The Parallel gas station chain increased its fuel sales by 1.5 times in the January–March quarter of 2026 compared to the same period in 2025, the company told *EnergoReform*.
In addition, Parallel launched its renovated gas stations following modernization.
The company notes that all of this was the main reason for the nearly twofold increase in taxes paid during this period—738 million UAH, which is 1.8 times higher than the corresponding figure from last year.
At the same time, the bulk of tax payments consisted of customs duties.
“The total amount of import VAT, excise tax, and customs duties exceeded 700 million UAH. For the same period in 2025, this figure reached nearly 400 million UAH. The difference is primarily explained by an increase in purchases of imported fuel and new excise tax rates that took effect on January 1, 2026,” Parallel noted.
It is also noted that corporate income tax increased 3.5-fold compared to the first quarter of 2025, but its share in total tax revenue does not exceed 2%. The company explained this by the fact that the main cash flow goes to suppliers, the state, and the company’s employees.
Regarding the latter, the company noted that payments for personal income tax, the unified social contribution, and the military levy have nearly doubled.
“This is due to the company’s policy of raising wages and preserving jobs during a period of instability in the fuel market,” the company added.
As Parallel owner and CEO Alexander Dubinin commented, the first-quarter results demonstrated the chain’s growing popularity among motorists, and the significant improvement in business profitability was achieved thanks to strategic investments made in previous years and measures to enhance management efficiency.
“Behind this non-trivial task lie serious investments and the painstaking work of a team focused on customer needs,” Dubinin emphasized.
As reported, by July 2025, the number of gas stations under the Parallel brand had increased to 76 stations across 8 regions. Currently, 96 gas stations are operating in 17 regions.
Before the war, the Parallel network consisted of 132 gas stations. As a result of the full-scale invasion, Parallel lost or suspended operations at most of its facilities.
In the first half of 2025, it paid over 724 million to budgets at all levels: 414 million UAH in excise tax, 278 million UAH in VAT, 13 million UAH in income tax, and 2.4 million UAH in military tax.
Parallel is a member of the Ukrainian Oil and Gas Association and ranks among the top 10 largest Ukrainian fuel importers.
In March 2026, Ukrainian banks issued 808 mortgage loans totaling UAH 1.51 billion, which is 7.9% more than in February, when 701 loans totaling UAH 1.39 billion were issued, according to the results of a monthly survey by the National Bank of Ukraine (NBU).
“The quality of the mortgage portfolio is good: the share of non-performing loans is only 13%,” the regulator commented on the results via its Telegram channel.
At the same time, compared to March 2025, the volume of loans issued increased by 87.5%.
As the National Bank specifies, among the 38 surveyed banks, which together account for over 95% of the gross mortgage portfolio, 14 banks issued new loans in March. Most transactions were concluded in the primary housing market: 494 in March totaling UAH 932.4 million, compared to 386 in February totaling UAH 766.6 million.
In the secondary housing market, 314 deals were concluded for UAH 572.7 million, while in February there were 315 deals for UAH 627.7 million.
The weighted average effective interest rate in the primary market in March 2026 increased to 8.37% per annum (8.25% in February 2025), and in the secondary market to 10.48% (9.46%).
Survey data show that the largest number of loans in March was issued in Kyiv and the Kyiv region—441 loans totaling 873 million UAH (58.0% of the total volume). Next are Lviv Oblast—43 loans totaling 92 million UAH, Vinnytsia Oblast—35 loans totaling 69 million UAH, and Volyn Oblast—32 loans totaling 57 million UAH.
As reported, on May 5, the Financial Stability Council approved the updated Strategy for the Development of Mortgage Lending.
The document provides for risk reduction, improvement of state support for mortgages, protection of creditors’ rights, development of construction financing instruments, and improved access to information on real estate market prices.
Kernel’s investments in community development over the past four years have reached UAH 1 billion. Recently, the “My Community: Together with Kernel” program has been growing rapidly under a co-financing model: for every hryvnia residents raise through crowdfunding, the company adds another 10 hryvnias, according to a Kernel press release on Wednesday.
“The results for 2026 demonstrate the effectiveness of this approach: communities raised nearly 1 million UAH, which is 46% more than last year. The project is scaling rapidly: while 196 applications were submitted from five regions in 2025, this year there have already been 411 applications from 12 regions of Ukraine,” the agricultural holding noted.
