irreversible.
“Today, all anti-corruption bodies work together and are fused in some way, complement each other. We have reached the highest level of our work in cooperation,” Sytnyk said on Thursday in Kyiv at the Seven Years of Anti-Corruption Reforms conference, timed to coincide with the International Anti-Corruption Day.
According to him, work with international partners has also been established.
“We will continue to work not only with punitive methods, but with methods that are aimed at preventing corruption, at fostering zero tolerance for corruption in society,” Sytnyk said.
At the same time, the director of NABU said that it is too early to assert about the inevitability of anti-corruption processes in Ukraine.
“In the next year, I think we will receive an answer whether the anti-corruption reform in Ukraine is irreversible, whether the results we are getting in very difficult conditions are irreversible,” he said.
According to Sytnyk, for seven years there have been constant attempts to limit the powers of anti-corruption bodies, to deprive them of their powers. “Each anti-corruption body that starts to work actively always receives some kind of decisions – by the parliament or the Constitutional Court – aimed at depriving them of their powers,” the NABU director said.
“We are not stopping our struggle. And, despite the fact that the anti-corruption system is now experiencing a change of leadership, – now it concerns the anti-corruption prosecutor’s office, and in the near future it will concern the anti-corruption bureau – I believe that the system itself is formed, effective, institutionally independent and ready for further action,” Sytnyk said.
OTP Group plans to buy the Albanian subsidiary of Greek-based Alpha Bank for EUR55 million in the second quarter of 2022, the press service of the Ukrainian OTP Bank said.
According to the report, after the financial close of the deal, which is expected to take place in the second quarter of 2022, subject to regulatory approval, in terms of total assets, the market share of OTP Group in Albania will exceed 11%, and the size of the loan portfolio will increase by 1.5 times.
Alpha Bank is reported to be the eighth largest bank in Albania with a total market share of nearly 5% in terms of assets.
