Business news from Ukraine

Business news from Ukraine

MOBILE COMMUNICATIONS OPERATOR LIFECELL SEES 76% RISE IN NET LOSS

The mobile communications operator lifecell in January-September 2018 saw a rise of 76% in net loss year-over-year, to UH 570.5 million.
According to financial statements of the parent company Turkcell (Turkey) posted on its official website, lifecell’s revenue grew by 6.8%, to UAH 3.852 billion. The increase is linked to growth in profit from consumption of mobile Internet and expansion of data traffic, the company said.
Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) rose by 68.7%, to UAH 1.679 billion. EBITDA margin grew by 16 percentage points, to 43.6%.
Capital investment in January-September soared 3.38-fold, to UAH 3.099 million.
According to the report, revenue in June-September 2018 increased 9.1%, to UAH 1.367 billion.
In Q3 2018, the company’s net loss doubled, to UAH 185.6 million.
EBITDA grew by 64%, to UAH 610 million, and EBITDA margin – by 14.9 p.p., to 44.6%.
“The new IFRS (International Financial Reporting Standards) in the third quarter of 2018 had a positive impact in the amount of UAH 213 million on the company’s EBITDA,” the lifecell press service said.
Capital investments of the company during this period increased 2.46-fold, to UAH 576.8 million.
“lifecell continued to deploy 4.5G network in the third quarter, launching high-speed communication services in the 1800 MHz band on July 1, following the launch in the 2600 MHz band in March. Also, in accordance with the global strategy for developing digital services of Turkcell, the operator lifecell continues expanding the portfolio of digital services for its subscribers,” the Ukrainian subsidiary of Turkcell said.
In the third quarter of 2018, the active three month subscriber base of the lifecell operator decreased by 7.3% on an annual basis, to 7.6 million subscribers, which the company continues to explain by reducing the number of users of several SIM-cards.
Active three month ARPU (average revenue per user per month) in the third quarter of 2018 increased by 17.7% on an annual basis and amounted to UAH 59.3 compared to last year’s figure (UAH 50.4), which is associated with an increase in the consumption of data traffic, which increased by 156% per subscriber on an annual basis. At the same time, the indicator of the 12 month active MoU (minutes per user) grew by 13.7%, to 145.8 minutes.
The company also said that the three month active user base of high-speed Internet based on 3G and 4.5G exceeded 4.2 million subscribers at the end of the third quarter of 2018 and continues to grow. The penetration of smartphones in the operator’s network at the end of the third quarter was 73%.

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LARGE DAIRY PRODUCER LOOSTDORF CREATES VEGAN MILK

Loostdorf LLC (Vinnytsia region), a large dairy producer, is bringing vegan milk under the Ideal Nemoloko brand to the Ukrainian market.
“The large Ukrainian dairy business has turned to the world-wide topic of nondairy milk products. Loostdorf launches buckwheat and oatmeal “Ideal Nemoloko,” Senior Analyst at the Infagro analytical agency Maksym Fasteyev wrote on his Facebook page.
According to him, the global dairy community advocates that dairy alternatives (vegetable) be called “drink” and not “milk” (for example, “soy drink”).
Loostdorf acted delicately. “Milk” is present on the label, but there is also a direct indication that it is “not milk,” Fasteyev said.
Loostdorf LLC was founded in February 1997. The company’s facilities can process around 350 tonnes of milk a day.
The company exports dairy products to Moldova, Georgia, Azerbaijan, Belarus and other countries.

