The Swedish owner of the clothing chain Hennes & Mauritz AB (H&M) plans in August 2018 to open the first store in Ukraine in the Lavina Mall trade and entertainment center. “We are extremely happy to finally open our first store in Ukraine! It is a great honor for us to bring style and conscious shopping to Kyiv and inspire fans of fashion for self-expression,” H&M CEO in Ukraine Dominique Fantaccino said.
According to the report, the total area of the outlet will be 2,900 square meters. It will include collections of fashionable clothes, as well as household goods under the H&M Home brand.
H&M was founded in Sweden in 1947. In addition to the H&M brand, the retailer also develops other fashion brands: COS, Monki, Weekday, Cheap Monday, Other Stories and H&M Home, as well as ARKET. The H&M group of companies has 47 online platforms and more than 4,700 stores, including franchising, in 69 international markets. In 2017 the company’s sales amounted to SEK 232 billion (including VAT).
The State Property Fund of Ukraine (SPF) estimates the potential amount of proceeds from small-scale privatization at UAH 1.5-1.7 billion, Acting Head of the SPF Vitaliy Trubarov has said. “Maksym Nefyodov Deputy Minister of Economic Development and Trade expects that we will receive UAH 3 billion from small privatization. According to our modest estimates, the amount may not be so optimistic, it will be UAH 1.5-1.7 billion,” he said on the air of Channel Five.
At the same time, he noted that there are fears of failure to implement the plan for large-scale privatization this year. “Is there a chance that we will not fulfill the planned task? Yes, unfortunately, there is such a chance, because we lost half a year due to the fact that privatization of some of the objects could not start on time, and some of the objects fell out of the list,” Trubarov said.
In particular, he noted that the list of large-scale privatization for 2018 does not contain a number of large agrarian objects. “For example, the Agrarian Fund or the State Food and Grain Corporation of Ukraine. They perform a certain role related to food security, which now does not allow putting these objects up for sale. At the request of the ministry of Agrarian Policy and Food, these objects have been removed from this list for the time being and transferred to 2019,” he said.
ESTIMATES POTENTIAL REVENUES, SMALL-SCALE PRIVATIZATION, SPF
The International Finance Corporation (IFC) on June 1 signed a contract to provide the largest Ukrainian vertically integrated tomato paste producer, Agrofusion, with a long-term loan of $17 million. According to information on the IFC’s website, the funds are intended to expand the company in 2018-2019 and refinance its obligations. The total cost of the project is estimated at $30 million.
The IFC said this is the third project with Agrofusion.
Agrofusion is the largest vertically integrated producer of tomato paste in Ukraine. It was founded by businessman Serhiy Sypko in 2007. Agrofusion includes three tomato paste production plants with a total production capacity of about 750,000 tonnes of tomatoes per season, as well as agribusinesses in Kherson and Mykolaiv regions, cultivating 25,000 hectares of irrigated land, and two hothouse farms. In 2017, the company expanded its capacity and reached 79,443 tonnes of paste (64,800 tonnes in 2016). Some 70% of its products are exported to 35 countries.
Acting Head of the State Property Fund of Ukraine (SPF) Vitaliy Trubarov has signed orders on the privatization of 22 large facilities. “There is no way back. The fund signed 22 orders for the privatization of large facilities. This is the first large list of enterprises for sale for the last ten years,” he said on Facebook. As reported, the SPF intends by July 1 to declare tenders for the selection of advisors for the privatization of 22 facilities.
At the end of May, the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine published a list of enterprises of “big” privatization for 2018, which included 23 enterprises. The approved list, in particular, included five regional energy companies, Centrenergo, Odesa Port-Side Chemical Plant, Turboatom, Zaporizhia Titanium and Magnesium Combine, United Mining and Chemical Company, and Sumykhimprom.
Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko will pay a working visit to Turkey on Tuesday, June 12, to participate in the ceremony to launch the Trans-Anatolian Natural Gas Pipeline (TANAP). According to the press service of the head of state, Poroshenko is making the visit at the invitation of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. The program of the visit foresees a number of bilateral meetings between the Ukrainian president and the leaders of foreign countries.
The Ukrainian beer market in 2018 will show positive dynamics, AB InBev Efes President Dmytro Shpakov believes. “We expect that the market in 2018 will not only stabilize, but will show positive dynamics, given that in 2018 excise tax was not raised,” he told Interfax-Ukraine during Corona Save Trukhaniv Island, the environmental campaign to clean up the Trukhaniv Island. The expert noted that, according to research by Nielsen global company, beer consumption in Ukraine increased by 1.6% in 2017 against the fall of this indicator by 7.2% in 2016.
According to Shpakov, now there observed the trend towards the growth of premium and super-premium segments in Ukraine.
“However, the mid-price segment still remains the most popular. Beer with fruity taste is becoming more popular,” he said.
Local production accounted for 97.5% in the portfolio of Sun InBev Ukraine in 2017, while imports for 2.5%.
“In 2017 we increased the volume of imported products in our portfolio by 23.7%,” the president of AB InBev Efes said.
