Two Sandown-class mine countermeasures vessels Ramsey and Blyth, belonging to the Royal Navy of Great Britain, have officially completed their service in the British Navy and will soon be transferred to Ukraine, the Royal British Navy press service said on Wednesday.
“Both Sandown-class mine countermeasures vessels have served extensively during careers spanning 21 years and 175,000 miles for Ramsey, 185,000 miles over 20 years for Blyth, supporting operations in the Middle East, around the UK or on NATO duties in northern European and Mediterranean water,” the Royal British Navy said.
It notes that the vessels are being replaced by expanding Project Wilton drive to introduce autonomous or uncrewed boats and systems. Into minehunting.
“Blyth and Ramsey will enjoy a fresh lease of life in the Black Sea. Once further work is completed on the two vessels, they will be transferred to the Ukrainian Navy,” the British Navy said.
In Kyiv, at various stages of construction readiness, 32 business centers with a total GLA of almost 670,00 square meters (excluding large-scale facilities) are announced for opening in 2021-2022, Managing Partner of UTG Offices Volodymyr Heliuta has told Interfax-Ukraine.
According to him, according to the results of the first half of 2021, the total rental area of professional facilities in Kyiv is slightly more than 2 million square meters. In the structure of supply of space, class A accounts for 25%, B and C – 75%.
“About 52% of office space was commissioned before 2010 and today it is morally and technically outdated. Therefore, despite the permanent lockdowns, we see the interest of investors and developers in the office real estate market – frozen and postponed projects have been actively revived since the middle of 2020. Outdated shopping centers, hotel complexes, enterprises and factories are being reconstructed into office real estate,” Heliuta said.
For June 2021, the rental price per square meter a month in class A it was $20-25 excluding VAT, OPEX, utility bills and BOMA coefficients, in classes B and B + – $16-20.
The expert said that due to the release of a new proposal, vacancy is growing. Thus, in class A business centers it is 10%, in class B, B + business centers it is 10-15% with a tendency to increase.
Since the end of 2020, the tendency towards a decrease in rented space has continued. There is a growing trend towards renting turnkey office space, including fully equipped workspaces. Smaller and medium-sized tenants (especially those who are not ready to invest in renovation, improvement, furnishing of premises) are considering alternative options for changing offices.
“There is a high demand for open space offices without intricate renovations, within walking distance from the metro, in an area with developed infrastructure. In addition, one of the desired options for tenants is parking for bicycles and electric vehicles, as well as the opportunity to take a shower. Flexible office spaces adapted to a hybrid work format that allows employees to combine remote work from home with stay in the office are becoming the new norm,” Heliuta said.
According to him, the main consumer today is the representatives of the IT sector. “Adaptive offices are attractive for them: there are many projects and a team for 200 people – a large office is needed, few projects and the team has been reduced to 50 – a small one,” the expert said.
BUSINESS, BUSINESS CENTER, HOTEL, OFFICE CENTER, SHOPPING CENTER
The major shareholder and the head of the board of directors of KSG Agro agricultural holding, Serhiy Kasyanov, who owns it through Olbis Investments Ltd. (Panama), on August 2 sold one million shares (6.66%) of the group of companies to two legal entities with Polish jurisdiction, after the transaction the share of Olbis Investments Ltd. amounted to 57.96% of the charter capital.
The press service of the agricultural holding told Interfax-Ukraine about this transaction on August 4.
“The buyers were Polish companies together with beneficiaries in the European Union. Within a few days we will agree on all the formalities and will be ready to jointly inform the market about our future plans,” the press service quoted Kasyanov as commenting on the deal.
He explained that prior to the conclusion of the agreement, Olbis Investments Ltd. owned 9.7 million shares of KSG Agro S.A (Switzerland), the parent company of the Ukrainian agricultural holding, which accounted for 64.62% of its charter capital. Following the transaction, the Panamanian company owns 8.7 million shares of KSG Agro S.A (57.96%).
The press service of the agricultural holding emphasized that through this transaction, KSG Agro intends to attract investors to the development of meat processing facilities and to enter the markets for finished livestock products.
“The selling price of the shares has not been disclosed, but it is not lower than the market price and corresponds to the weighted average price of the holding’s shares on the Warsaw Stock Exchange (WSE) over the past few months. The buyers of the shares were two companies with Polish jurisdiction, whose names have not yet been disclosed,” the press service said.
Thus, according to the three-month dynamics of the value of shares of the agricultural holding presented on the WSE website, the investments attracted by it can roughly range from PLN 3.21 million ($ 834,000 at the current exchange rate) to PLN 4.49 million ($ 1.17 million).
