Ukrainian banks maintain positive expectations regarding the growth of corporate lending, as well as lending to the population over the next 12 months, according to the Survey on Credit Conditions posted on the website of the National Bank of Ukraine (NBU). According to the central bank, 76% of the banks surveyed expect an increase in the corporate loan portfolio over the next 12 months, with the corresponding expectations remaining for the sixth consecutive quarter. Some 69% of the polled banks expect the growth of lending to individuals, which is the highest percentage since the beginning of the survey in 2015.
In January-March, banks more actively than a quarter earlier approved applications for loans to small and medium-sized enterprises (SME) and consumer loans, responding to the growth in demand.
“The revival of lending to the population and SMEs in the first quarter was positively influenced by the banks’ lowering interest rates and lengthening the terms of lending,” the NBU reported on the website.
Increased competition between the banks and non-banking institutions, as well as economic growth and a reduction in inflation expectations led to the softening by small banks of requirements for individual borrowers during the first quarter. At the same time, the banks, primarily large ones, raised requirements for collateral on business loans and tightened restrictions imposed by credit agreements, especially for large enterprises. Several large banks also reported an increase in demand for mortgage loans.
PKO Bank Polski S.A. has increased a stake in the charter capital of Kredobank (Lviv) to 100% from 99.6293%, the bank has said in the information disclosure system of the National Commission for Securities and the Stock Market. “On April 24, the National Depository of Ukraine reported about the completion of procedures linked to the squeeze-out of ordinary shares in Kredobank,” the bank said.
As reported, amendments introduced on March 23, 2017, to some legal acts in Ukraine to facilitate corporate management at joint-stock companies have introduced such procedures as squeeze-out and sell-out (the forced purchase and sale of participation in share capital) to the country’s legislative environment.
Kredobank was established in 1990. Kredobank ranked 19th among 84 operating banks as of January 1, 2018, in terms of total assets worth UAH 15.171 billion, according to the National Bank of Ukraine.
Odesa-based Automagistral-Yug has launched an asphalt-concrete plant in the settlement of Derhachi in Kharkiv region, the company’s press service has reported. “We are launching the 14th own asphalt plant in Ukraine and the fifth plant of Italy’s Marini Fayat Group. Thanks to the construction of a new plant, we can hourly produce up to 320 tonnes of asphalt, which is more than 3,500 tonnes per shift, which today is a record indicator for similar enterprises in Ukraine,” Automagistral-Yug Director General Mykola Tymofeyev said. According to the company, the amount of investment in the new production plant was more than EUR 3 million. According to the report, the plant’s products will be sent to the asphalt-concrete coating on the P46 Kharkiv-Akhtyrka road, as well as on the M-03 Kyiv-Kharkiv-Dolzhansky highway and T2104 Kharkiv-Vovchansk road.
According to Tymofeyev, the total amount of work on the roads will be 80 km and will be completed by the end of the year.
ASPHALT-CONCRETE PLANT, KHARKIV REGION, LAUNCHE, MARINI FAYAT GROUP PLANT
The State Automobile Roads Agency, also known as Ukravtodor, opened bids of contractors participating in a tender to build two-level traffic interchanges on M-05 Kyiv-Odesa and M-06 Kyiv-Chop highways. The press service of the agency reported that the tender to build two-level traffic interchanges was held as part of the implementation of the project of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) and the European Investment Bank (EIB) entitled “Pan-European Corridors Project/European road of Ukraine II, Improvement of traffic condition of the roads at approaches to Kyiv.” The tender for the work was held for the contracts, the financing of which will be carried out through a loan: lot No. 1 is construction of two-level interchanges on the M-05 highway, turn to the village of Chabany and turn to Boyarka and M-06 highway – completion of the alignment near the village of Stoyanka; Lot No. 2 is construction of two-level transport interchanges on the M-06 highway – turn tot eh village of Chaiky and turn to the village of Bilohorodka.
Seven companies submitted their bids: Fermak Insaat Taahhut A.S. (Turkey), China Road and Bridge Corporation (China), СП PBDiM Sp. z o. o. (Poland) and Ukrainian-Polish Company with foreign investments UPS LLC (Ukraine), JSC Euro-Asian Construction Corporation EVRASCON (Azerbaijan), Sinohydro Corporation Ltd. (China), Alke Insaat Sanaye ve Ticaret A.S. (Azerbaijan), Kauno Tiltai LLC (Lithuania).
