Metinvest Digital, the IT expertise center of the largest Ukrainian mining and metallurgical holding Metinvest, implemented SAP at Metinvest-Shipping, the logistics division of the Metinvest Group.
According to the company’s press-release issued on Thursday, now Metinvest has one of the largest and most complex SAP-landscapes not only in Ukraine but also in Central and Eastern Europe.
It was specified that SAP was implemented in order to organize maximum comfortable platform that integrates processes of economic activities of Metinvest-Shipping with assets using its services into single SAP-landscape. The purpose of the project is to create an end-to-end chain of automation and control of logistics services in the group. Today 16 enterprises of Metinvest are keeping records in SAP.
Metinvest Digital has certain corporate templates which could be adapted and quickly implemented in Metinvest-Shipping. However this company is different from Metinvest enterprises, which produce metal or ore. Specialists have developed a unique solution for the group’s logistics asset, the press release states.
It is also explained that Metinvest-Shipping is a company with a wide portfolio of services. It services rail and road transport, provides sea and river agent, brokerage and inspection services. The company’s business model includes providing both in-house and leased fleet services, as well as procuring logistics services from the market on behalf of customers.
An additional challenge was the integration of the accompanying tender platform for the procurement of automotive services and the proposal to integrate data from the software complex of the information and dispatch service, which uses production assets of “Metinvest”.
The press-service notes that it was impossible to apply either template or ready-made solutions to such services. The developers needed much more time to study similar solution design processes in the industry, because initially there was no project of such level of complexity on the market.
Of the entire project, about half of the solutions were corporate, and the rest were either thoroughly adapted to the needs and characteristics of Metinvest-Shipping, or completely developed from scratch.
The main challenge for the specialists was the unique development of the system, which should take into account a wide range of services and a developed business model that would enable to manage its own and leased vehicles for logistics services, provide purchase and sale of Metinvest-Shipping’s services in Ukraine and abroad, as well as provide services to its subdivisions.
Before the war, there were about a hundred executives working on the project, two-thirds of whom were Metinvest Digital employees, and the rest were outsourced workers. Since the start of the war, the company severed all relations with Russian and Belarusian contractors. Metinvest Digital also refused the services of Ukrainian contractors and redistributed resources among its employees in order to optimize its financial burden. These resources were much less than it was needed, but the specialists of the company managed to adopt all the practices of the contractors, to completely re-plan the work on the project and to complete all the work with the internal expertise.
The work of the project participants of “Metinvest Digital” and “Metinvest Shipping” at the stage of development and integration testing was complicated by active hostilities in the cities of presence, power and Internet outages.
As a result, Metinvest Digital’s developers created up-to-date and fully harmonized data accounting for Metinvest-Shipping in terms of corporate reporting. The project provided the basis for many vectors of its development – integration with consumers of services as well as financial services of buyers of foreign assets.
Over time, the company plans to refine the solution. First, to automate the process of purchasing services by any enterprises of Metinvest Group in Metinvest-Shipping. Secondly, to create an automated workstation (ARM) for the forwarder, so he could work both in Ukrainian and foreign ports.
“Unfortunately, the war has changed the logistics chains of Metinvest-Shipping. But since Metinvest Digital developed the solution from scratch, it already knows how it can be integrated into the material accounting of foreign enterprises. Metinvest Digital took on additional training and support to be able to support the customer in the conditions of war. The company’s specialists also took part in the development of new business processes and coordination with other assets of the new system and terms of cooperation with Metinvest Shipping,” the press release emphasizes.
“Metinvest Digital is a Ukrainian IT company specializing in the digital transformation of large businesses and implementing projects in Ukraine, Europe and North America. The company designs, implements and supports complex IT solutions for technological infrastructure building, information systems development, strategic outsourcing, data migration, system integration, cyber security and information security. “Metinvest Digital is an IT business partner of Metinvest Group, servicing more than 30 enterprises of the holding worldwide. The company is a certified partner of Microsoft (Gold Certified Partner) and SAP (Silver Partner).
