KYIV. April 27 (Interfax-Ukraine) – State-run enterprise Ukrspyrt in January through March saw a 3.8-fold rise in net profit year-over-year, to UAH 49.9 million.
“Spirit production increased by 59%, spirit sales – by 37%, exports of Ukrainian spirit – by 352% and sales revenue – by 49%. Tax payments also increased – by 40.4%. The state-run enterprise sent almost UAH 100 million to budgets of different levels,” the company said, citing Deputy Director Serhiy Bleskun.
The company said that even better figures would not help the company to recover until the spirit sector is completely reformed and the issue of its privatization and appointment of the director is settled.
“Ukrspyrt that incorporates 41 production sites, is the half of the sector. While Ukrspyrt declares sales of ethyl spirit of over 2.4 million decaliters for Q1 2016, other distilleries post data on the sale of 165,000 decaliters of spirit with the condition that the capacities are almost equal. The difference of taxes paid could be easily calculated,” Bleskun said.
KYIV. April 27 (Interfax-Ukraine) – The largest private Ukrainian mining and metal group Metinvest is developing a shipping line from Mariupol (Donetsk region) to Europe, expanding its fleet with a new ship of Handysize class from Turkey’s Canbaz Group.
The group said in a press release on Tuesday, Esra C bulker will supply metal products from Mariupol to Italian ports Marghera, Monfalcone and Ravenna.
The first cargo of 23,500 tonnes of slabs made by Azovstal was loaded on the ship with a carrying capacity of 30,000 tonnes on April 22, 2016.
The press service said that Metinvest launched shipping lines from Mariupol in late 2014. Now the group delivers cargos to Bulgaria, Turkey, Italy and Spain. The capacity of the lines in 2015 increased to 150,000 tonnes a month.
By the end of 2016 the Metinvest fleet will include 12 ships, three of which belong to Canbaz Group. The company seeks to ship its products to Northern Africa, Middle East and the United States.
KYIV. April 27 (Interfax-Ukraine) – An export-insurance agency could be created in 2017 if the financing of the project were included in the draft national budget, Deputy Minister of Economic Development and Trade and Trade Representative of Ukraine Natalia Mykolska has said.
“If the funds are foreseen in the next year’s budget, the export-insurance agency could be created next year,” she told reporters after a roundtable devoted to development of the exports strategy.
She said that from the moment of creation of the export-insurance agency until the provision of first service from six to nine months will pass.
Mykolska said that the state does not have funds to create the full-featured export-credit agency. Additionally, Ukraine is to observe the requirement of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to cut public expenses. She assumed that initially the agency would provide insurance, underwriting and reinsurance services.
She said that if there were funds the export-insurance agency could be turned into an export-credit agency. She said that UAH 250-300 million is required for this and the sum could be injected in two tranches during two years.
She said that the full-featured export-credit agency could be created when the macroeconomic situation is stabilized in Ukraine and the country ends cooperation with the IMF.
KYIV. April 27 (Interfax-Ukraine) – Agrofusion Group, the largest Ukrainian vertically integrated producer of tomato paste, plans to implement an investment project worth a total of UAH 1.5 billion to build a plant for tomato processing.
According to a report on the website of Snihurivka District Administration (Mykolaiv region), with reference to holding representative Ivan Shulha, the project will be implemented in this district. The plant will employ more than 300 people, while 700 people will work in a greenhouse and in the field.
Agrofusion Group did not specify the details of building the new enterprise.
As reported, the International Finance Corporation (IFC) of the World Bank Group could issue $10 million to Agrofusion Group to finance working capital. These funds will enable Agrofusion to refinance the existing short-term credit lines issued from local banks for a total of $4.3 million, finance working capital for $5.7 million, which is due to increased production. In addition, the holding will be able to strengthen its position in the Ukrainian market, expand exports to the countries of Central Europe and the CIS (except for the Russian Federation).
Agrofusion Group in 2014 reached its maximum production of 52,778 tonnes of tomato paste, in 2015 it expanded its capabilities through investment, reaching a figure of 61,500 tonnes.
Agrofusion Group, founded by Serhiy Sypko in 2007, has been an IFC client since 2012.
KYIV. April 27 (Interfax-Ukraine) – The shareholders of Citibank (Kyiv) have decided to increase charter capital by 80.5%, or by UAH 53.5 million, to UAH 120 million.
According to the bank’s website, the decision was made at a general meeting of shareholders on April 15.
The bank plans to increase charter capital by increasing the nominal value of shares from UAH 5,000 to UAH 9,023.
The increase in the bank’s charter capital will be held at expense of part of its retained profit for 2014.
Citibank was founded in 1998 and is a subsidiary of U.S. Citibank NA. The largest shareholders of the financial institution on January 1, 2016 were Citibank Overseas Investment Corporation (67%) and Citicorp Leasing International LLC (33%).
KYIV. April 26 (Interfax-Ukraine) – Public joint-stock company Kyivkhlib, a large bread producer in Kyiv, seeks to export its cakes to the United States and Canada.
According to a company report, the company in 2015 exported crackers, round cracknels and confectionary products to Germany, Lithuania, Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Bulgaria and the Netherlands.
Kyivkhlib last year designed 29 new products: 20 bread products and nine confectionary products.
Bread and bread products output last year totaled 168,373 tonnes, confectionary products – 7,227 tonnes, semi-finished products – 5,400 tonnes, macaroni – 34,300 tonnes and bread crumbs – 2,233 tonnes.
The share of crackers and round cracknels of total sales in 2015 increased by 0.7% and cake and pastry sales – by 1.7%. The share of rich fermented goods decreased by 0.1%, popular bread – 1.2% and good-quality bread – 1.1%.
The company in 2016 seeks to retain its positions on the bread market in Kyiv, launch production of new types of goods and settle the issue of producing ordered cakes.
