Business news from Ukraine

Business news from Ukraine

1.030 MLN ELECTRONIC OSAGO INSURANCE CONTRACTS SIGNED IN UKRAINE

Insurance companies that are members of the Motor (Transport) Insurance Bureau of Ukraine (MTIBU) as of October 31, 2019 had signed almost 1.030 million electronic OSAGO insurance contracts, the website of the bureau reports. According to the report, the total amount of premiums under such agreements exceeded UAH 757.3 million.
To date, OSAGO agreements in an electronic form are signed by 42 MTIBU member insurers.
Monthly, the number of electronic contracts is growing by 12-28%.
The leader in the number of electronic contracts is PZU Ukraine with 175,500 contracts worth UAH 147.8 million.
The share of top ten insurers in the number of signed electronic contracts in the total number of electronic policies is almost 74%, which is 6% less than the same indicator at the end of the first half of this year.
Electronic policies were introduced in February 2018 and became one of the first steps in the system of digitalization and the creation of a single digital OSAGO environment, which is defined as one of the priorities for the development of the industry and the work of the bureau.

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BORYSPIL INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT RANKS SECOND IN ACI EUROPE RANKING

Boryspil International Airport in the third quarter of 2019 and September 2019 ranked second in the ACI Europe rating in terms of passenger traffic growth among the airports intended for 10-25 million passengers per year.
According to data posted on ACI Europe’s website, in September (up by 27.6%) and in the third quarter (25.8% more), Boryspil airport ranked second following Milan airport (Italy) with a rise of 33.5% and 26.2% respectively.
In addition, Kharkiv International Airport was included in the top five ranking on the dynamics of passenger traffic growth among the airports for less than 5 million passengers. In September (66.3% more) it ranked second after Maribor Airport (Slovenia) with an increase of 92%, in the third quarter (up by 42.1%) following Targu Mures Airport (Romania, 113.5% more), Ohrid (Northern Macedonia, 53.8% more), and Turku (Finland, 52% more).
ACI Europe monthly compiles a rating of airports by passenger traffic, analyzing data from more than 230 European airports.
Airports Council International (ACI) is the only global airport sales office in the world. It is divided into branches: ACI Europe, ACI Africa, ACI Asia, ACI Latin American/Caribbean, ACI North America, and ACI Pacific.

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ENERGOATOM REDUCES ELECTRICITY PRODUCTION BY 2%

Electricity production by all power plants of state enterprise Energoatom in January-October 2019 decreased by 1.9% (by 1.3 billion kWh) compared to the same period of the previous year, to 67.271 billion kWh.
According to the press service of the company, the plan for production of electricity for the specified period in 2019 was exceeded by 1.6%.
The share of Energoatom in the overall structure of electricity production in the country amounted to 53.1%, which is 0.1 percentage points less than in January-October 2018.
The power plants of the state enterprise for the reporting period supplied 63.170 billion kWh, which is 2% less than a year earlier.
The volume of capital investments for the ten months amounted to UAH 10.253 billion against UAH 9.270 billion. in January-October 2019, financing of capital investments was UAH 12.465 billion against UAH 9.983 billion.
During the reporting period, the company transferred UAH 12.205 billion to the budgets of all levels, insurance payments amounted to UAH 2.109 billion.

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MILKILAND SEES 15.1% FALL IN NET LOSS

