National bank of Ukraine’s official rates as of 16/02/21
Source: National Bank of Ukraine
Official rates of banking metals from national bank as of February 16
One troy ounce=31.10 grams
Metinvest B.V. (the Netherlands), the parent company of the Metinvest international vertically integrated mining and metallurgical group, in 2020 increased its net profit by 54% compared to 2019, to $ 526 million from $ 341 million with a 2 percentage point increase in margin (p.p.), to 5% from 3%.
According to the audited consolidated financial results for 2020, published by the company, its revenue decreased by 3%, to $ 10.453 billion, EBITDA increased by 82%, to $ 2.204 billion, with a margin increase of 10 p.p., up to 21% from 11%.
The company’s total debt for 2020 decreased by 3% compared to 2019, to $ 2.937 billion from $ 3.032 billion, while the amount of cash tripled to $ 826 million from $ 274 million.
Net debt decreased by 23%, to $ 2.111 billion from $ 2.758 billion.
Capital investments decreased by 37%, to $ 663 million from $ 1.055 billion.
“Last year, the COVID-19 pandemic brought much of the global economy to a standstill. I am proud to report that Metinvest again proved able to navigate profound market challenges. We achieved higher margins and carried out key investment projects. We also protected our employees and communities while making progress on our environmental, social and governance (ESG) agenda,” Yuriy Ryzhenkov, the Chief Executive Officer of Metinvest, said commenting on the results.
“Our number one priority as the pandemic emerged was to safeguard our employees and local communities. We took firm and immediate steps, implementing enhanced health protocols at all assets and switching administrative staff to work remotely. We also supplied test kits and oxygen equipment to local healthcare institutions,” he said.
“After ensuring the safety of our people, the next task in our COVID-19 response was to maintain uninterrupted production across our assets. We ultimately delivered strong operational results, reflecting the positive effect of investments implemented in recent years,” he noted.
“Anticipating a difficult external environment, the group took the decision to reduce CAPEX in 2020, while maintaining it at a decent level. Key projects completed include launching the new down coiler at Illich Steel Mill’s modernized hot strip mill and upgrading the beneficiation facilities at Central GOK. We are carrying out a planned review of the Technological Strategy 2030 to ensure that projects bring maximum benefits,” he added.
“At the same time, Metinvest’s focus on operational improvements to ensure global cost competitiveness yielded a total effect of $ 376 million in 2020. We increased the efficiency of raw material and energy consumption, improved equipment productivity, streamlined logistics, enhanced the product mix and more,” the director said.
The Farmak pharmaceutical company (Kyiv), thanks to the decision of Kyiv City Council to sell a land plot to the pharmaceutical company, plans to develop an R&D cluster project.
According to a press release on the company’s website, on February 11 this year, Kyiv City Council, by an absolute majority of votes, decided to sell the company the land on which the production facilities of Farmak plant have been located for 95 years.
The intended use of land defined by the document is the operation and maintenance of a complex of buildings and structures.
“Farmak expresses gratitude to the deputies for supporting the development of a virtuous and transparent business. Production facilities, research facilities, the laboratory and technical complex of the enterprise are internationally certified and meet the high requirements of European standards. Now, thanks to the positive decision of the city council, we will be able to implement another ambitious project – the creation of a pharmaceutical R&D cluster to build up scientific and technical potential,” executive director of the company Volodymyr Kostiuk said.
He recalled that over the past 25 years, Farmak has invested more than $ 300 million in the modernization of the enterprise.
Technical director of Farmak Andriy Goy, in turn, emphasized that the creation of the R&D cluster will be a step forward towards the development of biomedical research and development in Ukraine and an important step towards the transformation of Kyiv into the capital of the European level.
“The main capital of Kyiv should be precisely an intellectual product,” he said.
The company is confident that the emergence of an R&D cluster will contribute to an increase in revenues to the city budget from knowledge-intensive sectors of the economy.
Mubadala, the investment fund of the United Arab Emirates, has signed memorandums of understanding with 18 Ukrainian companies, in particular with EastOne represented by Rodion Kukhaev, Interpipe represented by Denys Morozov, UFuture represented by Mykola Tymoschuk, Unit.City represented by Kostiantyn Yevtushenko, Dragon Capital represented by Andriy Nosok, Fortior represented by Mykola Nesterenko and UMG represented by Andriy Horokhov.
“Mubadala has also signed a number of other memorandums of understanding with private companies that aim to explore investment opportunities in the private sector in Ukraine,” the investment fund said in a release.
According to its data, earlier Mubadala fund also signed memorandums of understanding with other Ukrainian companies, including TAS Group, BGV, Horizon, OdesaGaz, Epicenter, Oschadbank, Mais and Metinvest, which together with DTEK and UMG are part of the assets of SCM Group.
Adviser to the head of the President’s Office Tymofiy Mylovanov said that Mubadala expects to close the first investment by the end of 2021.
“The average ticket (investment amount) of Mubadala is $ 50-100 million,” he wrote on Facebook, pointing out that the estimated investment amount could thus reach $ 1.8 billion.
“The creation of a sovereign fund of Ukraine for joint investments with this and other funds of the UAE and other countries was discussed,” he added.
According to him, the Ministry of Agrarian Policy also signed a memorandum on the creation of a trading company and an agricultural hub.
“Meetings and consultations on specific agreements with other state funds of the UAE are underway,” Mylovanov said.
Ukraine has obtained permission from Turkey to operate a flight with passengers of SkyUp Airlines from Zanzibar to Antalya, after which it will fly to Kyiv, Minister of Infrastructure Vladyslav Krykliy said.
“I would like to inform you about the problem of the departure of the SkyUp aircraft from Zanzibar. We received the necessary permission from the Turkish side to fly to Antalya and further to Kyiv. We will return everyone soon,” he wrote on his Facebook page on Monday.
As reported with reference to SkyUp, flight PQ 6972 Zanzibar-Kyiv did not take off on February 13 due to technical reasons. Within a few hours, the plane was technically ready to fly, but to complete it, it was necessary to make changes to the route, take into account the rules regarding the working hours of the crews, and also obtain the necessary permits from the countries whose borders are crossed.
The airline said that from February 13 to 15, its representatives were in talks with the country’s aviation authorities to obtain permission to fly in their airspace. The State Aviation Administration of Ukraine also joined the negotiations to speed up the resolution of the issue.
According to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine, about 180 Ukrainian tourists were stuck in Zanzibar due to this incident.
