In January-September 2023, PZU Ukraine Insurance Company (Kyiv) increased gross written premiums by 41.98% to UAH 1.314 billion, and net written premiums by 52.2% to UAH 1.271 billion.
According to RA Standard-Rating, which updated the company’s credit rating/financial strength (reliability) rating on the national scale at uaAAA following the results of the specified period, in the first nine months of 2023, revenues from individuals increased by 49.90% to UAH 933.5 million. Thus, the share of individuals in the insurer’s gross premiums amounted to 71.02%, and the share of reinsurers amounted to 0.40%.
Insurance payments sent to reinsurers in the first nine months of 2023 decreased by 52.2% to UAH 43.464 million compared to the same period in 2022. Thus, the ratio of reinsurers’ participation in insurance premiums decreased by 6.51 p.p. to 3.31%.
During the reporting period, the company paid UAH 484.8 million in claims, which is 13.24% more than in the same period of 2022. At the same time, the payout ratio decreased by 9.36 p.p. to 36.89%.
In January-September 2023, the operating profit of PZU Ukraine amounted to UAH 54.583 million (-50.2%), and net profit increased by 5.8% to UAH 112.202 million.
As of September 30, 2023, the company’s assets increased by 7.57% to UAH 2.605 billion, equity – by 18.45% to UAH 1.027 billion, liabilities – by 1.50% to UAH 1.578 billion, cash and cash equivalents – decreased by 21.72% to UAH 285.292 million.
Thus, as of the beginning of the fourth quarter of 2023, the company had a good level of capitalization (65.09%), and 18.08% of its liabilities were covered by cash and cash equivalents, RA notes.
As of October 1, 2023, the insurer made financial investments in the amount of UAH 693.870 million, consisting of government bonds (UAH 237.509 million) and bank deposits (UAH 456.361 million), which had a positive impact on its provision with liquid assets, which as of the reporting date covered 62.06% of the liabilities of “PZU Ukraine”.
IC “PZU Ukraine” is supported by one of the largest insurance groups in Central and Eastern Europe – PZU Group (which includes the parent company of PZU Ukraine – PZU S.A.).
Glencore, one of the world’s largest diversified mining groups, reduced copper production by 5% to 736 thousand tons in 9M2023, confirming its full-year forecast for the metal, the company said on Monday.
The decline reflects the sale of the Australian Cobar deposit in June 2023 and lower copper recovery rates as a by-product metal. Glencore still expects production of 1 million 40 thousand tons (with fluctuations in both directions of 30 thousand tons).
Nickel production decreased by 16% to 68.4 thousand tons. Glencore also cut its annual nickel forecast to 102 thousand tons (with a 4 thousand tonne deviation) from 112 thousand tons (with a 5 thousand tonne deviation). The decline is attributed to the ongoing recovery of Raglan’s productivity after the 2022 strike, maintenance downtime at the Sudbury plant and a revision of production at the Koniambo deposit.
Production of cobalt decreased by 2% (to 32.5 thousand tons), zinc – by 4% (to 672.1 thousand tons), coal – increased by 2% to 83.9 million tons. The annual forecasts were confirmed in all cases. The forecast for ferrochrome was lowered from 1.310 million tons (with a deviation of 30 thousand tons) to 1.2 million tons (with a deviation of 30 thousand tons).
Glencore continues to expect adjusted EBIT for 2023 to exceed the high end of its long-term guidance range of $2.2-3.2 billion per year, with a likely outcome in the range of $3.5-4 billion.
The net profit of state-owned Sens Bank in January-September increased by UAH 188 million to UAH 5.626 billion, the press service of the state-owned bank reported on Monday.
“About UAH 11 billion. This is the amount for which Sens Bank’s clients opened term deposits 100 days after the bank’s transfer to state ownership, which is more than 100 thousand deposits. In addition, 80% of retail customers have re-placed their savings on the bank’s deposit accounts during this time, which is one of the best indicators during the martial law period,” the bank noted.
