AIS group of companies, a large operator in the automotive and special vehicles market, in January-October of this year increased car sales by 27% compared with the same period last year, to 5,500 units, the press service of the company has said.
“AIS shows a positive trend, despite the fact that the automotive market is stagnating and began to show negative dynamics,” the report says.
The income of the group of companies for this period amounted to UAH 2.7 billion, obligatory payments to the national budget (VAT, duty, excise) amounted to UAH 0.9 billion.
According to the company, during this period sales of Geely cars increased by 51%, Citroen by 33%, Peugeot by 102%. In addition, sales of MAZ trucks showed an increase of 150%.
The business program AIS AutoTrade for used cars showed a sales growth of 57%. The company is also the leader in sales of the automobile brands Renault, Citroen, Ravon, and others in Ukraine.
Among the factors contributing to the sales growth are a number of ongoing programs. In particular, due to financial products, credit/leasing sales reached 30% with the average market indicators standing at 10%-15%.
DTEK Naftogaz LLC intends to increase natural gas production in 2019 by 10-12% (by 170-200 million cubic meters) compared to the expected production in 2018, to 1.8 billion cubic meters, manager on regulatory issues in the company Yulia Borzhemska has said during the XVI International Forum “Fuel and Energy Complex of Ukraine: Present and Future” in Kyiv.
According to the agency’s calculations, taking into account DTEK gas production in January-September 2018 in the amount of 1.242 billion cubic meters, the expected production in the current year will be 1.66 billion cubic meters.
“Next year, thanks to innovations, we will have a growth of 10-12%,” she said.
As reported, DTEK Naftogaz plans to achieve production of 2 billion cubic meters of natural gas until 2023.
DTEK Naftogaz is an operating company responsible for the oil and gas sector within DTEK energy holding. The assets portfolio of DTEK Naftogaz includes Naftogazvydobuvannia and Naftogazrozrobka, which carry out hydrocarbon exploration and production on three license areas in Poltava and Kharkiv regions.
Ukrainian enterprises in October 2018 imported gas at an average price of $323.44 (UAH 9,059.13) per 1,000 cubic meters, according to the website of the Ministry of Economic Development and Trade.
Thus, the price of gas imports in October was 6.3% higher than in September, when it was $304.36 (UAH 8,490.33) per 1,000 cubic meters.
The price in October 2018 is the highest since February 2015 when gas was imported to Ukraine at $328.60 per 1,000 cubic meters.
As reported, the price of gas imports per 1,000 cubic meters was $272.93 (UAH 7,784) in January 2018, $276.96 (UAH 7,430) in February 2018, $274.57 (UAH 7,154) in March 2018, $309.91 (UAH 8,100) in April 2018, $260.01 (UAH 6,806) in May 2018, $266.35 (UAH 6,960.18) in June, $288.82 (UAH 7,594) in July, $286.65 (UAH 7,910) in August, and $304.36 (UAH 8,490.33) in September, the Ministry of Economic Development and Trade said.
Earlier, Chief Commercial Officer of Naftogaz Ukrainy Yuriy Vitrenko said the average customs value of imported gas published by the Ministry of Economic Development and Trade is not representative.
Bank Credit Dnepr (Kyiv) is boosting its charter capital by UAH 1.173 billion or 43.1%, to UAH 3.893 billion via an additional issue of shares.
The bank reported in the information disclosure system of the National Commission for Securities and the Stock Market, the decision was made by the only shareholder in the bank on November 5.
The bank will privately place the additionally issued shares with a face value of UAH 1. The sole shareholder will buy the shares.
According to a press release from the Bank Credit Dnepr, referring to Board Chairperson Olena Malynska, this capitalization program is an integral part of the restructuring plan developed according to the results of the bank’s stress testing by the regulator and in accordance with its recommendations.