AZERBAIJAN, BUILD INTERCHANGES, CHINA, COMPANIES, LITHUANIA, POLAND, TENDER, TURKEY
Some Indian pharmaceutical companies are interested in entering the Ukrainian market with Ayurveda, Yoga, Unani, Siddha and Homoeopathy (AYUSH) products, President of the Indian Pharmaceutical Manufacturers’ Association (IPMA) Dr. Ramanan Unni Parambath Menon has told Interfax-Ukraine. “Many pharmaceutical companies are present on the Ukrainian market with AYUSH products and many of them are interested in entering it,” he said, adding that the Ayurvedic term is incorrect for this segment of medications.
“AYUSH is ab abbreviation for Ayurveda, Yoga and Naturopathy, Unani, Siddha and Homoeopathy,” he said.
Commenting on the specifics of the Ukrainian regulatory base for the import of AYUSH products, Dr. Menon said that in Ukraine some of these medications are registered both as medicines and as biologically active additives.
“In India, there are separate rules for registration of AYUSH products. There are no separate rules in Ukraine. We would like these rules by analogy with India to be implemented in Ukraine,” he said.
In this case, according to Dr. Menon, some AYUSH preparations have a full package of documentation for the registration of medical products required by the State Expert Center of the Ministry of Health of Ukraine.
In turn, Head of the Representative Office of Dia Pharma Limited Ukraine Mr. Thamarai Pandian said that there are special rules of registration for AYUSH medications drawn up for the WTO in some countries like Switzerland, Germany, Hungary and some other EU countries.
“The Health Ministry of Ukraine could have introduced the same WTO rules in Ukraine,” the expert said.
At present, there are 278,000 Ayurvedic specialists, over 200 Ayurvedic educational institutions and 112 Ayurvedic skill enhancement institutions. Some 15,000 people graduate from them every year.
There are 7,439 private companies in India that produce Ayurvedic medications and over 20 companies with the international GMP certificate.
Private joint-stock company AvtoKrAZ (Kremenchuk, Poltava region), the sole Ukrainian manufacturer of heavy trucks, plans to boost production and sales of trucks to 1,200 units in 2018, while in 2017 the enterprise made 629 trucks and sold 677 units, according to a financial report of the enterprise for 2017. According to the document, it is planned to increase production and sales of vehicles thanks to retaining positions in the domestic market and increasing export orders.
The main sales market will remain internal, where it is planned to supply about 800 trucks, or 66% in the sales volume. The share of supplies for export is expected to increase to 34% compared with 19% in 2017. In supplies to the Ukrainian market for the current year, it is expected that 41% will be orders for state-owned structures, and supplies for municipal companies are planned to quadruple.
According to the report, in 2018, AvtoKrAZ intends to continue work on the adaptation of power units to the Euro 6 emission standard and the creation of promising truck models. At the same time, the main attention will be paid to expanding the lines of special equipment for the Armed Forces and compact trucks for public utilities companies. The main rivals of AvtoKrAZ are the trucks of manufacturers from the CIS (MAZ, KamAZ, UralAZ), which are in the same strategic group with KrAZ in terms of the price/quality ratio.
In addition, among the rivals in the markets of Asia and Africa are trucks of Chinese, South Korean and Indian manufacturers.
At the same time, according to the document, such Western manufacturers as Daimler AG (Mercedes, Freightliner, Mitsubishi, Western Star), Scania, Iveco, MAN, DAF, as well as American, Japanese and South Korean companies, which main markets were Western Europe, Japan and North America, in recent years, due to a sharp drop in demand in these markets, are forced to look for new markets in Southeast Asia, Eastern Europe, CIS countries and Africa, that is, where the positions of AvtoKrAZ are traditionally strong.
According to the company, in 2017, out of the 629 trucks produced, 43% of the trucks were dropside trucks, 35% – automobile chassis, 19% – tractor trucks, and 3% – dump trucks.
The main consumers of equipment in Ukraine in 2017 were power structures, oil and gas and municipal sectors. Abroad, the main importing countries are Georgia and Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, African countries (Nigeria, Egypt, Mali and Ethiopia) and the Middle East (the UAE, Iran). At the same time, the volume of supplies to Ukrainian customers was increased by 50% compared with 2016.
At the same time, the company recalled that until 2013 the main sales market was Russia, where more than 50% of sales were made, and in 2013-2015, this share was reduced to 10%.
Revenue from sales of trucks in 2017 totaled UAH 945 million (90% of total revenue). Spare parts for UAH 64 million were sold (6%), casting products for UAH 23 million (2%) and other products and services for UAH 16 million. AvtoKrAZ adjusted net loss seen in 2017: it was UAH 89.73 million (according to the preliminary data it was UAH 235.6 million), which is 52.4% less than in 2016. Net revenue totaled UAH 1.048 billion (15% down).
