On December 22, the Motor (Transport) Insurance Bureau of Ukraine (MTIBU) raised tariffs for Green Card policies for those traveling abroad by 5.6%.
According to the MTIBU website, the last change in tariffs took place on September 29, downward by 3.4%, on April 21, 2023, upward by 3.15%, and on December 30, 2022, upward by 3.1%.
Since 2009, two types of Green Card policies have been sold: the whole of Europe and Moldova. Also, starting from January 1, 2016, Ukrainian Green Card policies began to operate in Azerbaijan.
Thus, according to the MTIBU, the cost of the Green Card for 15 days for traveling in Europe for cars rises to UAH 1,002 thousand (from UAH 949 thousand before), for buses – to UAH 3,766 thousand (UAH 3,567 thousand), for trucks – to UAH 2,364 thousand (UAH 2,239 thousand).
The cost of a one-month Green Card for cars is now UAH 1,595 thousand (compared to UAH 1,511 thousand before), buses – UAH 5,230 thousand (UAH 4,954 thousand), and trucks – UAH 3,138 thousand (UAH 2,972 thousand).
Semi-annual and annual Green Card policies for cars will now cost UAH 7,083 thousand and UAH 8,769 thousand, respectively, for trucks – UAH 14,855 thousand and UAH 28,036 thousand, for buses – UAH 18,307 thousand and UAH 33,999 thousand.
The cost of policies for traveling to Azerbaijan and Moldova for passenger cars for 15 days will be UAH 730 (previously UAH 691), for one month – UAH 1,074 thousand (UAH 1,017 thousand), for six months – UAH 2,462 thousand (UAH 2,332 thousand), for a year – UAH 3,506 thousand (UAH 3,321 thousand).
The amounts of single insurance premiums under contracts of international compulsory motor third party liability insurance for owners of land vehicles are set in accordance with the Resolution of the Cabinet of Ministers dated January 6, 2005 and are denominated in euros.
“Green Card is a system of insurance coverage for victims of road traffic accidents, regardless of their country of residence or country of vehicle registration. It covers 44 countries in Europe, Asia and Africa.
According to the decision of the General Assembly of the Council of the Bureau of the International System of Motor Insurance “Green Card”, adopted in Luxembourg in May 2004, Ukraine became a full member of the system on January 1, 2005.
Ukrainian Exchange JSC (UX, Kyiv), one of the three Ukrainian stock exchanges, may increase its authorized capital by UAH 9.994 million, or almost 20%, to UAH 60 million.
According to the exchange’s announcement in the information disclosure system of the National Securities and Stock Market Commission (NSSMC), the issue is to be discussed at an extraordinary remote shareholders’ meeting on January 19 next year.
“To increase the authorized capital by UAH 9,994,000 by placing an additional 9,994 ordinary registered shares of the existing nominal value at the expense of additional contributions without a public offer,” the draft decision states.
According to the NSSMC disclosure system, the exchange’s largest shareholders at the end of the third quarter were Freedom Holding Corp. (USA) – 24.2651%, former Finance Minister of Ukraine Yuriy Kolobov – 8.9989%, Cyprus-based Dragon Capital Investments Limited – 7.4031%, Exchange Chairman Artemiy Yershov – 6.9032%, and Exchange Development Director Oleksiy Sukhorukov – 5.9193%.
UX ended 2022 with a net loss of UAH 4.513 million after a net profit of UAH 9.042 million a year earlier, and its revenue fell 7.4 times to UAH 2.378 million.
Cypriot citizen Vadym Iermolaiev, owner of the 18-enterprise Alef diversified corporation, whose assets were estimated by Forbes Ukraine at $220 million before the war, has been added to the Ukrainian sanctions list.
Presidential Decree No. 850 of December 23, among other things, blocks its assets for 10 years, revokes or suspends licenses and other permits, prohibits participation in privatization and the purchase of land, and suspends the fulfillment of economic and financial obligations.
Alef-Vinal-Crimea LLC is also on the list of legal entities subject to sanctions.
According to the website, the main assets of the Alef Corporation include UDK Gazbeton, manufacturers of PVC profile Miroplast and window and door fittings Axor Industry, apple exporter Sady Dnipra and Agroalliance, ALEF Estate, SEZ Potoky, medical device manufacturer ABM Technology, pipe manufacturer Oscar, and concrete producer Elba.
The corporation and Mr. Yermolaiev have not yet publicly commented on the sanctions.
Another decree No. 851 of the same day imposed sanctions, in particular, against Leonid (Len) Blavatnik, a British citizen, ex-partner of Russian businessmen Viktor Vekselberg and Oleg Deripaska, founder and chairman of the board of directors of Acces Industries, a holding company and investment firm that estimates its diversified portfolio of investments worldwide at more than $35 billion. In particular, it is the majority owner of Warner Music Group. Other assets include DAZN Group and LyondelBassel.
The list also includes Ukrainian citizen Vyacheslav Yutkin, who until 2016 was the first deputy chairman of Prominvestbank, a Ukrainian subsidiary of the Russian VEB that invested in Ukrainian real estate.
As of May 2018, he was the owner of the Hlibivka country house hotel near Kyiv, the Yaremche Club boutique hotel (Yaremche, Ivano-Frankivsk region), the Pushcha Congress Hotel (Pushcha-Vodytsia, Kyiv region), and the five-star boutique hotel Bank Hotel Congress Hall Art Butik (Lviv).
In January-November 2023, Guardian Insurance Company (Kyiv) collected insurance premiums in the amount of UAH 1.2 billion, which is 47.67% more than in the same period of 2022.
