Ukrainian clothing brand Solmar since February 2022 has expanded its network to 12 stores in Ukraine and entered Poland, in the nearest plans to expand the Ukrainian network by 10 more stores, business development director Tatyana Lakhtadyr told the agency “Interfax-Ukraine”.
“At the time of the full-scale invasion, the network had seven stores in Kiev, Vinnitsa, Khmelnitsky, Lviv and Zhitomir. Today the chain has added five more stores and three more stores will open within the next month: in Kiev’s Ocean Plaza and Lavina mall and in Veles mall in Ivano-Frankivsk. We are also preparing the opening of the first street-format store in Uzhgorod”, – said Lahtadyr.
Solmar, a Ukrainian basic closet brand with a Ukrainian team, traces its origins to Instagram. By the beginning of 2022, more than 60% of sales came from the online channel (website solmar.com.ua and Instagram page). The first “brick-and-mortar” (offline) stores were opened in July 2020 almost simultaneously in Khmelnytskyi and Kyiv.
“These were small stores of just over 30 square meters, which were supposed to serve more as showrooms for the assortment presented online. But almost immediately we realized that a different customer comes to the store than online. Offline stores became a full-fledged channel for attracting new customers and Solmar brand connoisseurs”, – said Lakhtadyr.
Now the company is working on expanding the assortment and actualization of the store format (about 100-150 square meters). Children’s assortment, perfumes have already been added to the basic women’s closet, and several positions of men’s collection are planned for the fall-winter season.
Lakhtadyr said that Solmar continues active development of offline network, in Ukraine in the coming year it is planned to open at least 10 locations.
“In addition, in July we opened our first store in Poland in Poznan (shopping center Posnania) and we are already finalizing negotiations on the second location. It is too early to talk about the first results, but sales from the site in Poland are already yielding results above our expectations. I think that next year will be the year to open a new country for Solmar”, – said Lahtadyr.
According to Opendatabot, TOV “SOLMAR” was registered in 2020, the size of the authorized capital of UAH 1.155 million, the ultimate beneficiary Olga Kostetskaya. Income for 2021 UAH 5 million 398.8 thousand, net profit of UAH 42.5 thousand.
International chain JYSK on Thursday opened a new store in Kamenskoye, Dnipropetrovsk region, the retailer’s press service told Interfax-Ukraine news agency.
“In JYSK we believe in Ukraine and do not stop the development and investment in the future: in the future of Ukraine, in better working conditions for employees, in wider stocks, in closer to the consumer stores, in the victory of good over evil,” the press service quoted Country director of JYSK in Ukraine Eugene Ivanitsa as saying.
The new store in Kamenskoye (27A Stroiteley Boulevard) has an area of 1370 square meters together with the warehouse. Like all new JYSK stores, the store is built in accordance with the modern concept of the chain 3.0, with new lighting, spacious design and zonal placement of product categories.
Previously, since the beginning of 2023, the JYSK chain has opened four new stores and revamped the operations of two existing stores. By the end of the summer it is expected to enlarge and renovate a store in Kiev, Arcadia shopping center on Shulyavka.
JYSK is part of the family-owned Lars Larsen Group, with more than 3.2 thousand stores in 48 countries. JYSK’s revenue in fiscal year 2021/22 amounted to EUR 4.87 bln.
Currently, there are 88 JYSK stores and online store jysk.ua in Ukraine. The company notes that this figure should increase to 100 already in 2024. JYSK has over 800 employees in Ukraine.
Today in Ukraine there are 88 JYSK stores and online store jysk.ua. The company notes that this figure should increase to 100 already in 2024. JYSK has more than 800 employees in Ukraine.
Liquidity of banking system of Ukraine in 2023, bln UAH
Source: Open4Business.com.ua and experts.news
The role of state-owned companies significantly increased during the war, and it will remain key in postwar recovery as well, Deputy Economy Minister Oleksiy Sobolev said at a roundtable discussion on “The Role of State-Owned Enterprises in Postwar Recovery,” which was held the other day with support from USAID’s State-Owned Enterprise Reform Support Activities in Ukraine (SOERA) project.
“During the discussion, participants repeatedly noted that the role of Ukrainian state-owned enterprises increased significantly during the full-scale Russian invasion, as well as their significant contribution to the post-war reconstruction process. At the same time, the need to create conditions for involving the private sector in the reconstruction was also emphasized,” the press release from the discussion reads.
USAID Ukraine Senior Project Management Specialist Andriy Nesterenko noted that Ukraine has more than 3,200 state-owned and more than 14,000 municipal enterprises. In his opinion, once the war is over and economic recovery begins, state-owned companies will be the first to contribute to the recovery, and private business is sure to follow.
Sobolev said that the Economy Ministry has developed a list of enterprises that should remain in state ownership, but some of them may be partially privatized.
