In January-July 2023, TAS Insurance Group (Kyiv) attracted UAH 1839.71 million in insurance payments, which is 44.8% higher than the insurer’s revenues for the corresponding period last year, according to its website.
In particular, the company collected UAH 379.02 million of payments under hull insurance contracts, which is 20.6% of the total amount of premiums raised and 62.2% more than this figure for the first seven months of 2022, MOTPL – UAH 608.08 million (33.05%), an increase of 38.7%, Green Card – UAH 422.01 million (22.9%), an increase of 68.6%, and voluntary health insurance – UAH 79.4 million (9.75%), an increase of 14.7%.
During the reporting period, the company collected UAH 40.84 million in premiums under property insurance contracts, which is 38.1% more than in the previous year. Other contracts amounted to UAH 210.36 million of payments (+29.8%).
As reported, during the reporting period, the company paid UAH 700.16 million in insurance indemnities, or 38.9% more than in the corresponding period last year, according to the insurer’s website.
Payments under hull insurance contracts increased by 55.7% (compared to January-July 2022), to UAH 215.37 million, which is 30.76% of the total amount of payments of the insurer. Motor third party liability insurance increased by 28.5% to UAH 270.12 million (38.58%), Green Card – by 82.6% to UAH 117.73 million (16.81%), voluntary health insurance – by 10.3% to UAH 74.98 million (10.7%).
TAS Insurance Group paid out UAH 4.68 million in indemnities under property insurance contracts for the period under review. The company’s claims paid under other insurance contracts amounted to UAH 17.28 million over the seven months.
TAS Insurance Group was registered in 1998. It is a universal company offering more than 80 types of insurance products in various types of voluntary and compulsory insurance. It has an extensive regional network of 28 regional directorates and branches.
In January-June 2023, VUSO Insurance Company (Kyiv) collected UAH 1.188 billion in gross premiums, which is 79.8% more than in the same period of 2022, the rating agency Standard-Rating reported in information on the confirmation of the company’s financial strength rating at the level of “uaAA” on the national scale.
According to the information on the RA website, in particular, revenues from individuals increased by 65.08% to UAH 825.974 million, and from reinsurers – by 47.44% to UAH 12.863 million. Thus, the share of individuals in the insurer’s gross premiums in the first six months of 2023 amounted to 69.50%, and the share of reinsurers amounted to 1.08%.
Insurance payments sent to reinsurers in the first half of 2023 increased by 7.10% to UAH 93.399 million compared to the same period in 2022. Due to the higher growth rate of gross written premiums compared to insurance payments sent to reinsurers, the reinsurer participation ratio in insurance premiums decreased by 5.34 p.p. to 7.86%.
The company’s net written premiums increased by 90.89% to UAH 1.095 billion, and earned premiums – by 82.25% to UAH 1.031 billion.
VUSO paid UAH 438.689 million to its clients in the first half of 2023, which is 99.34% higher than the volume of insurance payments and reimbursements for the same period in 2022. Thus, the level of payments increased by 3.61 percentage points to 36.91%.
In the first six months of 2023, despite a negative result from operating activities of UAH 9.6 million, the company received a net profit of UAH 1.580 million.
As of the reporting date, the company’s assets increased by 52.38% to UAH 1.544 billion, equity showed an increase of 51.42% to UAH 575.652 million, liabilities increased by 52.95% to UAH 978.531 million, cash and cash equivalents increased by 4.60% to UAH 458.628 million.
The RA also notes that as of the beginning of the second half of 2023, the company has formed a portfolio of investments in domestic government bonds in the amount of UAH 163.740 million, which increased the level of provision of the insurer with liquid assets, which together covered 63.60% of the company’s liabilities.
In addition, the balance of funds in the insurer’s centralized insurance reserve funds (MTIBU) amounted to UAH 257.517 million, including UAH 192.244 million of additional guarantee premiums, which had a positive impact on the company’s liquidity.
VUSO Insurance Company was founded in 2001. The company holds 50 licenses: 34 – for voluntary and 16 – for compulsory types of insurance, and is represented in all regions of Ukraine. It is a member of MTIBU and USIF, a participant of the Direct Claims Settlement Agreement and a member of the Nuclear Insurance Pool.
Prices for nitrogen fertilizers rose significantly in August 2023, while nitrate went up, with production in August breaking the record for the last two years, Infoindustry analytical agency reported.
According to the report, the new prices on CPT-EXW terms for ammonium nitrate reached 20-20.4 thousand UAH/t, which is 1.5 thousand UAH more than July prices, urea – 24-24.4 thousand UAH/t (+500), UAN-32 – 17.5-17.9 thousand UAH/t (+1000), UAN – 16-16.4 thousand UAH/t (+1000).
“The previous prices were in effect throughout August, and traders expected the price increase from the beginning of the third decade. The signal for the price increase was the fact that Poland and Lithuania raised the price of nitrate by 50 €/t. At the same time, in August, nitrate was still being shipped by factories at prices of 17.5-18.5 thousand UAH/t, CPT, and the recommended prices in warehouses were at 18.5 thousand UAH/t including VAT in big bags,” analysts said, citing information from Ostchem.
