Home Essentials, a world leader in production and rental of furniture and interior items, is launching production of furniture and mattresses in Kremenets (Ternopil region), head of the Ternopil Region Investment Office Vladimir Vasilevsky told Interfax-Ukraine.
According to him, all registration activities have already been completed and a site has been chosen for the production location.
“Kremenets community received a powerful American investor – LLC “Home Essentials Ukraine”. The project enters the stage of implementation and begins to live its own life – hiring employees, importing production equipment and forming a circle of suppliers,” he said.
According to Vasilevskyy, already in the second quarter of 2023 the shipment of products will begin. In the first phase of the project creates 50-60 jobs, by the end of 2023, 300 jobs will be created.
“The investor is transferring part of the back office operational processes from the headquarters in Hong Kong to Ukraine and managers and creatives – logisticians, marketers, etc. – will be employed here,” he added.
Mr. Vasilevsky estimates that, by analogy with similar factories in Ukraine, the production in Kremenets will give a turnover of about $12-15 million, “in the first months of work it is possible to export products at $ 0.5-1 million per month,” – he said.
We are planning to start exporting to Spain, Portugal, Italy and France, and in the second quarter of 2023 to most of the EU countries.
For the production start, on equipment and circulating assets, in the first half of 2023 will be about $ 1 million of investments, in the 2-3rd quarter – up to $ 5 million.
Oksana Donska, a board member of the Ukrainian Association of Furniture Manufacturers (UAM) and coordinator of furniture cluster development, said in a comment for Interfax-Ukraine that this investor is an example of active interest of foreign companies to our market and interest of local authorities.
“I met a representative of Home Essentials at an international exhibition, where UAM represented the products of Ukrainian furniture makers. It was a happy accident for him. Next we met at the buzzer. I gave him an analysis of the domestic market, data on the specifics of exports, told him about the geographical location of production in Ukraine. In four months, the Ternopil Region Investment Office team was able to secure the entry of the American investor,” Donska said.
Home Essentials is a world leader in manufacturing and renting out furniture and interior furnishings. The head office (headquarters) is in Hong Kong. The European office is in Madrid. The company operates in more than 26 countries.
The volume of construction work performed in Ukraine in January-June 2022 decreased by 2.1 times compared to the same period in 2021 – to 36 billion UAH, according to the State Statistics Service (Derzhstat).
According to the State Statistics Service, in June 2022 the volume of construction works was only 22.2% of the June 2021 figure. At the same time the figure rose by 18.5% in June against May this year.
According to the State Statistics Committee, in the first half of 2022 to January-June 2021 the reduction of construction works was observed in all segments of construction. Thus, the volume of construction work in the residential construction decreased by 2.1 times – to UAH 7.6 billion (37.3%), in non-residential – twice, to UAH 9.9 billion (39.5%), in the segment of engineering structures – in 2.2 times, to UAH 18.3 billion (36.6%).
The share of new construction to the total volume of construction work was 43.8%, repair – 27,4%, reconstruction and technical re-equipment – 28,8%.
The State Statistics Service notes that the publication of data was delayed due to the martial law. Data excludes temporarily occupied Crimea and temporarily occupied territories in Donetsk and Luhansk regions.
Recall that earlier RAUTA presented an analysis of the metal construction market in Ukraine.
Rauta is a leading provider of modern solutions for prefabricated buildings – sandwich panels, metal ventilated facades, steel frames, load-bearing profiles, etc. The company offers services for the design, installation of load-bearing and enclosing structures, as well as general contracting at facilities of any complexity. The main business of the company is the import of Ruukki products for commercial construction projects. We use production facilities located in Poland, Estonia and Ukraine.
The IMF staff’s main scenario under the Monitoring Program with the Board of Directors (PMB) suggests that Ukraine will need to purchase 5 billion cubic meters of gas in 2023, spread evenly over 12 months.
According to the schedule presented in the documents, without imports, Ukraine will leave this heating season with reserves of 6 billion cubic meters and by the next heating season will only be able to increase them to 8.5 billion cubic meters, which will cause their fall to 6 billion cubic meters by the beginning of 2024.
At the same time, taking into account imports, gas reserves at the end of this heating season will be only slightly below 9 billion cubic meters, and by the next will increase to almost 14 billion cubic meters, which is only about 0.5 billion cubic meters less than at the beginning of this season.