“Some enterprises played an important role during the war and will play a key role in Ukraine’s post-war economic recovery, so the government is considering only partial privatization of them, in particular through IPO, in order to attract investments,” the deputy minister was quoted as saying in a press release.
He also announced that the government had prepared a four-year plan for 2024-2027, which will be submitted to the European Commission for the development of a large-scale assistance program for Ukraine. The plan contains a section on state assets and issues of corporate governance and privatization, the deputy minister specified.
Gabriela Miranda, responsible manager for Ukraine at the OECD’s Global Relations Secretariat, said the OECD’s support for Ukraine in its efforts to recover from the war is formalized in a four-year programme to support reform and reconstruction under the partnership agreement that Ukraine concluded with the OECD on 7 June 2023. Under it, Miranda said, the OECD will work with the government to continue reforming state-owned enterprises, privatization, developing financial markets and fighting corruption.
The head of the State Agency for Infrastructure Rehabilitation and Development of Ukraine, Mustafa Nayem, predicted that during the recovery period the volume of public procurement will grow significantly, but it is necessary to change the perception of the state as a risky customer so that private companies are not afraid to participate in tenders.
Igor Smelyansky, CEO of state-owned Ukrposhta, who also participated in the roundtable, described how the company is actively working on digitalization and logistics development to make its services accessible and efficient for all communities, particularly those affected by Russian aggression. He reiterated the importance of Ukrposhta obtaining the right to provide banking services, as for almost a third of Ukrainians they are currently unavailable.
Smelyansky also pointed out the need for international partners to adapt procedures in order to speed up the provision of urgently needed aid to Ukraine.
At the end of the roundtable, John Tokolish, deputy director of the State-Owned Enterprise Reform Activities in Ukraine (SOERA) project, offered the program’s assistance in various areas of state and municipal enterprises, and promised continued support for reforms by the SOERA project.
It is specified that the event was attended by about 100 experts and specialists from different spheres of activity, mainly C-level managers (CEOs, owners, chiefs of staff), representatives of international organizations (OECD, EBRD, IFC, IMF), international partners (EU Delegation and European Commission), members of supervisory boards of state-owned enterprises, as well as partners from private companies.
Internal and external debt of Ukraine in 2009-2023
Source: Open4Business.com.ua and experts.news
The international rating agency Fitch Ratings has upgraded the VR of ProCredit Bank (Kyiv) from ‘cc’ to ‘ccc-‘ and affirmed its Long-Term Foreign-Currency Issuer Default Rating (IDR) at ‘CCC-‘ and its Long-Term Local-Currency IDR at ‘CCC’.
“The upgrade reflects our view of ProCredit Bank’s moderately lower risk of failure, driven by stronger asset quality and profitability due to a less severe operating environment than previously expected,” the agency said in a statement on its website on Friday.
It added that the affirmation of the national long-term rating at ‘AA(ukr)’ with a ‘Stable’ outlook reflects the bank’s continued creditworthiness in the local currency relative to other Ukrainian issuers.
Fitch noted that ProCredit Bank’s IDRs are backed by the support of its parent ProCredit Holding AG & Co. KGaA (‘BBB/Stable Outlook’/bbb).
The agency added that the ‘ccc-‘ shareholder support rating reflects the view of the strategic importance of the Ukrainian bank for the holding, as well as potential limitations on the bank’s ability to use the parent company’s support, in particular, to service foreign currency liabilities.
It is noted that a default on priority foreign currency liabilities remains a real possibility due to the war, however, the bank maintains generally adequate foreign currency liquidity compared to its needs, which is facilitated by various capital and currency control measures introduced since the beginning of the war.
According to Fitch, ProCredit Bank will continue to service its external obligations: at the end of the first quarter of 2023, its external debt stood at a moderate 10% of total funding, consisting of EUR20 million of subordinated bonds and funding from international financial institutions.
The agency noted that the gradual improvement in the operating environment for Ukrainian banks has resulted in a more resilient loan portfolio quality for ProCredit Bank, as well as higher revenues and profitability than previously expected. As a result, although capital risks remain very high, Fitch believes that the bank is now less likely to face a material capital shortfall.
The agency recalled that ProCredit Bank’s asset quality indicators deteriorated sharply after the outbreak of the war, resulting in significant provisioning charges (3.4 times operating profit in 2022). “Risks to asset quality remain elevated and dependent on the outcome of the war, despite an improved operating environment in the first quarter of 2023,” Fitch stated.
It added that the bank earned UAH 211 million in net profit in the first quarter of this year after a net loss of UAH 1.8 billion in 2022, and expects an improvement in provisioning.
It is noted that the bank managed to increase its core capital ratio from 9.6% to 11.7% in the first quarter, but it remains modest.
ProCredit Bank was ranked 15th among 65 operating banks in Ukraine in terms of total assets (UAH 39.21 billion) at the beginning of June. Its net profit for the five-month period amounted to UAH 384.43 million.