Metinvest Pokrovskugol, which manages operational and administrative changes at the enterprises of Metinvest’s Pokrovsk Coal Group, intends to purchase a mining harvester from Corum Group, a machine-building company that is part of DTEK Energy.
According to the company, even in the conditions of war, Metinvest Pokrovskugol has an investment program in place, thanks to which the technical capabilities of the enterprise are gradually improving.
“We plan to purchase this year a mining harvester KDK500 produced by Corum Group plant. According to the characteristics, it is capable of “slicing” up to 24 tons of coal per minute. It will start its work at the beginning of the next year and the first task for the combine will be to work the first southern face of block 11,” – stated in the press release.
In addition, it is reported that new longwall and under-floor conveyors of T Machinery company have already been purchased, which will be installed in the sixth longwall of the southern face of Block 11 in the nearest future. The number of Chinese-made SANYI EBZ-260 roadheaders at Pokrovskoye will increase by the end of the year, and it is noted that the first roadheader of this brand has proven itself in production conditions.
The company also expects the return of one of JOY harvesters: now it is being reconditioned at the manufacturing plant in Poland.
In other information, Metinvest Pokrovskugol has used more than 16 thousand cubic meters of concrete and 2 thousand tons of rolled metal, and 34 thousand square meters of roads have been laid in preparation of block 11. Upon completion of construction, two thousand miners will work at the block every day – the final commissioning of the block is planned for 2025.
According to the company’s data, the Pokrovskoye mine has already produced almost 3.5 million tons of coal this year.
During his visit to the enterprise, Metinvest CEO Yuriy Ryzhenkov noted that the results shown by Metinvest Pokrovsk Coal’s teams are worthy of respect.
“It is very important that our employees and soldiers defend the country with weapons in their hands. But no less important are those who hold the economic front, give the country an opportunity to function, to build up its strength. Today, almost every of our defenders has a particle of Pokrovsk coal, because it was used to make the steel, which is on armored vests, on mobile shelters and much more,” – stressed the top manager, quoted by the press service.
“Metinvest created the company Metinvest Pokrovskugol, which manages operational and administrative changes at the enterprises of the Pokrovsk Coal Group (PCG). The company includes, among others, the Pokrovskoye mine department and the Svyato-Varvara coal preparation plant.
Svyato-Varvara coal preparation plant is a premium coal concentrate producer in Ukraine. The production capacity of the plant is about 8 million tons of raw coking coal per year with the ability to process five different classes of coal.
Pokrovskoye (formerly Krasnoarmeyskaya-Zapadnaya No. 1) is Ukraine’s largest coking coal producer.
The main shareholders of Metinvest B.V. are SCM Group (71.24%) and Smart Holding Group (23.76%), which jointly manage the company.
Metinvest Holding LLC is the management company of Metinvest Group.
Payment system operators Visa Inc. and Mastercard Inc. plan to increase the fees charged to retailers when their customers pay for purchases with bank cards, Bloomberg reports, citing documents in its possession.
Visa’s fee hike for online transactions will start in October and will affect credit, debit and prepaid cards in April. In the case of Mastercard, the increase will also start in October.
Industry consulting firm CMSPI estimates that the annual amount of fees paid by retailers could increase by more than $500 million as a result.
Although the fees are set by Visa and Mastercard, the bulk of the fees are collected by the banks that issue the cards. While the fees are small, retailers’ costs to pay them have risen in recent years as more shoppers use credit cards, which carry higher fees than debit cards.
Retailers shift at least some of these costs to consumers by raising prices. Small businesses often offer discounts to customers who pay with debit cards or cash.
IMK Agro Holding has received a record average winter wheat yield of 7.1 tons/ha, which is the highest result for 25 years of the firm’s activity, IMK CEO Alex Lissitsa said.
“This year winter wheat in IMK was harvested from an area of 33.3 thousand hectares, 236 thousand tons of grain was threshed, the average yield was a record 7.1 tons/ha in the history of the company,” he wrote on Facebook.
He added that the threshing of wheat was completed on August 24, and thanked the team for the high performance.
“IMK” specializes in the cultivation of cereals, oilseeds and milk production in Ukraine. It cultivates about 123.3 thousand hectares of land in Poltava, Chernihiv and Sumy regions. It owns storage facilities for 554 thousand tons of grain and oilseeds.
In January-March 2023, IMK Agroholding posted a net loss of $4.10 mln, which is 2.6 times less than in the same period last year and is largely due to increased logistics and distribution costs. The holding’s revenue increased by 11% to $41.96 mln, of which exports accounted for $35.03 mln. IMK’s gross profit increased 3.9 times to $8.60 mln thanks to a decrease in production costs. Due to a doubling of logistics and distribution costs (to $9.40 mln), the company recorded an operating loss of $2.85 mln, which is twice as much as in the first quarter of 2022.