“The shareholder capitalizes the bank for the fourth time in three years, thus confirming confidence in the success of the post-crisis business strategy of the financial institution. Our further systematic work to improve the financial performance and asset quality, increase efficiency and the volume of new business, along with systemic support from the shareholder guarantee the implementation of the restructuring plan in a timely manner and provide an opportunity to start a sustainable profitable activity,” Malynska said.
Bank Credit Dnepr was founded in 1993. Its sole shareholder is Brancroft Enterprises Limited, which indirectly belongs to Victor Pinchuk.
The bank ranked 21st among 83 operating banks in the country as of July 1, 2018 in terms of total assets (UAH 9.08 billion), according to the NBU.
Chairman of the supervisory board of Louis Dreyfus Holding B.V. Margarita Louis-Dreyfus, who arrived in Kyiv at the head of the delegation of Louis Dreyfus Company, one of the largest foodstuff traders in the world, during a meeting with President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko announced the plan to increase investment in the Ukrainian economy.
“You believe [in Ukraine], invest and promote Ukraine in the world,” Poroshenko said at a meeting with the company’s delegation.
The president noted the 20-year activity of the company in Ukraine and expressed hope that it will increase investment in the country.
Poroshenko also informed the delegation members about the progress of reforms in Ukraine aimed at improving the investment climate.
Margarita Louis-Dreyfus, in turn, said that the company plans to significantly increase investment in Ukraine in the coming years. She also noted that over the past four years there have been positive changes in Ukraine that the company feels in its work.
Louis Dreyfus Company is one of the largest food traders in the world with 10% of the world turnover. The company operates in 100 countries. Its core business is trade, agriculture and finance.
The average term for booking rooms in hotels of the southern region of Ukraine after the summer 2018 season fell to four days from seven a year ago, Ribas Hotels Group Executive Director Andriy Marenchuk has told Interfax-Ukraine. “If we evaluate the overall [summer] season, we can say that it was not easy… The booking period in the southern region was significantly reduced, the early booking period also. The average booking duration for this season is four days, and last year it was seven day. This is one of the main factors for assessing the tourist market,” he said. According to Marenchuk, a decrease in this indicator indicates a low level of the marketing product of most resort hotels in the country.
He said that Karolino-Buhaz, Hrybivka, Ochakiv, Zatoka and Koblevo became resorts of the “last minute,” that is, they are chosen as the last resort if tourists could not go to a foreign resort. “This is the worst marketing product of the existing ones. It is bought last, because other factors did not play: for example, there was not enough time to go to Egypt or Turkey for 10 days, so we went to Zatoka for three days. Why there were queues at the Moldovan border on Thursdays and Fridays? People from Moldova went for a weekend. These are not tourists from Belarus or Ukrainian guests who came for five to seven days,” the expert said.
He also said that in the struggle for a guest who prefers to come to Ukraine for a long time, domestic resorts lose to foreign ones, primarily because of the lack of a developed hotel infrastructure. “If in Turkey a hotel is built on average with 300 rooms, then in our region such a facility is considered very large. And if a hotel has a small number of rooms, then it is unprofitable to build a pool, install water slides and other entertainment infrastructure,” the expert said.
At the same time, Marenchuk reported on increased competition with Carpathian hotels. “We have a rival with rapidly developing tourism like the Carpathians. The mountains are considered not only from the perspective of the winter resort Bukovel. Many Carpathian hotels have begun to use the summer season. Today only the sea saves us [the Ribas Hotels Group],” Marenchuk said.
In turn, the founder of the company Ribas Hotels Group, Artur Lupashko, said that the operator’s hotels showed a consistently high load this year. “Loading of our summer hotels this year has fluctuated at the level of 68%. Traditionally, the most active months [July and August] showed 76%. June sank a little at 58%. For owners or investors of the southern region, this means profitability of resort hotels of six to eight years and the return of 12-16%,” he said.
Ribas Hotels Group (Odesa) LLC was established in 2017. According to the unified public register, Lupashko is the head of the group and holder of a 100% stake in the company’s charter capital.
