On August 14-25, about 100 similar publications appeared in the Ukrainian media aimed at discrediting Kovlar Group, its founders and employees.
Kovlar Group Director Kostiantyn Kalafat believes that these publications are part of a planned information campaign related to the activities of dishonest competitors who, with the support of corrupt officials, participate in public procurement of fire protection materials. “As the practice of tenders in recent years shows, the price of Ammokote fire retardants produced by Kovlar Group is much lower than the price of products used by dishonest businessmen who cheat the state and steal hundreds of millions of hryvnias from the Ukrainian budget,” he said.
It should be noted that the topic of multimillion-dollar embezzlement of budget funds in tenders for fire protection of state-owned facilities was investigated by Yuriy Nikolov, a journalist of the Nashi Hroshi project. According to his investigations, in 2014, 2019 and 2024, the overpricing of fireproof paint and putty for the needs of the nuclear industry was up to 5 times, and in projects to build covers for strategic energy facilities – up to 10 times.
Media community experts estimate the cost of such an attack at $50-100 thousand, which indicates the seriousness of the intentions of the black PR customers to ruin the reputation of the flagship of the Ukrainian fireproofing industry, which prevents embezzlement in public procurement.
It is likely that the ultimate goal of the attack by corrupt businessmen is to shut down the largest Ukrainian manufacturer of fire protection materials, which creates transparent rules of the game in the market and offers one of the lowest prices for its products. If this plan comes to fruition, the construction industry will see a significant increase in prices for fire protection, and the state will be forced to spend significantly more money on the purchase of fire protection materials.
Established in 2015, Kovlar Group produces more than 25 types of passive fire protection products using modern technologies, which allows Ukrainian construction customers to receive high-quality products at an affordable price. Scientific developments and a customer-oriented approach have allowed the company to grow from a startup to the largest domestic fire protection manufacturer in 9 years, which currently holds about 60% of the market.
The company said that despite the information attack, it continues to operate as usual and invest in the development of new products. Kovlar Group is also taking all possible measures to bring to justice those involved in the creation and dissemination of defamatory information and is preparing statements to the National Police of Ukraine, the Security Service of Ukraine and the State Service for Special Communications and Information Protection of Ukraine to investigate the incident.
Source: https://kovlargroup.com/uk/spovishhayemo-pro-diskreditatsijnu-informatsijnu-kampaniyu-proti-kovlar-grup/
Ukrainian business is among the first 20 countries out of 36 countries of the Convention on a Common Transit Procedure to start using the NCTS (New Computerized Transit System) Phase 5, the Ministry of Finance reported on its website on Wednesday.
“Ukraine had 1.5 years less time to develop NCTS Phase 5 than other Convention countries, and also started this process during the work of the Evaluation Mission before joining the family of Convention countries on October 1, 2022. Despite the full-scale war, Ukrainian government agencies, thanks to the constant support of international partners, in particular the EU Public Finance Management Support Program in Ukraine (EU4PFM), have ensured that Ukrainian businesses can operate in the latest version of the NCTS since April 22 this year,” the statement said.
The Ministry of Finance summarized that since the beginning of Ukraine’s accession to the “customs visa-free regime”, the dynamics of issuing declarations in the common transit procedure continues to grow: to date, the State Customs Service has issued more than 100 thousand NCTS declarations, of which 21 thousand were issued in 4 months of using NCTS Phase 5.
The Ministry recalled that the Convention countries began developing and transitioning to NCTS Phase 5 in March 2021.
In the same year, Germany started using it, and in 2023, 13 more countries (Slovenia, Spain, Luxembourg, Croatia, Switzerland, Denmark, Bulgaria, Latvia, Italy, Ireland, Finland, Estonia, Czech Republic) made the transition.
It is noted that in the first half of 2024, Ukraine, as well as Norway, Sweden, Serbia, Romania, and Cyprus, joined the list of countries using NCTS Phase 5. In July 2014, the UK and Slovakia started using NCTS Phase 5. Another 15 countries (Lithuania, Austria, North Macedonia, Poland, the Netherlands, France, Turkey, Portugal, Malta, Greece, Hungary, Andorra, Belgium, Georgia) plan to complete the transition to NCTS Phase 5 by the end of 2024.
Full-time education will be the main form of education for all educational institutions in the capital, the Kyiv City State Administration (KCSA) said in a statement.
“By 30.08.2024, all educational institutions of the city must report on fire safety preparedness in accordance with the Fire Safety Rules for educational institutions and educational institutions of Ukraine,” the KCSA said in a statement following a meeting of the Kyiv Defense Council.
It is noted that the issue of organizing daily control and monitoring of educational institutions by law enforcement officers was considered separately.
