State-owned PrivatBank (Kyiv) will increase to UAH 360 million the financing of the Viliya group of agrarian enterprises to expand production, increase exports, increase the fleet of agricultural machinery and equipment, PrivatBank’s press service said on Thursday.
“The bank has decided to increase the volume of lending to the largest agribusiness in Volyn – the group of companies “Vilia”, which according to Forbes rating this year entered the TOP-20 of the most effective agro-companies in the country. The increase in the volume of financing by the bank up to UAH 360 million will allow the company in 2024 to ensure the acquisition of fixed assets to expand production and export capacity of agricultural products in the region, increase the fleet of agricultural machinery and equipment”, – said a member of the Board of Directors Yevgeniy Zagraev.
According to his information, PrivatBank since the beginning of the war has identified the financing of agro-production as a top priority and has become one of the leaders in terms of lending to agrarians.
“We continue to support agribusiness and today we expand investments in leading modern agribusinesses, such as the enterprises of SC “Vilia”, striking the dynamics of development and modernization of business,” – said Zagraev.
According to PrivatBank, since the beginning of the war SC “Vilia” has increased investments in the construction of a grain terminal, increased the volume of products processing due to the launch of a flour milling complex. During 2024, the company plans to invest more than UAH 1.5 billion in modernization of production and export capacities.
In addition, during the two years of the war “Vilia” increased the fleet of grain trucks by 25%, and the volume of grain storage in elevators – by 20%. In 2025, the agroholding plans to resume the construction of a dairy farm and is considering a project to create the latest pig farms.
The group of companies “Vilia” unites a number of enterprises of Volyn and Rivne regions, which cultivate 42 thousand hectares of land, specialize in crop production, storage of grain, oilseed and legume crops, grain trading, flour and granulated flour production, animal husbandry. Its parent company Volyn-Zerno-Product LLC began operations in 2001. Vilia Group of Companies includes seven elevators in Volyn and Rivne regions, Lutsk Feed Mill LLC, Mlynivsky Feed Mill LLC, a seed factory, a number of warehouses, and its own railroad line. The beneficiary of the company is Yevhen Dudka.
According to the National Bank of Ukraine, as of September 1, 2023, PrivatBank ranked first in terms of assets (UAH 782.31 billion) among 64 banks operating in the country and second in terms of the number of branches in the country (1131).
Astarta Agroholding cut its net profit by 5.0% to EUR61.9m in 2023, while its EBITDA fell by 6.1% to EUR145.77m, the company said in its annual report on Wednesday evening.
“EBITDA margin decreased by 7 percentage points (p. p.) year-on-year to 23%, reflecting lower crop prices, higher selling expenses and a change in the basis of supply in the sale of crops,” the document said.
According to it, Astarta’s revenue last year increased by 21.3% to EUR618.93m, gross profit by 7.8% to EUR223.59m, while operating profit decreased by 12.2% to EUR95.78m.
It is specified that the Agriculture segment contributed 39% of consolidated revenue or EUR240 million in 2023 (+33% y-o-y), while the Livestock segment contributed 7% of total revenue or EUR43 million in 2023 (+10% y-o-y).
Sales of the Sugar Production segment grew by 28% y-o-y to EUR199m and accounted for 32% of total revenue in the period under review, while the Soy Processing segment contributed 20% of Astarta’s revenue or EUR122m, unchanged y-o-y.
According to the report, export sales accounted for about 53% of consolidated revenue or EUR325m last year.
The lower gross profit growth is due to the lower effect of the revaluation of the fair value of biological assets in the cost of revenue (EUR60 mln in 2023 vs. EUR73 mln in 2022), reflecting cheaper commodities and changes in exchange rates.
It is indicated that in UAH terms, Astarta increased net profit by 11.9% to UAH2bn 452.81m in 2023 on revenue growth of 39.3% to UAH24bn 446.26m.
According to the report, cash flow from operating activities amounted to EUR91m vs. EUR39m in 2022 due to lower working capital outflows, while cash flow from investment activities increased 2.6 times to EUR40m, with the largest investments in soybean processing and sugar production.
Net financial debt (net of lease liabilities) declined by 10% last year to EUR39m, while net debt increased slightly by 3% to EUR156m due to higher lease liabilities of EUR118m vs. EUR109m in 2022.
As reported, Astarta reported EUR65.16m net profit in 2022, down 46.8% from 2021. The holding’s EBITDA decreased by 23.2% to EUR154.77m in the year before last, while revenue increased by 3.8% to EUR510.07m.
In 9M 2023, net profit decreased by 9.8% to EUR55.97 mln, while revenue grew by 14.8% to EUR392.00 mln. EBITDA decreased by 10.8% to EUR116.63 mln.
