Rostok-Holding agro-industrial group has completed harvesting early grain crops, threshing 69,400 tonnes against 71,100 tonnes in 2017. According to the group’s press release, winter wheat was harvested on an area of 6,700 hectares (in 2017 some 7,700 hectares). The gross yield totaled 40,900 tonnes (51,100 tonnes), the yield was 6.1 tonnes/ha (6.7 tonnes/ha). On some fields the yield reached 8.7 tonnes/ha.
The group increased the gross harvest of spring barley by almost 1.5 times, to 25,100 tonnes (in 2017 some 17,500 tonnes) from 5,100 hectares (3,300 ha). The average yield was 4.9 tonnes/ha (in 2017 some 5.3 tonnes/ha). On some fields the yield reached 6.7 tonnes/ha.
Peas were harvested on an area of 1,100 hectares (in 2017 some 1,000 hectares). The group harvested 3,400 tonnes (2,500 tonnes). The average yield was 3 tonnes/ha (in 2017 some 2.6 tonnes/ha).
In 2018 the share of winter wheat in the structure of the company’s areas under crops stood at 12%, spring barley at 9%, and peas at about 2%.
Rostok-Holding, established in 2010, is a vertically integrated agro-industrial group. It specializes in the cultivation and sale of grain crops, production, processing and sale of dairy goods, grain trading.
AS Silvano Fashion Group (SFG, Tallinn), engaged in sewing and selling women’s underwear under the trademarks Milavitsa, Alisee, Lauma and Laumelle, in January-June 2018 increased sales in Ukraine by 18% compared to the first half of 2017, to UAH 52.22 million. According to a company report on the Warsaw Stock Exchange, due to the strengthening of the euro to U.S. dollar exchange rate, its Ukrainian revenue in euros increased by 9.5%, to EUR 1.67 million.
According to the report, the network of franchise stores of the company in Ukraine for the reporting period expanded by more than 1.5 times, from 50 to 76 points.
In 2017, SFG reported about the growth of sales in Ukraine by 58.8%, to UAH 75.2 million, and in the euros by 52.5%, to EUR 2.53 million. In the first quarter of 2018, the growth in sales in the hryvnia amounted to 26.3%, to UAH 25.54 million, in euros by 9%, to EUR7 60,000.
Ukraine’s share in total revenue for the first half of the year increased to 5% from 4.7% in the first quarter, 4.1% in the past year and 2.9% in 2016.
In general, the revenue of SFG for the period rose by 2.2%, to EUR 33.53 million, EBITDA by 45.9%, to EUR 11.81 million, and net profit by 47.6%, to EUR 8.42 million.
The production facilities of the group unite Milavitsa factory in Minsk (Belarus) and Lauma Lingerie factory (Latvia).
The share of payment systems created by banking and non-bank resident institutions in Ukraine in the amount of money transfers to the country in the first half of 2018 was 15.6% compared to 4.8% in 2017, the National Bank of Ukraine (NBU) has said. According to data on its website, if over the past year $113.7 million was transferred to the country through Ukrainian payment systems, then for the six months of this year some $189 million.
The statistics of the National Bank contains no data on the turnover of specific Ukrainian systems in this market, it gives only their share in the market of transfers within Ukraine, the total volume of which amounted to UAH 69.34 billion (almost $2.6 billion compared with $4.45 billion for the entire year of 2017).
Here the leader was the TYME payment system, whose registration the National Bank canceled on June 22 this year, with 42.78%, followed by Postal Transfer from Ukrposhta with 27.98%. They are followed by Financial World (Finansovy Svit) with 7.2%, City24 with 6.73%, InterPayService with 5.34%, Flashplay with 4.43%, while each of the following 22 systems has a share less than 1%. The National Bank specifies that according to the number of participants the leaders in the first half of the year were Post Finance LLC with 44.34% and Ukrposhta with 27.97%.
Regarding the systems created by non-residents, the leader among them remains Western Union, which increased the gap from MoneyGram: if in 2017 their share in transfers to Ukraine among non-residents was 54.5% and 23.8% respectively, then in the first half of 2018 some 56% and 23% respectively. The share of IntelExpress ranking third fell from 12.7% to 9%.
The indicator of economic sentiment in Ukraine, calculated by the State Statistics Service, in the third quarter of 2018 was 109.6% compared with 104% and 108.8% respectively in the second and first quarters of this year. According to the service, three out of the five indicators of business confidence improved: in retail trade (from 5.3% in the second quarter to 10.7%), in services (from minus 5% to 0.3%), and in construction (from minus 21.5% to minus 18.7%).
At the same time, consumer confidence (from minus 27.1% to minus 29.1%) and business confidence in processing industry (from minus 3.9% to minus 4.8%) worsened.
The agency said that in the third quarter of 2017, the indicator of economic sentiment was 103.9%, but in the fourth quarter it dropped to 100.4%.
The indicator is calculated according to the methodology for calculating business expectations indicators in accordance with the requirements of the expanded International Monetary Fund Special Data Dissemination Standard, updated by the State Statistics Service in December 2017.
The indicators of business confidence, depending on the sector, are estimated on the basis of surveys on the current level of orders and finished goods stocks, changes in sales volumes for the last three months, forecast of changes in production/sales and the number of employees in the next three months. The State Statistics Service calculates the indicator of consumer confidence using the data of such a study of GfK Ukraine.
The European Union has decided to issue EUR 15.5 million of budget assistance to Ukraine for the reform of the public administration sector, the press service of the EU Delegation to Ukraine has reported. Based on the results achieved by Ukraine in reforming the public administration sector in 2017, the EU decided to increase assistance to Ukraine in this important area of public policy. Some EUR 15.5 million of the total amount of EUR 90 million that constitute the EU’s commitments to supporting this reform are to be transferred to the national budget of Ukraine for 2018, the agency said. The EU noted this is the second payment after the first tranche of EUR 10 million, which was provided in May 2017.
In addition, the diplomatic mission noted that in 2016 the EU approved a special program of assistance to reform the public administration sector in the amount of EUR 104 million, which provides EUR 90 million for budgetary support and EUR14 million for technical assistance, which is used to provide advisory services to state bodies involved in implementation of the reform.
The decision to send EUR 15.5 million from the EU funds to the national budget of Ukraine for 2018 is our recognition of the tangible progress that Ukraine made in the implementation of the public administration reform, Thomas Frellesen, Chargé d’Affaires of the Delegation of the European Union to Ukraine, stated.
Minister of the Cabinet of Ministers Oleksandr Sayenko, in turn, clarified that in accordance with the agreement on financing the program “Support to Comprehensive Reform of Public Administration in Ukraine,” the first part of the tranche is fixed and amounts to EUR 5 million, while the second part depends on the success of the reform implementation, as measured by certain program indicators.
“Thanks to their implementation, the second part of the tranche is EUR 10.5 million. The funds for budget support are transferred to the national budget,” he said. According to the minister, Ukraine has fulfilled 75% of the indicators set for 2017. “Due to the implementation of these and other indicators Ukraine received another tranche,” Sayenko added.