Metinvest, the largest Ukrainian mining and metallurgical holding, in January-June this year increased crude steel production by 10% compared to the same period last year, to 4.358 million tonnes, cast iron – by 8%, to 4.405 million tonnes, but reduced total coke production by 0.2%, to 2.368 million tonnes.
According to a press release of parent company Metinvest B.V. on the results of operation in H1 2021 published on Wednesday, In 2Q 2021, Metinvest’s hot metal output climbed by 5% q-o-q to 2.254 million tonnes. This was driven by growth in Azovstal’s production of 107,000 tonnes following brief maintenance and repair work on blast furnaces in March because of the planned overhaul of basic oxygen furnace (BOF) No. 1 that month.
In 2Q 2021, the Group’s crude steel output rose by 5% q-o-q to 2.229 million tonnes because of an increase in Azovstal’s volumes of 130,000 tonnes amid greater hot metal production at the plant. Meanwhile, Illich Steel’s output decreased by 30,000 tonnes because of the scheduled overhaul of BOF no. 3 in May.
In H1 2021 hot metal and steel output grew thanks to an increase in production at the two Mariupol-based works.
In 2Q 2021, the Group’s output of merchant semi-finished products dropped by 10% q-o-q to 687,000 tonnes. Merchant slab production fell by 91,000 tonnes because of the allocation of slabs to make more flat products. Meanwhile, pig iron output edged up by 13,000 tonnes.
In 1H 2021, Metinvest’s production of merchant semi-finished products decreased by 4% y-o-y to 1.452 million tonnes. Merchant slab production declined by 131,000 tonnes because of the redistribution of slabs to flat product rolling. Pig iron production rose by 66,000 tonnes, mainly because of an increase in hot metal output.
In 2Q 2021, the Group’s output of finished products climbed by 9% q-o-q to 1.819 million tonnes.
In 1H 2021, Metinvest’s production of finished products surged by 22% y-o-y to 3.481 million tonnes.
In 2Q 2021, the Group’s coke output totalled 1.198 million tonnes, up 2% q-o-q, mainly because of an increase in production at Avdiivka Coke following the overhaul of coke oven battery No. 6 in the beginning of this year. In 1H 2021, coke output remained flat y-o-y at 2.368 million tonnes. The effect of the consolidation of production volumes of Dnipro Coke since April 2020 (124,000 tonnes) was almost completely offset by decreases in production at Avdiivka Coke of 81,000 tonnes and Azovstal of 46,000 tonnes.
Ukrainian Liudmyla Luzan won a bronze medal in the single canoe competition at the Tokyo Olympics, finishing third in the final at a distance of 200 meters.
As the Ministry of Youth and Sports of Ukraine said on Facebook, the result of Luzan in the final is 47.034.
The athlete confidently passed the semifinals of the Olympics with the best result among her rivals of 47.339, but in the final she lost to the representatives of the United States (45.932) and Canada (46.786).
Now, Ukraine has one gold medal, two silver and nine bronze medals.
The Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine has approved the energy security strategy, which was developed on the basis of the national security strategy approved by decree No. 392 of President Volodymyr Zelensky dated September 14, 2020.
Energy Minister Herman Haluschenko said during a presentation of the document at a government session on Wednesday that the strategy identifies, in particular, 29 threats to energy security, the key of which are cyber threats, ongoing Russian aggression, wear of fixed assets, lack of energy reserves, the impact of climate change on the structure and energy consumption regimes, as well as issues of competition in the markets, staffing of the industry and development of scientific and technical potential.
“In accordance with this, three key scenarios have been identified, according to which the energy sector can develop, depending on the threats,” the minister said.
These are “no change,” “unfriendly influence” and “positive transformation” scenarios.
The “no change” scenario envisages, in particular, the preservation of the current trends in the formation and implementation of energy policy, as well as the principles of the functioning of energy markets.
The second scenario “unfriendly influence” is envisaged in the event of an increase in the external influence of Russia in order to gain control over the energy policy of Ukraine.
The third scenario “positive transformation” is aimed at the priority development of the country in terms of the irreversibility of its European and Euro-Atlantic course.
Haluschenko said the main goals of the strategy are, in particular, the availability of energy resources for consumers, the sustainability of the energy sector and its economic efficiency, the environmentally acceptable impact of energy on the environment, as well as the integration of the sector into the EU space.
The Energy Ministry of kraine intends to carry out annual monitoring of threats to the country’s energy security.
ENERGY, ENERGY SECURITY, ENERGY SECURITY STRATEGY, PRESIDENT ZELENSKY
