Fitch Ratings has revised Metinvest B.V.’s outlook to stable from negative, the Long-Term Issuer Default Ratings (IDRs) and senior unsecured rating for the bonds of the Ukrainian integrated steel company are affirmed at ‘BB-‘, the recovery rating is ‘RR4’, the rating agency said on its website. “The revision of Metinvest’s outlook reflects strong cash flow generation linked to supportive steel and iron ore markets amid the global economic recovery and our expectation of a gradual reduction of gross debt to $ 2.9 billion ($ 2.5 billion net; both Fitch-adjusted values) over the next three years. It also takes into consideration that some of this cash flow will be used for earnings accretive growth, including taking control of Pokrovske Coal and incremental capital expenditure,” the report says.
“Fitch now forecasts funds from operations (FFO) gross leverage of 1.5x-1.6x over the medium term, providing for very comfortable headroom compared to the negative ratio guideline of 2.5x for the ‘BB-‘ rating. But we note that the company does not have a formal dividend policy or gearing target,” it says.
Metinvest is a vertically integrated group of mining and metallurgical enterprises. Its enterprises are located in Ukraine – in Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhia and Dnipropetrovsk regions, in European countries. In particular, in Bulgaria there is Promet Steel plant with a capacity of 500,000 tonnes of rolled metal per year, in Italy – Metinvest Trametal and Ferriera Valsider with a total capacity of 1.2 million tonnes per year. In the UK, the company owns Spartan UK plant that can produce 200,000 tonnes of rolled steel per year.
The main shareholders of the holding are SCM Group (71.24%) and Smart-Holding (23.76%), which jointly manage it.
Metinvest Holding LLC is the management company of Metinvest Group.
PrJSC Severodonetsk Azot, part of Group DF of businessman Dmytro Firtash, in January-March 2021 increased the production of mineral fertilizers by 47.4% compared to the same period in 2020, to 265,620 tonnes, according to the company’s press release published on Tuesday.
During this period, the production of ammonium nitrate decreased by 9.2%, to 141,610 tonnes, urea increased by 3.7 times, to 119,600 tonnes, urea-ammonium nitrate (UAN) by 4.6 times, to 17,400 tonnes, and the production of ammonia water decreased by almost 94.7%, to 150 tonnes.
In addition, the enterprise produced 147,810 tonnes of ammonia; 1,590 tonnes of liquid carbon dioxide and 20,170 cubic meters of medical oxygen in cylinders.
“We managed to increase the utilization of the company’s production capacities from 30% to 50%. Further growth of production volumes will depend on the level of demand for mineral fertilizers and on how the ICIT [Interdepartmental Commission on International Trade] resolves the issue of limiting imports of nitrogen fertilizers in Ukraine,” Board Chairman of Severodonetsk Azot Leonid Buhayov said.
He said that the enterprise will be able to continue to load workshops and increase production if imports are limited due to quotas.
In May 2020, Severodonetsk Azot restored the full production cycle, it began production of its own ammonia and the production of ammonium nitrate, urea, and urea-ammonium nitrate, which made it possible to load production capacities by about a third. According to the company, all concluded contracts are fully implemented, despite the special working conditions during the quarantine period. The enterprise said that some workshops had been idle for more than seven years due to hostilities in the region, lack of reliable power supply and damaged infrastructure.
PrJSC Severodonetsk Azot is one of the largest Ukrainian chemical enterprises. It has been part of Dmytro Firtash’s Group DF since 2011. The core business of the enterprise is the production of mineral nitrogen fertilizers.
Official rates of banking metals from national bank as of April 13
One troy ounce=31.10 grams
National bank of Ukraine’s official rates as of 13/04/21
Source: National Bank of Ukraine
Accor Live Limitless will open three new hotels in Ukraine in 2022-2023: Ibis & Adagio Kyiv, Ibis Lviv and Novotel Lviv, Alexis Delaroff, the director general of Accor New East Europe, has told Interfax-Ukraine.
“For Accor Ukraine is an important market, and we strive to develop it further. Accor is already the largest international operator in Ukraine, and if we take into account the projects at the stage of signing or design, we are strengthening our positions,” he said.
According to him, the pandemic has made adjustments to the plans for the implementation of Ibis & Adagio Kyiv, the opening of this combo hotel is likely to occur next year.
“The project is now moving forward dynamically,” the expert said.
Two more projects are at a high stage of implementation in Lviv. According to him, Ibis Lviv will open in 2022, Novotel Lviv in 2023.
“Odesa, Dnipro, and other cities are also interesting to us. We are constantly looking for new projects and partners,” he said.
Accor S.A. Is the largest international hotel operator. The company was founded in 1967. It is headquartered in the Paris suburb Evry.
Accor Group unites more than 5,100 hotels in 110 countries of the world.
ICU Group will allocate $1 million for the development of Kyiv School of Economics (KSE) as part of the continuation of the program to support education in Ukraine, ICU said in a release.
“In 2016, we were one of the first in Ukrainian business who believed in the mission of KSE and the real desire of the management to realize it. The school is intended to become an intellectual basis for a strong and innovative economy of Ukraine, and it is important for us to direct funds to create such a basis. We have been doing this for five years, and we see a clear result of the efforts of the school – the number of students has grown 10 times, and the list of curricula covers almost all trends in the development of modern economic thought,” the founder of ICU and co-chairman of the board of directors of KSE, Makar Paseniuk, said.
President of Kyiv School of Economics Tymofiy Mylovanov noted the systematic cooperation between the KSE and ICU.
“ICU is one of the first strategic partners of Kyiv School of Economics. KSE and ICU are primarily partners who together generated the most daring ideas and implemented them together: setting a new quality bar for themselves and for others. Ukrainian Financial Forum 2018 and 2019, Ukraine Economy Week are our common and favorite projects aimed at improving the quality of economic and business discussions,” he said.
ICU is one of the founders and sponsors of the Center for Journalism at KSE, where Ukrainian media journalists receive necessary knowledge in the field of economics and finance. Now KSE is opening two modern English-language bachelor’s programs: “Economics and Big-Data” and “IT and Business Analysis.” This became possible, among other things, thanks to the partnership and financial support of ICU.
“I am sure that such a significant investment in the development of education in Ukraine will become a bright precedent for domestic businesses – the flagships of the Ukrainian economy,” he added.
ICU Group is an independent financial group, founded in 2006 by specialists from ING, providing brokerage services, asset and private equity management services, as well as venture capital investments. The group specializes in the markets of Central and Eastern Europe.