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UKRZALIZNYTSIA TO LAUNCH EXPRESS TRAIN TO BORYSPIL AIRPORT

PJSC Ukrzaliznytsia in November 2018 will launch an express train to the Boryspil international airport (Kyiv region).
“In February was the project, in May – the start of works, and in October – a test launch of the train. In November it will be the launch of the express train,” Prime Minister of Ukraine Volodymyr Groysman said on his Twitter account on Thursday.
The prime minister said that the cost of the project was about UAH 580 million, recalling that the estimated cost of the “infamous Air Express” in 2010 amounted to UAH 3.2 billion.
Groysman also pointed out the convenience of creating a covered gallery between the airport terminal and express platform.
As reported, Transportation on the Kyiv city-the Boryspil international airport route could reach 3.8 million passengers in 2019, according to Ukrzaliznytsia. The company expects that with a ticket price of UAH 80 the payback period for the project will near 10 years. Ukrzaliznytsia does not deny the scenario of increasing the cost of travel, depending on the demand for the service, as well as the factors that negatively affect its production cost for the company.
The estimated travel time will be 35-40 minutes.

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UKRGAZVYDOBUVANNIA WINS AT AUCTION TO USE CONDENSATE FIELD FOR UAH 15 MLN

JSC Ukrgazvydobuvannia has been announced a winner of the auction held by the State Service for Geology and Deposits to sell a license for the use of Lypovetske gas condensate field (Lviv region). The company offered UAH 15.1 million for the license.
The authority reported that the sum is more than four times larger than the starting price – UAH 3.5 million.
Stryinaftogaz LLC (the founders of the company are Petro Hryniv, Oleh Kurochkin and Yuriy Petrushko) won at an auction to receive the license for the Chernystia gas condensate field (Lviv region). The company offered UAH 2.04 million for the license.
Five more companies participated in the auction.
This was the first auction to sell licenses for the use of oil and gas field in the past two years. Ukrgazvydobuvannia said that for the company it was the first auction in the past 10 years.

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BELARUS AND UKRAINE MAY INCREASE COMMODITY TURNOVER TO $5 BLN

Belarus and Ukraine may increase mutual commodity turnover to $5 billion in 2018, Belarusian Deputy Prime Minister Igor Lyashenko said. “Positive dynamics of trade and economic relations between our countries was observed in the past few years. We have managed to stop the fall that was in 2013 and resume growth,” Lyashenko said at a plenary session of the first forum of Belarusian and Ukrainian regions in Gomel on Friday.
The amount of bilateral trade reached $4.6 billion in 2017 and went up 20% against 2016, he said.
“We project commodity turnover at $5 billion this year [an 8.7% increase from 2017],” Lyashenko said.
Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko and Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko have decided to bring mutual commodity turnover to at least $8 billion in 2019.
Not only the governments of the two countries, but also the regions need to contribute to achieving this goal, Lyashenko said.

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UKRAINIAN SEA PORT AUTHORITY WANTS TO START DREDGING PROJECTS IN 2019

The Ukrainian Sea Port Authority plans to double dredging works at Ukrainian ports in 2019, bringing the volume of projects to 16.335 million cubic meters, the press service of the authority reported after Dredging day 2018 held in Odesa. “This figure reflects the amount of work that the Sea Port Authority plans to start in 2019 compared to the amount of work that was planned to start in 2018,” the press service of the authority told Interfax-Ukraine.
At the same time, the authority said that the consolidated data on the implementation of the dredging plan for the current year are now being collected, work on individual facilities is proceeding as part of the plan, and for some of them even ahead of schedule.
The plans for 2019 include the continuation of dredging at the ports of Chornomorsk and Yuzhny (both Odesa region), including work to dredge the first boot basin of the Sukhy estuary of the Chornomorsk port in the amount of 1.1 million cubic meters with a planned period of four months, as well as in Yuzhny port (second and fourth launch complexes) in the amount of 6.339 million cubic meters with a planned implementation period of 21 months.
To maintain the passport depths, it is planned to carry out work in the amount of 8.88 million cubic meters in the ports: Kherson, Reni, Izmail, Odesa, Berdiansk, Mariupol, as well as on the Buzko-Dniprovsky-Lymansky canal; Kyiv, Kamianske, Kaniv, Kremenchuk, Dniprodzerzhynsk, Dniprovske and Kakhovka water reservoirs.

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