“Given the national situation in the energy sector, the Defense Council raised the issue of providing all educational institutions with independent sources of electricity to ensure a continuous and high-quality educational process,” the statement said.
In addition, the meeting addressed the issue of forms and formats of the educational process in Kyiv educational institutions in the new academic year.
“As a result, it was decided that the main form of education for all educational institutions will be full-time. However, in some cases, distance learning, blended learning and other forms provided for by the legislation of Ukraine may also be used. The availability of shelters must be guaranteed for full-time students,” the Kyiv City State Administration summarized.
The incidence of human cases of monkeypox in African countries is on the rise, with nearly 4,000 cases recorded over the past week, the Associated Press reported Tuesday, citing the African Center for Disease Control and Prevention.
According to Jean Kasey, director general of the agency, the total number of infected cases since the beginning of the outbreak has risen to 22,800. He noted that 81 people died of the disease in Africa over the past seven days.
On August 14, WHO declared a public health emergency over the spread of monkeypox in several countries around the world.
Monkeypox is a rare infectious disease most prevalent in remote areas of Central and West Africa. Its symptoms include nausea, fever, rash, itching, and muscle pain. With a mild course, the disease usually goes away on its own and lasts from 14 to 21 days.
Earlier, the Experts Club information and think tank released a video with a detailed explanation of the origin of the disease and the prospects for its spread – https://youtu.be/YXYU6KcQTcQ?si=wEj2TQc3MPHGx0QY
The main owners of Ovostar agricultural holding have completed a squeeze-out, i.e. the forced purchase of 217,039 thousand or 3.617% of the remaining shares held by minority shareholders, and have concentrated 100% of the shares, and announced their intention to apply for delisting of the company’s shares from the Warsaw Stock Exchange.
According to Ovostar’s stock exchange announcement, Prime One Capital of the majority shareholders of the agricultural holding, CEO Boris Belikov and member of the Board of Directors Vitaliy Veresenko, became the owner of 66.16% of the shares following the squeeze-out, while the rest is owned by seven companies from Fairfax Financial Holding.
Ovostar Union is one of the leading producers of eggs and egg products in Ukraine. “In 2023, Ovostar increased its net profit by 7.4 times to $45 million, EBITDA by 4.5 times to $50.4 million, and revenue by 20% to $162.5 million.
In mid-June 2011, the group’s holding company, Ovostar Union N.V., conducted an IPO of 25% of its shares on the WSE at PLN62 per share ($22.78 at the then exchange rate) and raised $33.2 million.
The squeeze-out price was PLN70 per share (about $18.2).
At the end of May this year, Prime One Capital, which owned 65.93% of the shares at that time, announced that together with Fairfax Financial Holding it had accumulated 95.45% of the agricultural holding’s shares and was ready to buy out all 4.55% of the remaining minority shares. During the announced voluntary buyout at a price of PLN70 per share (about $17.5), they acquired another 56,027 shares, or 0.934%, and now own 96.383%.
Before the trading was halted on August 21, Ovostar shares were listed at PLN68.4 per share, and after the announcement of the Cypriot regulator’s approval of the squeeze-out in early August, the price dropped by 1.44%.
Deputies of the Chigirinsky city council granted permission to develop a land management project for allotment of land plots for permanent use by NAEK Energoatom, the company reported in Telegram.
The matter concerns the transfer of land plots with a total area of 38.1493 hectares in the village of Orbita in Cherkassy region, where it is planned to build four units using AP1000 technology.
“Energoatom” intends to revive Orbita, making it one of the most modern towns like Netyshyn, Yuzhnoukrainsk or Varash. The successful realization of these plans, of course, represents a significant investment in the post-war recovery and support for the energy security of the state,” – said the head of NAEK Petro Kotin.
As reported, the site for the construction of a power plant in this area of Cherkassy region was prepared in the 1960s, and the decision to build a nuclear power plant there was made in the mid-80s, but was never realized.
In accordance with the Energy Strategy until 2050, Energoatom plans to build units No. 3-4 with VVER-1000 technology and No. 5-6 with AP1000 technology at the Khmelnitsky NPP site.
In September 2021, Energoatom and Westinghouse signed a memorandum on the construction of five NPP power units in Ukraine. In June 2022, the companies signed agreements to increase the number of nuclear power units to be built using AP1000 technology in Ukraine from five to nine units and to establish a Westinghouse engineering and technical center in the country.
In July 2022, the companies signed a contract to develop an updated feasibility study for the construction of two AP1000 units at the Khmelnytsky NPP site.
In December 2023, Energoatom and Westinghouse signed a contract for the purchase of a reactor plant for Ukraine’s first nuclear power unit based on AP1000 technology.
