KYIV. Nov 13 (Interfax-Ukraine) – State postal services enterprise Ukrposhta doubled its profit in January-September 2015 year-over-year, to UAH 30 million, the company said in a press release on Wednesday.
Its total revenue grew by 10.2%, to UAH 3.19 billion.
Ukrposhta said that the growth was thanks to the optimization of logistics processes for mail transportation and the introduction of new services, including parcels from abroad. Despite the rise in the prices of fuel and lubricants, general expenses on their purchase were cut by 12% compared to the target.
“Mileage and expenses on the use of transport are now limited and under control at Ukrposhta,” the company said.
Ukrposhta is a national postal operator, according to a cabinet resolution of January 10, 2002. It is managed by the Infrastructure Ministry of Ukraine.
KYIV. Nov 13 (Interfax-Ukraine) – Shareholders in PZU Ukraine insurance company (Kyiv) at a general meeting on November 11, 2015 decided to increase the company’s charter capital by 80.74% via an additional issue of 1.45 million shares worth UAH 14.496 million.
The company said that the face value of each share is UAH 10.
The placement value equals to their market value: UAH 137.39 per share. The market value was defined by the appraiser – Vedanta-Expert consulting firm – as of October 6, 2015 and was approved by the supervisory board of the company.
The insurer said that the placement of new shares could result in an increase in the stakes of the shareholders: Powszechny Zaklad Ubezpieczen S.A. – 89.9678% of the charter capital (1.615 million shares) and PZU Ukraine Life Insurance (Kyiv) – 10.0297% of the charter capital (180,038 shares).
The company said that 30% of the funds from the placement of new shares will be used to increase the charter capital to develop the insurance product sales chain. The remaining 70% will be used to improve, develop and design new IT technologies aimed at increasing labor and operation efficiency.
Hryvnias will be used to pay for the shares. The conversion of the securities is not foreseen.
The company is now allowed to use the funds received from the placement of shares to pay for them and cover losses.
As reported, the charter capital of the company before the additional issue of shares is UAH 17.954 million.
PZU Ukraine has been working in the Ukrainian insurance market since 1993. It provides a full range of services in conventional insurance. The company has over 100 regional offices across Ukraine. Its services are sold through around 2,000 universal agents.
PZU Ukraine is part of Poland-based PZU insurance group.
KYIV. Nov 13 (Interfax-Ukraine) – Public joint-stock company Odesa Port-Side Plant and Austria’s Antra Gmbh have agreed to load the plant by over 50% under a tolling scheme in November, Director of Antra GmbH Eugen Hinrichs-Schramm said at a press conference at Interfax-Ukraine on Thursday.
“We buy gas in Austria, Hungary and Slovakia… we will cover more than the half of the plant’s need for gas,” he said.
The director of Antra said that his company will export Odesa Port-Side Plant’s products, however he refused to disclose the concrete buyers.
Hinrichs-Schramm said that 10% of Antra belongs to him and 90% belongs to Switzerland’s Universal Exports Holding AG.
“No founder [of Universal Exports] is a government member or politician,” he said.
Deputy Director General of Odesa Port-Side Plant Mykola Schurikov said that the plant has started to receive gas under the contract with Antra on November 10. The contract is in effect until the end of November but it could be extended.
Schurikov said that along with gas supplies, the plant received raw materials from Antra under a contract with national joint-stock company Naftogaz Ukrainy (at the price of $275 per 1,000 cubic meters) and is loaded almost by 100% in general.
“With a full loading the plant consumes 115 million cubic meters of gas a month,” he said.
He said that the plant cannot supply gas in the reverse mode due to restrictions of the National Bank of Ukraine (NBU) on advance payments abroad.
KYIV. Nov 13 (Interfax-Ukraine) – U.S. financier, philanthropist and founder of the International Renaissance Foundation George Soros has said that getting visa-free regime with EU will raise Ukraine’s investment attractiveness.
During a meeting with Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko in Kyiv on Thursday, he has noted the importance of the adoption by the Verkhovna Rada of draft laws of the visa-free package.
It will pave the way towards the visa-free regime with the EU and promote further development of Ukraine, has said.
It is an important step towards the increase of investment attractiveness of Ukraine. Investors will be more and more interested in the prospects of investment in Ukraine, Soros said.
He also called it a great victory of the Ukrainian nation that Ukraine had not only repelled Russian aggression, but also implemented necessary reforms that brought it closer to the European community.
KYIV. Nov 12 (Interfax-Ukraine) – The State Service of Geology and Mineral Resources of Ukraine has sold five oil and gas fields for UAH 14.849 million with the starting price of UAH 2.759 million.
Bystrytska deposit (Lviv region) was most contested. During bidding, the price rose by 75.9 times from the starting of UAH 159,850 to UAH 12.130 million. The winner was Construction and Assembly Directorate No. 77 Zhytlopostach (Lviv), whose ultimate owner is Iryna Trush.
Pivdenno-Zaluzhanska area (Lviv region) was sold for UAH 607,740 with a starting price of UAH 567,740. The winner was Ukrainian Independent Geological Company (Kyiv), whose owner is Kostiantyn Sukhina.
Storonska field (Lviv region) was sold to Energo-InvestGroup LLC (Lviv) for UAH 367,540 with the starting price of UAH 357,540. The owners of the company are Andriy Masliuk, Yuriy Kuninets, and a Hungarian citizen.
Humenetska deposit (Lviv region) was sold to Nadra Service Group LLC (Lviv) for UAH 325,510 with the starting price of UAH 295,510. The ultimate owners of the company through Nafto-Gaz Service LLC are Vasyl Stets and Advanced Technical Geological Consulting Ltd. (Israel).
KYIV. Nov 12 (Interfax-Ukraine) – Dutch Ozone Investment LLC (the Netherlands) and Karl Group (Germany) plan to invest up to $10 million in the projects of state-run joint-stock company Ukrainian Polymetals on producing amber and land reclamation within the next five years.
Ozone Investment CEO Thomas Bretschneider and Director General of Ukrainian Polymetals Kostiantyn Lisnychy signed a memorandum of cooperation on Wednesday.
“Amber is a high-margin business, and we don’t have problems with the attraction of investors,” Lisnychy said.
He also said that there are plans to fully legalize amber production, as today over 95% of amber is not taxed. According to the assessments of experts, the launch of state enterprise Ukrburshtyn, which is under the control of Ukrainian Polymetals, to its full capacity will give the state budget an extra UAH 30 million per year.
According to the Ukrburshtyn development plan, in the coming three to six months the enterprise plans to obtain a permit for industrial production of amber for 20 years. In addition, it plans to hire 500-1,000 people and receive a total income of $25.871 million in 2016-2018.
Lisnychy also said that Ukrainian Polymetals managed by the Economic Development and Trade Ministry of Ukraine has resumed its 100% control over Ukrburshtyn and appointed Oleh Schekin as its managing director on October 10.
“We paid UAH 4.3 million to tender creditors of Ukrburshtyn. This makes it impossible to return to the bankruptcy procedure,” he said.
A representative of the two companies-creditors – director of Green Service LLC investment company – said at the press conference that the funds have not arrived in the account of his company and the accounts of other creditors.
Managing partner of Ario Capital Group Yulian Khorunzhy said that the companies-creditors continue to resist the return of the company to the state control, including by submitting fabricated documents to the court.
