Lauda airline, a subsidiary of the Irish low-cost air carrier Ryanair, from November 6, 2019 will start operating direct flights from Kyiv to Stuttgart (Germany), according to the Ryanair’s ticket booking system. Flights will be operated four times a week on Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays. Ticket prices start from EUR19.95 one way.
Now Lauda flies from Kyiv to Vienna.
As reported, in January Ryanair concentrated 100% of the Austrian airline Laudamotion, later renamed Lauda.
In August 2018, Ryanair announced the completion of the acquisition of a 75% stake in Laudamotion, earlier, in spring, having bought a 24.9% stake in the airline.
National energy company Ukrenergo and the electricity transmission system operator SEPS (Slovakia) will sign a new agreement of cooperation and joint operation of the 400 kV overhead power line Mukachevo-Velke Kapusany, connecting the Burshtyn thermal power plant island and the Slovakian power grid, by the end of 2019, the press service of Ukrenergo has reported.
The need to update the agreement, which sets out the rules and requirements regarding the operation of the line, the order of interaction between operators during joint operation of the interstate section is due to changes in the rules and requirements of ENTSO-E (the European Network of System Operators of Electricity System).
The new document will be developed on the basis of the principles that most of the European operators of the electricity transmission system apply, the company said.
As reported, in October 2018, the Ukrainian and Slovakian operators agreed on building a new power line as an optimal solution for boosting power transmission between Ukraine and Slovakia. According to the agreements, a new 400 kV overhead line will be built, which will connect the existing 400 kV substations Mukachevo and Velke Kapusany in the single-circuit version with the possibility of further upgrading it to double-circuit in case of an increase in the volume of interstate flows. Considering the condition of the existing 400 kV overhead line Mukachevo-Velke Kapusany, which has been operating since 1963, its modernization was recognized as inexpedient. The line will work until the launch of the new line.
This project is a candidate for projects of mutual interest (PMI).
Bashtanka Cheese Factory (Mykolaiv region), one of the largest cheese making enterprises in Ukraine, in 2018 saw a net profit of UAH 24.06 million, which is 1.9 times less than a year earlier. According to a company report in the information disclosure system of the National Securities and Stock Market Commission, its net income last year increased by 20.9%, to UAH 1.024 million.
The gross profit of Bashtanka Cheese Factory over the year rose by 10.6%, to UAH 182.67 million, operating profit fell by 13.9%, to UAH 63.8 million.
In 2018, the company sold products for UAH 1.02 billion, in particular hard cheese for UAH 417.48 million, in natural terms some 4,140 tonnes. Of the total volume of products sold, exports accounted for 4%.
Bashtanka Cheese Factory is part of Milk Alliance, established in June 2006 as a holding company with a charter capital of UAH 23.5 million and a balance 99.9% consisting of long-term financial investments.
The mobile communications operator lifecell in January-March 2019 increased net loss by 49.94%, to UAH 267.2 million compared with UAH 178.2 million in January-March 2018, according to the financial statement of the parent company, Turkcell (Turkey) posted on its official website. According to the report, the operator’s revenue in the first quarter increased 17.2%, to UAH 1.42 billion, and earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) – 61.5%, to UAH 815.5 million. At the same time, EBITDA margin increased 15.8 percentage points, to 57.6%.
Revenue of lifecell (Ukraine) grew by 17.2% year on year in 2019 in local currency, mainly thanks to increased revenues from mobile data transfer with an increase in 4.5G users and data users, the Turkcell said in the report.
The active subscriber base of lifecell for the first three months of 2019 decreased 10.4% compared with the first quarter of 2018 and amounted to 6.9 million users. At the same time, the average revenue per user (ARPU) of the active subscriber base increased 29.8%, to UAH 66.7.
Capital investments of the operator for the specified period amounted to UAH 357.8 million, which is 86.2% less than in the same period of 2018.
According to the report, the number of 4.5G users in the first quarter of 2019 was 36% of the total number of users of mobile data, and the penetration rate of smartphones by the end of March reached 77% (70% as of the end of the first quarter of 2018).
The lifecell operator is the third largest operator of mobile communications in Ukraine.
Shebelynka gas processing plant (Kharkiv region) in January-March 2019 increased processing of crude oil by 6% (by 7,000 tonnes) compared to the same period in 2018, to 122,800 tonnes.
The Ministry of Energy and Coal Industry told Interfax-Ukraine, in March 2019 processing at the plant amounted to 44,700 tonnes, which is 25.9% (9,200 tonnes) more than in the same month last year.
For the three months, the plant increased production of petrol by 53% (by 14,000 tonnes), to 40,400 tonnes, fuel oil by 31.5% (by 2,300 tonnes), to 9,600 tonnes, but reduced diesel fuel by 20.3% (by 4,700 tonnes), to 18,400 tonnes.
The loading of the plant’s capacity for the first quarter of this year was 49.1% against 46.3% in January-March 2018.
In Ukraine the prices of vegetables for borsch (onions, potato, carrots, beets and other vegetables) would fall by around 90% in a year, if in the period of growing the new harvest no weather irregularities are recorded, experts from the EastFruit news and analytical platform have said. According to a report on the website of EastFruit, the reason for the rapid growth of prices for vegetables this season was the small harvest due to weather conditions.
In addition, the rise in prices was due to the fact that many Ukrainian vegetable growers went out of business in 2018 or sharply reduced the areas with vegetables after several years of low prices for the entire range of borsch vegetables, EastFruit Project Manager Kateryna Zvereva said.
“The reason was simple: Ukraine’s vegetable production lost access to the two main markets for traditional vegetables with shortest supply: Crimea and Donbas. It was there that products were not grown enough, prices were high, and there were many consumers,” EastFruit said.
At the same time, according to EastFruit, this season, the area with vegetables, in particular with the onion, will increase significantly, and if there is no abnormal heat and drought in the summer, then next year we can expect overproduction and lower prices.
According to EastFruit, Ukraine usually covers a shortage of vegetables by exports from Poland and other EU countries, but this year there is also a shortage of vegetables in the EU.
As a result, Ukrainian vegetable importers first began to buy vegetables (primarily onions) in Central Asian countries, but logistics from these countries is expensive, which affected the price for consumers this season, EastFruit said.
