Ukraine’s international reserves grew by 10.6% in 2018, to $20.8 billion, and in December 2018 the growth was 17.5%, according to tentative data posted on the website of the National Bank of Ukraine (NBU). “It was possible to increase international reserves, primarily thanks to the external financing received by Ukraine and the purchase of excess currency in the interbank market by the NBU,” the NBU said in a statement.
As the central bank said, for most of 2018, the currency supply in the interbank market prevailed over demand.
In particular, in the first half of the year, a high level of supply was ensured by a favorable external pricing environment for Ukrainian exports and the revival of investor interest in emerging markets. In the second half of the year, a surplus of currency was recorded thanks to the export earnings for a record grain harvest and other agricultural products, the regulator said. At the same time, the NBU said that in 2018, the net purchase of currency in the interbank foreign exchange market by the NBU provided replenishment of reserves by $1.4 billion.
The primary registration of commercial vehicles in Ukraine (new and used ones) in 2018 grew by 20% compared with 2017, to 51,500 vehicles, the Ukrautoprom association has reported. The association said that the share of new vehicles was only 25% of primary registrations of commercial vehicles: demand in the segment grew only by 10%, to 12,700 units, while registrations of imported used vehicles rose almost by 25%, to 38,800.
Renault became the leader in new vehicle registrations last year, with 2,429 license plates being issued – 13% more than the year before, Fiat ranked second: 1,327 registrations and an increase of 13%.
Mercedes-Benz closed the top three leaders: 1,047 new vehicles were sold (a rise of 28%).
Renault is leading in the segment of used imported cars: for the year, 9,407 vehicles received Ukrainian registration, which is 30% higher than last year.
The second most popular brand was Volkswagen, which registered 4,941 vehicles (15% more).
Mercedes-Benz is in third place, as in the market for new vehicles, with 4,911 units (a rise of 22%).
Private joint-stock company United Mining-Chemical Company, managing Vilnohirsk Mining and Metallurgical Combine (Dnipropetrovsk region) and Irshansk Mining and Processing Combine (Zhytomyr region), invested large sums in the development of Vilnohirsk Mining and Metallurgical Combine in 2017-2018.
According to a press release of the company at the end of 2018, referring to acting Board Chairman Oleksandr Hladushko, starting from 2017, the company acquired 46 units of equipment for the Vilnohirsk combine – modern BELL dump trucks, which significantly supplemented the existing fleet, as well as JCB loaders, which will be used not only in the quarry, but also in repairs and loading finished products, a MAZ vehicle to move repair crews, cars, as well as the heavy trailer, which will allow to quickly carry bulldozers and other heavy equipment.
According to him, the company spent about UAH 300 million on these acquisitions, of which more than UAH 195 million were paid for the new BELL dump trucks.
In addition to acquiring new equipment, the company invested heavily in the repair of the existing one.
According to Deputy Chief Mechanic for transport, the head of the section for the repair of transport, Oleksiy Belousov, thanks to the gross restoration of dump trucks, the company has 21 operating BelAZ vehicles today. The company spent more than UAH 11 million on the restoration of old BelAZ vehicles.
The Vilnohirsk combine’s overburden complexes received significant investments – this year alone, more than UAH 50 million were spent on restoring their working capacity, Hladushko said.
In 2018, several significant upgrades were also made at the combine’s concentrator. This technological solution has significantly reduced grinding losses and increased extraction of the useful component to 99%.
Processing division upgraded its assets for the amount of over UAH 20 million.
In 2018, investments into the Vilnohirsk combine were sent to the renewal of assets, overhauls, and the commissioning of the stripping and mining equipment of the enterprise.
“With updating the fixed assets of the Vilnohirsk branch, we expected a certain result – to maintain a high level of efficiency and competitiveness of the enterprise, which will allow us to look confidently into the future,” Hladushko said.
According to him, in 2019, investments in the development of the main divisions of the plant, in particular the quarry, will continue.