“To help Naftogaz meet the associated increase in financing needs, the government is already providing budget support to the company through an implicit subsidy in the form of lost revenues from rent payments for gas, which is estimated at about UAH 145 billion ($3.5 billion) for 2023,” the materials on the Fund’s website to the PMB indicate.
At the same time, IMF experts suggest that more support is likely to be needed, including as compensation for utility service obligations due to the fixing of the retail gas price at 7.4 UAH per cubic meter – well below the import parity price.
They added that the Heating Utility Company (HUC) and Gas Transmission System Operator (GTSO), whose liquidity suffers due to lower transit fees and low capacity usage, may also need support.
“In general, according to staff estimates, up to UAH 150 billion ($3.6 billion) in the form of additional financial support to Naftogaz, UGTSU and TKE may be required in 2023,” the IMF experts said.
December 23, 2022 Expert-Rating RA rating committee decided to suspend the financial stability (reliability) rating of insurer PJSC Insurance Company “Alfa Insurance” (Kiev), according to the website of RA.
It also noted that the rating may be restored if the license of the company will be renewed.
As reported, the National Bank of Ukraine on December 5, 2022 has applied to PJSC IC “Alfa Insurance” a measure of influence in the form of temporary suspension of license to provide financial services.
The NBU also noted that these measures were applied in connection with the company’s non-compliance with the requirements of the Regulations on licensing and registration of financial service providers and their conditions of operation in the provision of financial services …, namely requirements for business reputation of financial service providers. The company must eliminate the violations by December 5, 2023.
Later, the Motor (Transport) Insurance Bureau of Ukraine reported on its website that due to the temporary suspension of a license of IC “Alfa Insurance” on compulsory insurance of civil liability of owners of vehicles (MTPL), it lost the right to enter into new contracts.
Earlier, it was reported that the last update of the financial stability rating (credit rating) of IC “Alfa Insurance” by RA “Standard-Rating” was performed on November, 2 2022 at the level uaAA+, according to the results of the 9 months of this year.
In the first three quarters of 2022 the company has collected UAH 719,327 mln of gross premiums that is by 32,97% less than in the same period of 2021. Net premiums have decreased by 32,75% down to UAH 711,449 mln, and earned premiums – by 16,23% down to UAH 849,317 mln.
The volume of indemnities paid out by IC “Alfa Insurance”, has decreased by 11,68% down to UAH 258,439 mln in the first nine months of 2022 comparing to the same period of 2021. Given the large rates of gross premiums decrease in comparison with insurance reimbursements, the level of payments has grown by 8,66 p.p. up to 35,93%.
The financial result from operating activities has grown in 3,77 times compared to the three quarters of 2021, and the net profit has increased in 4,09 times up to UAH 126,472 mln.
As reported, IC “Alfa Insurance” was founded in 2000. It offers a universal portfolio of services, including comprehensive programs to protect the interests of business and a wide range of insurance products for individuals.
TAS Insurance Group (Kyiv) paid UAH 73.95 mln in compensation under insurance contracts in November 2022, which is 31.1% less than during the same period a year earlier.
As it is stated on the web-site of the company, payments on CASCO contracts amounted to UAH 21,58 mln, which is 29,18% of total payments of the company per month, on MTPL – UAH 27,82 mln or 37,62% of total payments.
In turn, the share of “Green Card” in the payments portfolio of the company for the month was 16,24% or UAH 12,01 mln.
At the same time the indemnities of “TAS” Insurance Group based on voluntary medical insurance contracts in November amounted to UAH 9,45 mln, which is 12,78% of the total indemnities for the month.
Under other insurance contracts in the last month of autumn 2022 TAS IG has paid UAH 3,09 mln.
TAS IG was registered in 1998. It is a universal company, offering customers more than 80 types of insurance products for various types of voluntary and compulsory insurance. It has an extensive regional network: 28 regional directorates and branches and 450 sales offices throughout Ukraine.
Finland will supply Ukraine with the 11th package of military equipment worth EUR 28.8 million, according to the Telegram channel of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine.
In addition, the Finnish Defense Forces will continue to participate in training support for the Ukrainian Armed Forces in the UK until the end of 2023. “In August, Finland sent about 20 instructors to a UK-led training operation aimed at training the Armed Forces of Ukraine. The UK has asked for support from its partner countries to implement the training,” the report says.
According to the Ukrainian Defense Ministry, the total cost of all military equipment supplied by Finland to Ukraine is already EUR 189.2 million.