Metinvest Shipping handles cargos in the largest ports of Ukraine, as well as organizes railroad shipments in Ukraine and abroad.
“Metinvest is a vertically integrated mining group of companies that manages assets in each link of the production chain, from iron ore and coal mining and coke production to semi-finished and finished steel production, pipe rolling and coil production and production of other high value-added products. The Group consists of mining and metallurgical facilities located in Ukraine, Europe and the USA and has a sales network covering all key global markets.
The major shareholders of Metinvest are SCM Group (71.25%) and Smart Holding (23.75%) that jointly manage the company.
Metinvest Holding LLC is the managing company of Metinvest group.
Solway Investment Group, an international investment group that owns Pobuzh Ferronickel Combine LLC (PFC, Kirovograd Region), intends to apply to courts for compensation for damages caused by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
According to the company’s information sent to Interfax-Ukraine agency on Wednesday, Ukrainian businessmen support the Ukrainian government’s initiative to protect business and create an international register of losses, fixation and evaluation of damages as a result of Russian aggression and carry out independent expert evaluation of losses, including loss of profit.
It is specified that last week lawyers of a number of enterprises took part in consultations with forensic experts for fixation and evaluation of damages – both direct and indirect, including loss of profit, caused to enterprises as a result of the russian aggression.
The event was held at the initiative of the Ukrainian Association of Ferroalloys Producers (UKRFA) and other electrometallurgical products for association member enterprises.
Earlier UKRFA representatives participated in the events dedicated to different aspects of assets protection. In December last year the Ministry of Justice of Ukraine registered the joint order of the Ministry of Economy of Ukraine and the State Property Fund of Ukraine “On approval of the methodology of determination of damage and loss volume, caused to enterprises, institutions and organizations of all forms of ownership in the result of destruction and damage to their property in connection with armed aggression of the Russian Federation, and also loss of profit from not
According to Serhiy Kudryavtsev, executive director of UkrFA, who is quoted in the press release, the said methodology will be mandatory for use in the assessment of damage caused to victims of armed aggression, as well as for forensic examination related to the assessment of damage. Official publication of the order, after which it will come into force, is expected.
“To date, many large businesses are already active in fixing and assessing losses, which requires the involvement of forensic experts, whose findings will be used by businesses to justify claims for recovery of losses at the expense of Russian assets in the relevant courts,” the press release states.
PFC plans to apply to judicial experts in order to conduct an appropriate study and obtain a conclusion, because because of the Russian aggression incurred real damage, the metallurgical production, on which the welfare and socio-economic situation of the Pobuzhsky territorial community depends, is terminated.
“Thus, as a result of Russian attacks on the power system of Ukraine, since November 1 of this year, PFC was forced to stop work, when both the electric furnace for production of ferronickel and part of the main metallurgical equipment were shut down. Moreover, the township of Pobuzhskoye was also blacked out, and the plant, which is the township’s backbone enterprise, had to miss out on utilities,” PFC general director Denis Shevchenko was quoted by the press service as saying.
According to him, the preliminary assessment of the damage is now about $12 million. According to the Head of the Frontier Committee, in the conditions of receiving reparations from the aggressor not only the direct losses caused to the property complex should be taken into account, but also compensation of the expenses that arose as a result of the disruption of the normal operation of transport in the country should be envisaged. He believes that the involvement of international institutions in the collection of damages from the aggressive actions of the occupiers in favor of Ukrainian business will contribute to the early recovery of Ukraine.
At the same time, the general director noted that the amount announced was only a preliminary estimate, because the calculation of losses should also take into account the fact that after the start of the Russian invasion, which caused the disruption of logistics and led to the inability to obtain the necessary amount of raw materials, the plant was forced to shut down one electric furnace.