It clarified that over the two years of the “My Community: Together with Kernel” program, the company has funded 67 local initiatives with over 10 million UAH, and communities have raised an additional 1.3 million UAH on their own through the project’s partner, the “My City” crowdfunding platform.
This year, 34 projects were selected as winners, for which the company provided 4.5 million UAH in funding. Among the priorities are spaces for veterans, mental health support programs, accessible sports facilities, and educational projects. Over the next three months, the winners will implement their projects in their communities.
“We see a great demand for the development of our cities and villages even during the war, and our task is to provide local activists with the tools they need. The mechanics of crowdfunding help verify this: if residents are willing to support an idea with even a small contribution, it means the demand is real,” said Lilia Marachkanets, director of the “Together with Kernel” Charitable Foundation, in the press release.
According to her, the main idea is to teach community organizations, schools, municipal institutions, and activists to independently create projects and unite people around shared solutions. “Kernel” also trains local officials to work with international investments and European grants.
Kernel Agricultural Holding is the world’s largest producer and exporter of sunflower oil, Ukraine’s largest grain exporter, an operator of an extensive network of logistics assets, and a leading producer of grain and oilseeds in Ukraine. It is one of the largest producers and sellers of bottled oil in Ukraine. It is engaged in the cultivation and sale of agricultural products.
In the first half of fiscal year 2026 (FY, July–December 2025), Kernel reduced its net profit by 33% compared to the same period last year—to $119 million. Consolidated revenue amounted to $1.924 billion, which is 1% less than in the first half of FY 2025, while EBITDA decreased by 14% to $247 million.
According to information on the website of the “Together with Kernel” Charitable Foundation, the foundation operates in 12 regions of Ukraine across 190 communities and implements more than 2,000 projects across eight areas.
In January–March 2026, Ukrainian insurance companies collected UAH 18.061 billion in net premiums, which is 17.9% more than in the same period of 2024 (UAH 15.322 billion).
According to the National Bank of Ukraine (NBU), the volume of gross insurance premiums collected by insurers during this period amounted to UAH 18.114 billion (+17.6%). In particular, premiums received from individuals reached UAH 11.072 billion (+17.4%), and from reinsurers – UAH 62.8 million, which is almost the same as the figure for the same period in 2025.
Insurers paid out UAH 8.454 billion in net insurance claims in January–March 2026 (+46.4%). Gross insurance claims for the reporting period increased by 46% to UAH 8.473 billion. Insurers paid UAH 4.638 billion to individuals (+35.2%) and UAH 41.1 million to reinsurers (+33%).
According to the NBU, the volume of insurance premiums attributable to reinsurers amounted to UAH 1.962 billion (+24.7%), including UAH 1.908 billion (+28.3%) to non-resident reinsurers.
The volume of technical insurance reserves increased to UAH 50.392 billion (+30.3%), and eligible assets – to UAH 88.636 billion (+27.8%).
The regulator also reported that during this reporting period, the number of insurance contracts concluded decreased to 5.165 million (-11.1%) compared to the first quarter of last year.
According to the NBU, the total number of insurance companies in Ukraine as of April 1, 2026, was 57 (Q1 2025 – 63, Q1 2024 – 98), of which 10 were life insurance companies.
On June 5, the Brave CFO Gathering 2026 will take place in Kyiv and online—marking the strategic kickoff of the XXIV Ukrainian CFO Forum season, one of Ukraine’s key business platforms for financial leaders.
The year 2026 presents new challenges for business: AI is transforming the finance function, ERP systems are becoming the foundation of management resilience, and access to capital increasingly depends on the quality of management decisions and a company’s ability to operate in conditions of high uncertainty.
These are precisely the issues that CFOs, CEOs, investors, supervisory board members, and business owners from leading Ukrainian and international companies will discuss during the Brave CFO Gathering 2026.
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For over 23 years, the Ukrainian CFO Forum has been building a professional community of financial leaders in Ukraine. Since 1997, the platform has brought together over 15,000 participants and more than 1,500 speakers, and each year the forum’s events attract over 700 participants.
