The insurance companies of Ukraine in January-September 2019 received insurance premiums from individuals in the amount of UAH 15.86 billion, which is 18.4%, or UAH 2.47 billion, more than in the same period in 2018, Oleksandr Zaletov, a member of the National Commission for the State Regulation of the Financial Services Market, has told Interfax-Ukraine. In the nine months of 2019, the top ten most popular insurance services among the population of Ukraine included the following: life insurance with UAH 3.183 billion, vehicle insurance with UAH 3.080 billion, compulsory insurance of motor vehicle owners’ liability to third party with UAH 3.119 billion, medical insurance with UAH 1.207 billion, travel insurance with UAH 1.187 billion, Green Card insurance with UAH 1.039 billion, accident insurance with UAH 1.034 billion, property insurance with UAH 843.3 million, health insurance with UAH 419.9 million, and financial risk insurance with UAH 326.1 million.
In his opinion, the growth of insurance services provided to the population, in contrast to the previous years, is not due to exchange rate differences, but, first of all, to the growing demand for insurance among citizens who actively travel, take care of their health and their loved ones, and also think about providing “financial airbag” in old age.
So, in January-September 2019 in comparison with the same period last year, the most dynamically provided were travel insurance services, which increased by 61.9%, Green Card insurance rose by 40.3%, health insurance by 33.6%, medical insurance by 28.7%, financial risk insurance by 23.8%, car insurance by 20.5%, life insurance by 20.3%, accident insurance by 11.1%, compulsory insurance of motor vehicle owners’ liability to third party by 10.4%, and property insurance by 9.4%.
Ukraine in October 2019 cut steel production by 12.7% year-over-year (y-o-y), to 1.561 million tonnes, having slid from 13th to 14th place in the ranking of 64 countries that are the world’s key steelmakers, which is compiled by the World Steel Association (Worldsteel).
Steel production in October 2019 vs. October 2018 decreased in most top ten countries, except for Russia.
The top ten steel producing countries in October 2019 are as follows: China (81.521 million tonnes, 0.6% down y-o-y), India (9.089 million tonnes, 3.4% down y-o-y), Japan (8.157 million tonnes, 4.9% down y-o-y), the United States (7.407 million tonnes, 2% down y-o-y), South Korea (5.983 million tonnes, 3.5% down y-o-y), Russia (5.95 million tonnes, 2.4% up y-o-y), Germany (3.323 million tonnes, 6.8% down y-o-y), Turkey (2.687 million tonnes, 15% down y-o-y), Brazil (2.597 million tonnes, 19.4% down y-o-y), and Italy (2.225 million tonnes, 2.8% down y-o-y).
They are followed by Iran (2.2 million tonnes, 7.5% up), Taiwan (China, 1.825 million tonnes, 9.8% down), Vietnam (1.68 million tonnes, 25.1% up) and Ukraine (1.561 million tonnes, 12.7% down).
In total, the 64 countries produced 151.494 million tonnes of steel in October 2019, which was 2.8% down y-o-y.
In January-October 2019, the top ten included: China (829.215 million tonnes, 7.4% up y-o-y), India (93.306 million tonnes, 2.8% up y-o-y), Japan (83.791 million tonnes, 3.9% down y-o-y), the United States (73.539 million tonnes, 2.5% up y-o-y), South Korea (60.121 million tonnes, 0.4% down y-o-y), Russia (59.341 million tonnes, 0.1% down y-o-y), Germany (33.875 million tonnes, 4.6% down y-o-y), Turkey (27.973 million tonnes, 10.6% down y-o-y), Brazil (27.216 million tonnes, 8.6% down y-o-y), and Iran (21.518 million tonnes, 6.2% up y-o-y).
Italy ranks 11th (19.845 million tonnes, 3.8% down y-o-y), Taiwan 12th place (China, 18.763 million tonnes, a 2.5% down y-o-y), and Ukraine 13th (17.963 million tonnes, 2.3% up y-o-y).
In January-October 2019, the 64 countries produced 1.542 billion tonnes of steel, which is 3.2% more than in the same period last year.
Kernel, a large Ukrainian agricultural holding, saw $59.61 million in net profit in the first quarter of FY2020 (July 2019 – June 2020), which is 24% less than in the first quarter of FY2019 over the IFRS 16 impact.
According to a report of Kernel Holding S.A. (Luxembourg) on Wednesday, revenue reduced 26% year-over-year to $845.84 million, stemming from lower trading volumes.
However, earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) added 6% year-over-year to $106.5 million driven by Oilseed Processing segment EBITDA small growth.