“Before the Russian missile attack on the substation, we were operating at a part load – about 40% of the main load. After the bombing of the substation, the combine was left without power supply, which caused the furnace and its support systems to stop. We took a number of measures to prevent the accident, because the furnace was loaded with liquid metal and slag with a total weight of about 1500 tons,” explained Denis Shevchenko.
Today, PFC does not process the ore into marketable ferronickel.
In his turn, Rustam Dzhamgurov, PFC Deputy Director General for Legal Affairs, stressed that involvement of judicial experts, including international ones, is a prerequisite for preparing a lawsuit in court. And the creation of an appropriate register will allow an objective assessment of the amount of losses in order to further recover them from the assets and reparations from the aggressor state.
“Obtaining an expert opinion on the damage caused by the Russian aggression will enable us to sue for damages. It should be taken into account that an enterprise incurs losses every day, so it is advisable to cover the maximum period to accrue the amount of losses and file a lawsuit in court. We are also waiting for the definition of a clear mechanism to recover the damage caused to Ukrainian business at the expense of the assets of the aggressor state. Without this, any suits in Ukrainian and/or international courts are problematic and the decisions of these courts may not be implemented”, stated the lawyer.
Pobuzhsky Ferronickel Combine is the only enterprise in Ukraine, which produces ferronickel on an industrial scale.
In 2003, after a long downtime, the international company Solway Investment Group bought the assets of the enterprise and restarted it a year later. The Pobuzh ferronickel plant was reorganized into Pobuzh Ferronickel Combine with resumption of ferronickel production as well. The main raw material base for ferronickel production is imported ore.
At present PFK is fully integrated into the production process of Solway Investment Group. The total amount of the group’s investment in the combine is more than $130 million.
At the beginning of November 2022, PFC announced a forced suspension of production due to Russian shelling of the energy infrastructure.
Solway, an international investment group, started its operations in 2002. It is a private company running a diversified business in the mining and metallurgical industries. Key companies of the group are registered in Switzerland, Luxembourg, Estonia and Malta. 100% of its share capital is owned by EU citizens. Solway’s main production assets are located in Northern Macedonia, Guatemala, Indonesia, Argentina and Ukraine.
The National Bank of Ukraine (NBU) has raised the country’s international reserves forecast for the end of 2023 to $34.5 billion from $27 billion in its January forecast.
“In total, receipts from international partners may exceed $42 billion this year. Receipts from partners, in particular, will boost international reserves to more than $35 billion at the end of this year,” NBU Governor Andriy Pyshny said Thursday, presenting the updated macro forecast.
The National Bank expects reserves to reach $36.1 billion at the end of 2024, while previously it had expected $31 billion.
According to the updated forecast, the estimate of the current account deficit is improved this year to $13.5 billion from $20.4 billion, but worsened next year to $10.6 billion from $8.4 billion, while last year its surplus was $8 billion.
The NBU points out that the persistence of a significant current account deficit in 2023, in particular due to increased imports amid a gradual recovery of domestic demand, the costs of a significant number of forced Ukrainian migrants abroad and still restrained exports as a result of declining harvests and limited logistics routes. At the same time, the arrival of international aid will offset these factors, the regulator added.
“The net inflow of currency to Ukraine remains due to significant volumes of international aid. This will strengthen the NBU’s ability to further maintain exchange rate stability and gradually ease currency restrictions,” the NBU noted.
A storm warning has been announced in Kiev and Kiev region in connection with night frosts expected from April 29 to May 2, Ukrhydrometecenter reports.
“At night on April 29-30 frosts in the air 0-5 ° (II level of danger, orange), on May 1-2 frosts on the soil surface 0-3 ° (I level of danger, yellow),” – said in the message.
European stock markets are mostly moderately rising on Thursday after the release of corporate reports.
The Stoxx Europe 600 composite index of the region’s largest companies gained 0.2 percent to 464.12 points as of 12:05 p.m. ET.
France’s CAC 40 added 0.5% during the session. Spain’s IBEX 35, Germany’s DAX and Italy’s FTSE MIB gained 0.2%. The British FTSE 100 remains virtually unchanged.