INVESTS, MINING METALLURGICAL COMBINE, MINING-CHEMICAL COMPANY, VILNOHIRSK
Ukraine has announced 12 tenders for signing production sharing agreements (PSA) for the development of hydrocarbon deposits. The relevant resolutions of the Cabinet of Ministers dated December 18, 2018 were published in the Uriadovy Kurier newspaper on January 5, 2019.
Some 12 fields were put up for auctions, including Hrunivsky, Varvynsky, Rusanivsky, Okhtyrsky, Buzivsky, Zenkivsky, Ivanivsky, Ichniansky, Balakleisky, Sofiyevsky, Berestiansky, and Uhnivsky.
The fields are located in Ivano-Frankivsk, Lviv, Poltava, Chernihiv, Sumy, and Kharkiv regions.
The term of the PSA is 50 years. Applications for participation in the tenders are accepted within three months from the date of publication of the announcement. It is assumed that the state’s share in profitable products should be at least 11% of its total volume, the maximum investor’s share – 70% of total production (until full reimbursement of investor expenses).
At the first stage of exploration (within five years) the minimum investment in Varvynsky, Ichniansky, Sofiyevsky areas amounts to UAH 1 billion, Hrunivsky not less than UAH 850 million, Rusanivsky, Ivanivsky, Balakleisky not less than UAH 800 million, Okhtyrsky, Buzivsky, Uhnivsky not less than UAH 600 million, Zenkivsky not less than UAH 500 million, and Berestiansky some UAH 450 million.
Tenders on the first ten sites were initiated by the U.S.-Ukraine Business Council (USUBC) and the investment company SigmaBleyzer, and the rest of deposits by Ukraine’s Navigator Komplekt LLC.
Agrovalley Limited, controlled by the chairman of the board of directors of IMC agricultural holding, Oleksandr Petrov, on December 28, 2018 acquired 156,500 shares of IMC S.A. (Luxembourg). According to a report by IMC on the website of the Warsaw Stock Exchange (WSE), the purchase price of one share was PLN12.8 ($3.41 at the rate of the National Bank of Poland on January 7). Agrovalley Limited after the transaction increased the total stake to 23.962 million shares.
IMC specializes in cultivation of grains, oilseeds and milk production in Ukraine. The agricultural holding cultivates about 130,000 hectares of land in Poltava, Chernihiv, and Sumy regions. It owns facilities to store 554,000 tonnes of grains and oilseeds.
PJSC Multiplex-Holding, which develops the Multiplex cinema chain in Ukraine, plans to expand the network in Ukraine by 30% in 2019, co-owner of the Multiplex cinema network Volodymyr Trofymenko has told. “Today Multiplex is the leader in the cinema market of the country: the company has 129 cinema halls and occupies more than 35% of the country’s film screening market. Our main goal for 2019 is to expand the network by 30%,” he outlined the company’s plans for the coming year.
He also reported on the updated membership of the Multiplex-Holding supervisory board. Vladyslav Burda (RedHead Family Corporation) became the head of the supervisory board, e-commerce is supervised by Vladyslav Chechotkin (Rozetka), Oleksandr Pochkun (Baker Tilly Ukraine) is in charge of finance and audit, Maksym Bakhmatov (UNIT.City) for business development and sales, Oksana Semeniuk (Сhangers) is responsible for personnel management, and Ksenia Trofymenko (Multiplex) for the construction of new cinema halls of the network.
According to him, the tasks of the supervisory board include building a strategy for the sustainable development of the network, the formation of a top management team, principles and processes of work with staff, organizational structure and design. “Now our task is to approve plans for the year and monitor their implementation so that in six months we will report on the results. The client service will gradually improve, the mobile application and the company’s fixed assets will be updated, another 40 network cinema halls will open and so on. It’s better to talk about the rest later – when the results of work are visible,” he added.