In particular, Oilseed Processing segment EBITDA reached $22 million (up 38% year-over-year). Infrastructure and Trading segment generated $35 million EBITDA, 8% decline year-over-year. Unallocated corporate expenses in the reporting period amounted to $9 million, up 40% year-over-year.
The company said that the general outlook for the segment’s performance in FY2020 remains positive. Kernel expects Infrastructure and Trading business to be the largest contributor to group’s EBITDA in FY2020 owing to: commissioning of new grain export terminal scheduled for January 2020; growing grain export volumes; and strong contribution of grain railcars business.
Kernel said that at the date of this report, we completed this year harvesting campaign on 513,000 hectares, reaching record ever net yields for wheat (5.9 tonnes per hectare, up 16% year-over-year) and sunflower (3.5 tonnes per hectare, up 11% year-over-year), while facing normalization of corn yields to 8.6 tonnes per hectare (down 13% year-over-year).
“For the whole FY2020, we expect over $100 million farming EBITDA (net of IAS 41 and IFRS 16 effects), weakened by corn yield decline, lower year-over-year grain prices and growing production costs enhanced by local currency appreciation,” the group said.
Kernel’s gross profit in Q1 FY2020 fell by 9.9%, to $85.85 million, and operating profit – by 0.5%, to $82.09 million.
Net debt as of September 30, 2019 reached $1.144 billion, up 65% from June 30, 2019 level, reflecting short-term borrowings increase to finance working capital needs at the beginning of the season as well as $307 million new lease liabilities added to the balance sheet after implementation of IFRS 16.
Readily marketable inventories (RMI) increased by $275 million over Q1 FY2020, to $568 million, driven by procurement of grain and sunflower seeds.
Consequently, net debt adjusted for RMI increased to $576 million on September 30, 2019 from $400 million on June 30, 2019, with growth solely arising from IFRS 16 introduction. As a result, Kernel leverage as of September 30, 2019 increased to 3.3x Net-debt-to-EBITDA and 3.7x EBITDA-to-interest (post IFRS 16).
Germany will allocate EUR 850,000 in 2020 for humanitarian projects of the charity organization ADRA in Ukraine.
“The assistance will be available to people in eastern Ukraine who are particularly affected by the long-lasting conflict. From 2016 to 2019, ADRA’s work was already funded from Germany at EUR 4.6 million. In addition, ADRA will contribute an additional EUR 200,000 from its own funds,” the press service of the German Embassy in Ukraine reports.
The funds will be used to help older people, people with disabilities, single parents, large families, and among them, internally displaced persons. ADRA also plans to improve the humanitarian protection and psychosocial health of victims of conflict with post-traumatic syndrome, among whom there are many children, and provide access to basic services (especially medical and social services) and drinking water. Also, social transport services will be offered to people in need.
ADRA Ukraine is part of the worldwide ADRA network and has been operating in Ukraine since 1993. During its performance, the organization has implemented about 150 assistance projects in 12 regions of Ukraine. After the outbreak of hostilities in eastern Ukraine in 2014, the organization concentrated its activities in Donetsk and Luhansk regions.
President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky expects growth in trade with Lithuania and encourages Lithuanian businesses to invest in Ukraine. “We expect that our bilateral trade in goods and services will exceed last year’s record and reach almost $1.5 billion,” he said at a briefing in Vilnius after a meeting with Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda. Zelensky noted that Lithuanian companies are not leaving the Ukrainian market, and they also continue to develop investment projects. As an example, he cited the opening of the second Lithuanian solar power station in Ivano-Frankivsk region on November 27.
Zelensky and Nauseda took part in the fifth Ukrainian-Lithuanian Economic Forum.
“We respect every investor who already works in our country. This applies to everyone, regardless of business: from restaurants to the green energy sector. We will not take rash steps that would worsen the business environment,” the president of Ukraine said, speaking at the forum.
On Friday, November 29, at 13.00, the press center of the Interfax-Ukraine news agency will host a press conference entitled “From Robbery of Foreign Investors to Restoration of Confidence in Ukraine” on regular robberies of foreign investors by a criminal gang which included employees of security agencies in 2015-2018. Participants: Chairman of NGO Association for Protection of Foreign Investment Anatoliy Velymovsky; co-founder of NGO Association for Protection of Foreign Investment, Head of non-governmental organization for protection of public order and state border of Ukraine “Left Bank – Kyiv BTO” Taras Moskaliuk; German citizen, investor, owner of BioTexCom Albert Totchilovski; Lithuanian citizen, private investor Virmantas Vildziunas (8/5a Reitarska Street). Registration requires press accreditation.