Growth is being held back by economic uncertainty and renewed fears about the financial sector, says Trading Economics.
In addition, the composite index of business and consumer confidence in the euro area in April rose worse than expected, only 0.1 points compared with the revised result of March. Experts predicted the growth by 0,7 points.
Investors are also waiting today for preliminary data on US GDP in the first quarter.
Meanwhile, shares of European banks are rising on strong quarterly reports.
Deutsche Bank AG increased its net profit by 9% in the first quarter, which was better than analysts’ forecasts. Shares of Germany’s largest bank added 1.9%.
Capitalization of Spanish Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria SA is up 2%. BBVA reported a rise in net profit in January-March to 1.85 billion euros from 1.33 billion euros a year earlier. The figure beat analysts’ expectations.
The British Barclays raised pre-tax profit to 2.6 billion pounds ($3.24 billion) in the first quarter from 2.23 billion pounds a year earlier, beating the consensus forecast. The bank’s stock price is up 4.7 percent.
The market value of other members of the banking industry also increased, including Banco Santander – by 1.3%, BNP Paribas – 1.2%, Societe Generale – 0.9%, Credit Agricole – 0.8%, UniCredit – 2.4%, Intesa Sanpaolo – 1.3%.
Shares of British-Dutch Unilever rose 1.4%. One of the world’s leading suppliers of convenience goods increased revenue by 7% in the first quarter, a figure that beat the consensus forecast.
German energy company RWE AG said it expects adjusted EBITDA to almost double in the first quarter on better results from its international power generation business. The company, whose quarterly earnings will be released on May 11, is up 3%.
France’s TotalEnergies (SPB: TOT) boosted its net income by 12.4% in the first quarter and announced a dividend hike. Nevertheless, the oil and gas company’s stock quotes are losing 0.8%.
Shares of rival BP Plc (SPB: BP) and Shell (SPB: RDS.A) are down 0.6% and 0.4%, respectively.
The market value of France’s Pernod Ricard SA is down 0.4%. Alcohol producer increased its revenue for the first 9 months of the fiscal year by 13%, but its quarterly revenue decreased by 2%.
On April 28, 39 systems of automatic registration of violations will start working on the roads of Ukraine. Four of them will be new, first deputy head of the Patrol Police Alexei Beloshitsky said.
“From April 28 on the roads of Zhytomyr, Ivano-Frankivsk, Kyiv, Kremenchug, Lviv, Mukachevo, Poltava, Chernivtsi, Cherkasy, Vinnitsa, Volyn, Ivano-Frankivsk, Kyiv, Kirovograd, Lviv and Rivne regions will resume the work of 35 complexes of automatic fixation of offenses (which worked before the full-scale invasion of the Rascists), and in Dnipro and Kremenchuk will work four new control devices,” Beloshitsky wrote in Facebook on Friday.
According to him, all these complexes will work to fix the most common cause of traffic accidents – exceeding the permitted speed limit.
The first deputy head of the Department of the Patrol Police gave the location of these complexes. In particular, there will be three such cameras in Ivano-Frankivsk and Kremenchuk, two cameras – in Kyiv, Lviv, Poltava and Dnipro, one camera – in Zhytomyr, Mukacheve, Chernivtsi and Cherkasy. Outside communities the largest number of such cameras will operate in Lviv (11) and Kyiv (4) regions. One camera each in Vinnitsa, Ivano-Frankovsk, Rivne and Kirovohrad regions, and two cameras in Volyn region.
As it was reported, cameras of automatic fixation of traffic violations began to work in Ukraine since June 2020, which, according to the Ministry of Internal Affairs, allowed several times to reduce the number of accidents and fatalities in accidents. After the start of a full-scale Russian invasion, the cameras were disabled, but in May 2022 Biloshitsky reported that 128 cameras resumed work in 20 cities and outside settlements in 10 regions of Ukraine.