The Brave CFO Gathering 2026 program focuses on attracting private capital and financing from IFIs, AI and the automation of financial functions, ERP transformation and the transition from 1C to international management systems, the international scaling of Ukrainian companies, due diligence, risk management, currency liberalization, and new tax regulations.
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Speakers at Brave CFO Gathering’2026 and experts on the CFO Forum’2026 Program Committee include:
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– Hanna Demchenko, CFO of COMFY
– Serhiy Konovets, Independent Member of the Board of Motor Sich, Ukroboronprom, and the Ukrainian Gas Transmission System Operator
– Marina Panina, CFO of VARUS and varus.ua
– Yulia Opalenyk, CFO of Kormotech Global
– Yulia Dankova, CFO of Metinvest Group, No. 1 in the ranking of Ukraine’s best CFOs
– Serhiy Shulga, Group CFO of VITAGRO
– Yana Romanenko, HR Director, Member of the Board of Directors of NIBULON
– Vladislav Leshchiy, CFO of British American Tobacco Ukraine
– Alona Kavka, HR Director at ROSHEN
– Tetiana Tymchenko, CFO of Nova Poshta
– Anna Lebedinets, Associate Director and Senior Banker at the EBRD
as well as other CFOs, CEOs, investors, and business owners.
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According to Serbian Economist, tourist arrivals to Montenegro in the first quarter of 2026 fell by nearly 4% amid a sharp drop in the number of visitors from Turkey and a continuing decline in the Russian segment, according to the statistical office Monstat.
In January–March 2026, Montenegro welcomed 169,419 tourists, who accounted for 1.079 million overnight stays across all types of accommodation. Compared to the same period last year, the number of tourists decreased by 6,400, or 3.8%, and the number of overnight stays by 41,000, or 3.7%.
The main factor behind the decline was the Turkish market. According to Vijesti, in the first quarter, Turkish citizens accounted for 60,359 overnight stays, compared to 114,477 a year earlier. Thus, the figure fell by 54,000 overnight stays, or 47%. A particularly sharp decline was recorded in private accommodations: the number of overnight stays by Turkish citizens fell from 95,043 to 44,744.
Tour operators attribute the decline to events in late October 2025, when, following an incident in Podgorica involving foreign workers from Turkey and Azerbaijan, attacks occurred on the property and businesses of Turkish citizens. Following this, the Montenegrin government temporarily introduced a visa requirement for Turkish citizens. In December 2025, the visa-free regime was restored, but in a reduced format: the length of stay without a visa was reduced from 90 to 30 days.
The Russian segment also continued to shrink. In private accommodations alone, Russian citizens recorded 317,000 overnight stays in the first quarter of 2026, compared to 370,000 a year earlier. The decline amounted to 53,000 overnight stays, or 14%. Over the past two years, Russian tourist arrivals to Montenegro have already declined significantly: in 2023, tourists from Russia accounted for approximately 3.7 million overnight stays, while in 2025, the figure was approximately 2.4 million.
Part of the decline was offset by other markets, primarily Serbia. According to Vijesti, the number of overnight stays by visitors from Serbia in the first quarter increased by nearly 50,000 compared to the same period last year. The number of overnight stays by tourists from Albania, Germany, and Bosnia and Herzegovina also increased, but this was not enough to offset the decline in Turkish and Russian tourist flows.
Serbia remains one of Montenegro’s key tourist markets. According to the National Tourism Organization of Montenegro, in 2025, Serbian citizens accounted for 18.1% of foreign tourist arrivals, ranking first among external markets. In private accommodation, the share of Serbian tourists by overnight stays in 2025 was 25.6%, which also makes Serbia one of the main sources of demand for the Montenegrin tourism sector.
Ukrainian tourists also constitute a significant group of visitors to Montenegro, particularly in private accommodations. According to Monstat data for 2025, tourists from Ukraine accounted for 4.7% of overnight stays by foreign tourists in private accommodations, compared to Turkey’s share in this segment of 4.9%.
Official monthly statistics show that in March 2026, Montenegro’s collective accommodation facilities recorded 56,306 thousand arrivals and 123,913 thousand overnight stays. Foreigners accounted for 71.9% of all overnight stays, with the majority occurring at seaside resorts—72.4%.
Among foreign tourists in March, visitors from Serbia led the way with 5,980 thousand arrivals, followed by Albania, Germany, China, Turkey, Russia, and Ukraine.
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