According to the data provided, the core capital adequacy ratio (N3) of the financial institution amounted to 16.77%, and the regulatory capital adequacy ratio (N2) – 16.82%, while in August they amounted to 17.62% and 17.66%, respectively.
In addition, as the state bank emphasized, the level of corporate clients’ confidence in Sens Bank has increased significantly after the change of ownership. This is evidenced by the increase in balances on the accounts of legal entities, in particular, since the nationalization, the state-owned bank has increased its liabilities to UAH 36.4 billion from UAH 18.8 billion.
“Thus, the growth of SME liabilities amounted to 29%, and the corporate business portfolio increased by 95%. In addition, the participation of public sector enterprises in the structure of the bank’s liabilities is about 23%,” the bank said.
The press service emphasized that Sens Bank has returned to the active mode of lending to enterprises and has resumed its participation in the state program to support micro and small businesses in Ukraine “Affordable Loans 5-7-9”.
“Currently, the corporate unit is considering more than 160 loan applications from existing and potential customers totaling more than UAH 18 billion,” the release says.
According to the press service of the financial institution, Sense Bank continues to create a long-term strategy for the development of the digital bank Sense SuperApp. A key element of the bank’s digital strategy is the absolute security of customer data and money in times of war. In particular, during the 100 days of state ownership, Sense SuperApp has been updated six times, improving familiar products and offering new ones.
“Some of the functions unique to Ukraine have already been developed and tested: their announcement is expected in the near future,” the state bank emphasized.
According to the National Bank of Ukraine, as of September 1, 2023, Sens Bank ranked 11th among 64 operating banks in terms of total assets (UAH 63.02 billion). The financial institution is one of the systemically important banks in the country and has a network of about 130 branches throughout Ukraine, employing about 4 thousand employees. Sens Bank serves about 3 million individuals and 58 thousand legal entities, as well as 86 thousand individual entrepreneurs.
On October 28, 2023, the FIRST ALL-UKRAINIAN COMPETITION “BEST TASTATOR OF UKRAINE” was held at the InterContinental Hotel.
The competition was organized by the All-Ukrainian Association of Winemakers and Sommeliers, the Association of Cavists of Ukraine and the First Sommelier School in Ukraine “Master Class”.
The All-Ukrainian Competition “BEST TASTATOR OF UKRAINE” was held in Ukraine for the first time. Its goal is to determine the Best Taster of Ukraine based on the results of blind tasting rounds (wines of Ukraine and other countries, spirits).
More than 30 participants took part in the competition. Among them were representatives of the banking sector, IT, marketers, managers, employees of a pension fund from Zhytomyr and others. It is worth noting that everyone was invited to participate in the competition, regardless of their profession.
The jury included Natalia Blagopoluchna, President of the All-Ukrainian Association of Winemakers and Sommeliers, Director of the Master Class Sommelier School, Tatiana Borozenets, representative of the General Partner of the Competition, LGCF, and Yegor Belov, winner of the All-Ukrainian Sommelier Competition 2018, chef de cuisine at the Intercontinental Hotel.
The competition was held in three stages. First, all participants blindly tasted 4 samples of wines from around the world. Then, the top 10 winners of the qualifying round competed in the semifinals in a tasting of 6 wine samples. The top 10 participants reached the final, where they had to taste 10 wine samples and a spirits drink.
So, the three strongest teams:
– Sergiy Girman (Winner of the All-Ukrainian Sommelier Competition 2020),
– Ihor Maksymenko (UmanVineyard winery, Cherkasy region),
– Victoria Panteleeva (employee of the Pension Fund from Zhytomyr).
The announcement of the Winner, presentation of awards from the General Partner of the competition – the French company LGCF, cups and diplomas from the organizers will take place on November 19, 2023 during the award ceremony of the 20th Anniversary All-Ukrainian Sommelier Competition (Kyiv, Intercontinental Hotel).