Milkiland, a dairy group with assets in Ukraine, Russia and Poland, saw EUR 11.39 million in net loss in January-September 2019, which is 15.1% more than a year ago.
According to a report of the group on the Warsaw Stock Exchange (WSE), consolidated revenue over the period slightly fell – by 2.3%, to EUR 96.57 million, and earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) fell by 85.3%, to EUR 0.66 million.
In the nine months of 2019 Milkiland decreased its overall sales volumes by c. 29% on the back of significantly lower sales of cheese and butter products, which profitability were undermined by “the costs-prices scissors,” when the prices for finished goods lag behind the growing cost of the raw materials, namely, raw milk prices both in Russia and Ukraine. The prices for raw milk in Ukraine and Russia in January-September 2019 were by 9% and by 7.5% higher on average on year-over-year basis, respectively.
“Those unfavourable trends were aggravated by the situation with the appreciation on UAH and RUR against EUR in the reporting period,” the company said.
Due to the “scissors” effect and the growing completion in the Russian dairy market, first of all, in the market of the City of Moscow, Ostankino decreased the sales volumes of the whole-milk products by c. 9%, which led to decline of profitability of its business on EBITDA level by 6 pp. to practically zero on year-over-year basis.
Milkiland Ukraine in January-September 2019 focused on the development of sales of high value-added products, including innovative lactose-free cheese and whole milk products, primarily in the key accounts channel. As the result, this subsidiary of Milkiland managed to preserve its EBITDA margin almost at the same level of c.3% as in in January-September 2018.
Milkiland EU over the period faced a significant deterioration of the traditional business of the production and selling of dry milk products (WPC, permeate) triggered by non-favorable situation with the prices for these products in the global market, as well as declining sales of the cheese-mix products at the domestic market of Poland. As the result, the company generated losses at EBITDA level, which also decreased the overall EBITDA result of the group.
Milkiland Intermarket increased the sales of the group’s dry milk products in China and Kosher goods sales in Israel. The share of these two countries in the total sales of Milkland Intermarket exceeded 60%. The sales volumes of the dry milk products and butter by this company increased by c. 25% in January-September 2019 on year-over-year basis.
At the same time, growing input costs in Ukraine and revaluation of the Ukrainian currency against EUR and USD during the reporting period led to the situation, when the EBITDA margin of this increased sales slid to the negative territory.

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ASTARTA CUTS NET PROFIT BY ALMOST 71%

The net profit of Astarta agricultural holding, the largest sugar producer in Ukraine, in January-September 2019 totaled EUR 4.3 million, which is almost 71% less than a year ago.
According to a company reported on the Warsaw Stock Exchange (WSE), its consolidated revenue grew by 31.6%, to EUR 333.6 million mainly driven by strong sales of agricultural produce. Export sales were up contributing 58% of the company’s revenues. Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) fell by 33.1%, to EUR 45.5 million, EBITDA margin from 27% to 14%. Gross profit fell by 34.4%, to EUR 57.1 million.
Revenues of the sugar segment stood at EUR 86.8 million (down by 10% year-over-year) on lower sales volumes and flat prices. Export sales share was 6% (16,000 tonnes).
The agricultural segment contributed 47% to the total revenues, or EUR 155 million, on 2.6-fold growth of corn sales volumes. Grain exports sales totaled 85% of segment revenue.
The soybean processing segment generated EUR 61.5 million of revenues (up by 15% year-over-year) on stronger sales volumes of key products. Some 89% sales were export sales.
Astarta said that the dairy revenues increased by 17% year-over-year to EUR 24.9 million as a result of better pricing environment. All revenue were received in Ukraine.
“Capex was reduced to maintenance levels across the segments apart from finalizing the EUR 61 million five-year investment project of completing 550,000 silo storage facilities in 2019,” the company said.
Astarta is a vertically integrated agribusiness holding operating in eight regions of Ukraine. The holding includes eight sugar factories, agricultural enterprises with a land bank of 243,000 hectares and dairy farms, a biogas plant and a soybean processing complex in Poltava region.

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UKRAINE PRODUCES OVER 1 MLN TONNES OF SUGAR BY NOV 15

Sugar production in Ukraine as of November 14, 2019 amounted to 1.1 million tonnes.
According to the Ukrtsukor National Association of Sugar Producers, as of this date 31 sugar factories were operating in the country. To date, they have processed 7.3 million tonnes of sugar beets.
According to the information and analytical portal of the agro-industrial complex, as of November 12 farmers had harvested 9 million tonnes of sugar beets from 205,000 ha (93% of the forecast for the area).
As reported, the sugar production season in Ukraine started on September 1. According to the estimates of Ukrtsukor, sugar production in the 2019/2020 season may reach 1.1-1.2 million tonnes.
Sugar production in the 2018/2019 season decreased by 15% compared with the previous MY, to 1.82 million tonnes.

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