According to the insurer’s website, for 11 months of this year, the company paid UAH 344.55 million to customers, which is 2.4 times more than in the same period last year.
Guardian has been operating in the insurance market since 2007. It is a member of the Presidium of the League of Insurance Organizations of Ukraine. In January 2020, it received the status of a full member of the Motor (Transport) Insurance Bureau of Ukraine (MTIBU) and is authorized to sell Green Card policies.
In October 2020, by the decision of the general meeting of members of the Nuclear Insurance Pool of Ukraine, Guardian Insurance Company became a member of the Nuclear Insurance Pool.
Kernel, one of Ukraine’s largest agricultural holdings, posted a net loss of $30.9 million in the first quarter of fiscal year 2024 (FY, July 2023-June 2024), while the company ended the previous year with a net loss of $162 million.
“The net loss … amounted to $31 million, which was the second quarter in a row in which the company reported a negative net result (the net loss of the fourth quarter of FY2023 was $138 million – IF-U),” the company said in a report on the Warsaw Stock Exchange.
Kernel’s consolidated revenues in the first quarter of 2024FY decreased by 17% compared to the first quarter and by 26% compared to the fourth quarter of 2023FY, amounting to $564 million.
“The main factors that contributed to this decline were a decrease in grain exports and the impact of lower prices for all commodities,” the document explains.
It is indicated that the change in the fair value of biological assets resulted in a $10 million loss in the first quarter of 2024 compared to a $2 million loss in the first quarter of 2023, lower prices led to a $23 million write-down of inventories, and net losses from impairment of financial assets amounted to $20 million, mainly reflecting provisions recognized for receivables.
In addition, it is specified that shipping and handling costs accounted for 22% of cost of sales in the first quarter of FY2024, and as a result of all of the above, gross profit in the first quarter of FY2024 fell by 70% year-on-year to $52 million, but this is better than the loss of $22 million in the fourth quarter of FY2023.
According to the report, general and administrative expenses in the first quarter of FY2024 fell by 29% year-on-year to $31 million, mainly due to lower wages and salary-related expenses.
Kernel’s EBITDA in July-September 2023 fell almost ninefold compared to July-September 2022, from $168 million to $19 million.
“The Oilseeds Processing segment remained the driver of the group’s profitability, contributing $58 million to Kernel’s profit. EBITDA increased by 15% compared to the fourth quarter of FY2023. These results reflect strong sales during the reporting period and a consistently high EBITDA margin of $158 per tonne of vegetable oil sold,” the report says.
“Kernel explained that it benefited from established export routes outside of Ukraine’s Black Sea ports, which allowed it to maintain high export volumes despite the blockade of the Black Sea. In addition, the weak profitability of sunflower processing, which prevailed in the summer of 2023, improved significantly in September with the arrival of a new sunflower crop on the market.
It is indicated that in the conditions of inaccessibility of the Black Sea for the group’s exports, the EBITDA of the Infrastructure and Trade segment amounted to only $6 million: Avere’s profitable trading operations slightly covered the loss of infrastructure and logistics assets in Ukraine.
The Agriculture segment generated a $23 million EBITDA loss in the first quarter of fiscal 2024.
According to the report, net cash used in investing activities amounted to $68 million in July-September 2023. It is specified that within the framework of investment activities, the group used $47 million to purchase property, plant and equipment (including the acquisition of a vegetable oil transshipment terminal in the port of Chernomorsk for $19 million), made an advance payment of $25 million for the acquisition of a vegetable oil transshipment terminal in the port of Reni, received $91 million from the sale of subsidiaries (mainly due to the final payment of remuneration for the removal of the director of Kernel), received $91 million.
Prior to the war, Kernel was the world’s largest producer of sunflower oil (about 7% of global production) and a major exporter (about 12%). It is one of the largest producers and sellers of bottled oil in Ukraine. In addition, it is engaged in the cultivation and sale of agricultural products.
Kernel’s net profit for FY2023 amounted to $299 million, while the company ended the previous year with a net loss of $41 million. The agricultural holding’s revenue for FY2023 decreased by 35% to $3.455 billion, but EBITDA increased 2.5 times to $544 million.
On December 29, Ukrzaliznytsia JSC (UZ) will launch an additional run of train No. 816 Lviv-Rakhiv, the UZ press service said on Friday evening.
“We are strengthening the peak transportation day on December 29 with the flight of the regional train No. 816 Lviv – Rakhiv! The train will be useful not only for residents of Lviv, but with a transfer at Lviv station – for passengers from Kyiv, Kharkiv, Poltava, Zaporizhzhia and other cities,” the message posted on UZ’s Telegram channel reads.
The company specifies that train No. 816 will depart from Lviv on December 29 at 15:22, Ivano-Frankivsk at 17:39 – 17:43, Yaremche at 19:10 – 19:14, Tatariv-Bukovel at 19:39 – 19:41, Vorokhta at 19:52 – 19:56, Yasinia at 20:34 – 20:36, Kvasy at 20:59 – 21:01, arriving in Rakhiv at 21:19. The train will also stop at the stations Khodoriv, Burshtyn, Halych, Delyatyn, Mykulychyn, Voronenko, Lazeshchyna, Svydovets, and Bilyn.
It is also reported that in Lviv, this train can be transferred from trains #79 Dnipro (22:06) – Kyiv (05:42 – 06:10) – Lviv (12:59), #86 Zaporizhzhia (18:48) – Lviv (14:15) and #63 Kharkiv (22:38) – Kyiv (05:35 – 06:35) – Lviv (13:39).