The general partner of the event is LGCF Group, the partners are Calvet TM, Domaine La Baume, InterContinental Kyiv Hotel. General media partner – Interfax Ukraine, information partners – Kyiv Diplomatic Magazine, TM “Club of Experts”
Open4business – information partner
“Kernel, one of the largest Ukrainian agro-industrial groups, processed 610 thousand tons of sunflower and rapeseed at its oil extraction plants in the first quarter of the 2023/24 fiscal year (FY, July 2023 – June 2024), down 5% year-on-year.
“Due to the seasonal shortage of sunflower seeds at the end of the processing season (the new harvest will be in September-October 2023), the Group switched to rapeseed processing at two of its plants, processing 112 thousand tons for the three months ended September 30, 2023,” the company said in its financial report posted on its website over the weekend.
According to the report, the volume of edible oil sales in the first quarter of 2023/24 FY increased by 16% compared to the previous quarter and amounted to 369 thsd tonnes, including 20 thsd tonnes of bottled sunflower oil and 19 thsd tonnes of rapeseed oil.
In addition, the increase in yields and the increase in acreage under wheat, sunflower and soybeans harvested by Kernel’s agricultural enterprises, according to the data for the 1st quarter of 2023/24 fiscal year, led to an increase in the volumes received for storage at the group’s elevators to 1.208 million tons, which is 2.3 times more than a year earlier.
The agroholding noted that due to the termination of the Black Sea Grain Initiative on July 18, 2023, the throughput capacity of Kernel’s export terminals in Ukraine decreased significantly to 162 thsd tonnes in the first quarter of 2023/24, which is 83% less than in the previous quarter. Half of the exported agri-goods were shipped through Kernel’s infrastructure facilities in the port of Reni on the Danube.
Ukraine exported 203 thsd tonnes of grain in the first quarter of 2023/24, down 68% quarter-on-quarter. Most of the grain was exported via Ukrainian ports on the Danube and by rail to the Romanian port of Constanta, as Kernel’s usual export routes – Ukrainian Black Sea ports – were unavailable for export operations due to Russia’s unilateral termination of the Black Sea Grain Initiative in July 2023, the financial report says.
According to the agroholding, alternative export channels for Ukrainian agricultural products lead to high logistics costs, which, against the backdrop of low global grain prices, lead to a reduction in exports.
In this regard, Kernel has made significant changes to the structure of crops grown to minimize the area under the most energy-intensive and logistically complex crops (grains and corn) in favor of less energy-intensive soybeans and wheat.
As of September 30, the agronomic division completed the harvest of wheat, sunflower and soybeans on 61 thou hectares, 119.8 thou hectares and 65 thou hectares, respectively. The yields of all crops were better than expected due to favorable weather conditions and amounted to 6.7 t/ha of wheat, 2.9 t/ha of sunflower, and 2.9 t/ha of soybeans.
Corn harvesting from 84.4 thou hectares is still ongoing. Approximately half of the area has not yet been harvested. As a result of the harvesting campaign, Kernel expects to achieve a corn yield of 9.5 tons per hectare.
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. It is also engaged in the cultivation and sale of agricultural products.
Kernel’s net profit for FY2023 amounted to $299 million, while the previous year it ended 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.
In January-September this year, Ukrainian steelmakers cut production of total rolled products by 17% year-on-year to 3.929 million tons, according to preliminary data.
According to Ukrmetallurgprom, steel production in the first nine months of this year decreased by 16.9% compared to January-September 2022, to 4.590 million tons.
Pig iron production during this period decreased by 19.5% to 4.394 million tons.
As reported, in 2022, Ukraine reduced production of total rolled products by 72% year-on-year to 5.350 million tons, steel by 70.7% to 6.263 million tons, and pig iron by 69.8% to 6.391 million tons.
In 2021, the company produced 21.165 million tons of pig iron (103.6% compared to 2020), 21.366 million tons of steel (103.6%), and 19.079 million tons of rolled products (103.5%).
