Smart Maritime Group (SMG) of Smart-Holding considers the decision of the business court in Mykolaiv region about declaring Chornomorsky Shipbuilding Yard (Mykolaiv), part of SMG, bankrupt a consequence of the destructive position of the Prosecutor General’s Office (PGO). SMG is preparing a petition to the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) on the issue, the press service of SMG reported on Thursday. Explaining their position, SMG recalled: since July 2017, at the request of the PGO investigators in the investigation of the case “about the alleged failure to fulfill investment obligations in the privatization of the Chornomorsky Shipbuilding Yard in 2003-2012,” all property of the enterprise and the shares issued by it are seized.
This circumstance made it impossible to implement the readjustment plan of the Chornomorsky Shipbuilding Yard, which includes, inter alia, the sale of the shipyard’s non-production assets to meet creditors’ claims. However, the readjustment head Oleksandr Ostapenko in June personally appealed to Prosecutor General Yuriy Lutsenko with a request to remove the arrest for the readjustment measures, which expired on July 1, the SMG said.
At the same time, the press service said that the working group set up under the Ministry of Defense to solve the problematic issues of the state corvette program, implemented with the participation of the Chornomorsky Shipbuilding Yard, as a promising option for separating a new enterprise from the PJSC and transferring all the responsibilities for the project to it. “The relevant measures were included in the readjustment plan and approved by a court decision binding its execution on the entire territory of Ukraine from the moment of its entry into force,” the press service said.
“Thus, the position of the prosecutor’s office led to the liquidation of the leading enterprise of the military shipbuilding of Ukraine and losses to the national budget. Some 74 million UAH of advance payments will be lost on contracts with nonresidents,” the press service said.
However, the recognition of the Chornomorsky Shipbuilding Yard as a bankrupt and its liquidation call into question the probability of implementing the state Corvette program: “The built corvette hull will be included in the liquidation mass for further implementation,” the press service said.
The company prepared an appeal to the SBU with a request “to deal with the anti-state position of representatives of the PGO,” the press service said.
BANKRUPT, CHORNOMORSKY SHIPYARD, COURT DECISIONS, DESTRUCTIVE POSITION, PGO, SMG
Georgia exported 38.2 million bottles of wine from grapes (0.75-liter bottles) in January-June 2018, 21% more than in 2017, the Agriculture Ministry’s National Wine Agency reported. Russia was the leading importer of Georgian wine in the period, boosting imports 24.4% to 24.022 million bottles or 62.9% of the total. Other major importers included Ukraine – 4.191 million bottles (11% of the total), China – 2.976 million (7.8%), Kazakhstan – 1.652 million (4.3%) and Poland 1.164 million (4.1%).
A total of 190 Georgian companies exported wine in the six months, 18 more than a year earlier. Exports to countries in Europe and Asia, and to the U.S. and other countries, increased substantially. Georgia also exported 8.4 million bottles of brandy (0.5-liter bottles), 23% more than in H1 2017, to 20 countries. Revenue rose 6% to $17 million. Overall exports of wine, brandy and other products – chacha, other alcoholic beverages, wine materials and brandy spirits – were worth $148.3 million, 21.5% more. Georgia exported wine to 48 countries in H1 2018, up from 44 in the same period last year. Revenue from the exports rose 28% to $90 million.
Czech Sweetondale has finalized a deal to acquire three construction materials plants from Russia’s Technonicol and seeks to invest EUR 3.5 million in modernization of Cherkasy-based Techno Plant, Sweetondale CEO Tichomír Lelovics said during a press tour at the enterprise on Wednesday. He said that the company closed the deal to buy the mineral insulation plant in Cherkasy and two plants producing polymeric insulation and bituminous-mineral materials in Kamianske in February 2018.
“In the near future, investments are planned around EUR 3.5 million [in Techno Plant in Cherkasy]. A special emphasis will be placed on improving the quality of products and increasing production. By the end of 2018, it is planned to increase production to 1.5 million cubic meters of mineral insulation,” Lelovics said.
According to Oleh Khodakovsky, the director of the Techno Plant, investments will allow to increase production by 10-15%. According to him, for January-May 2018 the plant produced 600,000 cubic meters of mineral wool and it is boosting production in the period of preparation for the heating season. According to Khodakovsky, by now the company’s share of the Ukrainian mineral thermal insulation market is 41%.
At the same time, he said that the total market volume in 2017 was 215,000 tonnes, and in 2018 it would increase to 230,000 tonnes. Prices for mineral wool for the year grew by 5-7%.
CONSTRUCTION MATERIALS, CZECH SWEETONDALE, PLANTS, RUSSIAN COMPANY
One troy ounce=31.10 grams
Hungarian low-cost airline Wizz Air will soon start flights from Kyiv to Brussels-Charleroi and Paris-Beauvais Airports.
“Our newest added destinations of Wizz from Kyiv include: Dortmund, Memmingen (Munich West,) Brussels-Charleroi, Paris-Beauvais and Copenhagen,” says a message sent to the airline’s customers on Thursday.
At the same time, flights from Kyiv to Brussels-Charleroi and Paris-Beauvais are not currently shown in the booking system, while flights to Dortmund and Memmingen (Munich West) have been serviced by the company for several years, and those to Copenhagen since August 2017.
As reported, Wizz Air in January-May 2018 transported 425,000 passengers to/from Ukraine, which is almost twice as many as in the same period of 2017. “From Kyiv, we offer 1.3 million passenger seats this year, which is 79% up. And in total from Ukraine this year, we offer 1.67 million passenger seats,” Head of Corporate Communications at Wizz Air Sorina Ratz said late in June.