In UAH terms, Astarta increased its net profit by 6.9% to UAH 2 bln 219.11 mln in the first 9 months of last year, while revenue grew by 37.7% to UAH 15 bln 513.56 mln.
The IMC agricultural holding posted a net profit of $33.17 million in January-September 2020, which is 1.8 times more than in the same period in 2019.
According to the company’s report on the website of the Warsaw Stock Exchange, IMC’s revenue for this period decreased 4%, to $113.84 million.
The holding’s gross profit in the first nine months of 2020 increased 47%, to $71.42 million, operating profit grew by 2.2 times, to $49.12 million.
The company’s EBITDA for the reporting period increased 1.6 times compared to January-September 2019 and amounted to $64.71 million.
As of September 30, 2020, the company’s noncurrent liabilities amounted to $100.06 million versus $108.95 million at the end of September last year, current liabilities stood at $68.85 million ($89.03 million).
After the reporting period, IMC repaid loans, borrowings and interest in the amount of $2.05 million and received loans and borrowings in the amount of $0.46 million.
According to the report, revenue from wheat sales for the reporting period increased 35%, to $17.19 million, from sunflower it grew by 121%, to $16.62 million, cattle – by 181%, to $0.3 million, revenue from the sale of corn fell by 17%, to $77.13 million, milk – by 9%, to $1 million, soybeans – by 80%, to $0.44 million.
IMC specializes in the cultivation of grain, oilseeds and milk production in Ukraine.
Astarta agroholding in the first quarter of 2020 received a net loss of EUR13.32 million, which is 2.7 times more than in the same period last year.
According to the company’s report on the Warsaw Stock Exchange, its revenue in the reporting period decreased by 9.8%, to EUR101.34 million due to lower sales in the crop segment, which accounted for 39% of consolidated sales compared to 52% in January-March 2019.
EBITDA increased by 1.7 times, to EUR27.78 million amid an increase in the share mainly in crop and sugar segments. EBITDA margin increased from 14% to 27% in the first quarter of 2020. Gross profit rose by 47.3%, to EUR29.87 million.
Crop production ranked first in the structure of consolidated revenue and amounted to 39%. The segment revenue declined by 33%, to EUR39 million, mainly due to a 17% year-on-year decline in corn sales, to 236,000 tonnes. Most of the grain and oilseed crop in 2019 was sold by the end of the first quarter of 2020. The export share increased to 96% compared with 91% in the corresponding period of 2019.
The sugar segment revenue grew by 46%, to EUR28.76 million (28% of revenue) due to an increase in sugar sales by 44%, to 78,000 tonnes in January-March 2020 and an improvement in sales prices to EUR352/tonne compared to EUR316/tonne in the first quarter of 2019. During the reporting period, Astarta exported 7,000 tonnes of sugar (at the level of January-March 2019), as world prices remained low.
The soybean processing segment generated revenue of EUR22 million, which is 6% lower than the first quarter of 2019 (22% of revenue), mainly due to lower prices for soybean meal and lower oil sales. Export brought 89% of revenue. Soybean oil sales decreased by 21.4%, to 11,000 tonnes, soybean meal remained at the same level as last year, at 47,000 tonnes. At the same time, oil prices increased by 14.1%, to EUR633/tonne, while for oilseed meal decreased by 3%, to EUR321 per tonne.
Avangard agricultural holding, the largest egg producer in Ukraine, in January-June 2019 saw $110.89 million in net loss, which is 3.1 times more than a year ago.
According to a company report posted on the London Stock Exchange (LSE) on Friday, consolidated revenue grew by 24.6%, to $84.78 million, and gross loss – 14 times, to $65.1 million.
Export revenue for the reporting period increased 1.6 time, to $44.8 million, and its share amounted to 53% of the company’s consolidated revenue.
In the first half of the year, egg production amounted to 1.78 billion pieces, which is 44% more than in the same period in 2018, their sales grew 1.9 times, to 1.59 billion pieces, exports – 2.6 times, to 785 million pieces.
The average selling price of eggs was UAH 1.23 per piece, excluding VAT, which is 24% lower than the level of the first half of last year, in U.S. dollars – $0.046 per piece, excluding VAT (25% less).
The production of dry egg products during the reporting period amounted to 2,380 tonnes (34% less), their sales also decreased 34%, to 2,280 tonnes. Export of dry egg products amounted to 1,590 tonnes and decreased by 46%.
The average selling price of dried egg products was $3.84 per kg, an increase of 4% from January-June 2018.
As of June 30, the total number of birds was 16 million, which is 15% more compared to the same date last year. The number of laying hens amounted to 11.2 million (35% more).
According to the report, negotiations with creditors on restructuring are ongoing.
Net cash used in investing activities increased to $14.2 million from $1.2 million in the first half of 2018 as a result of an increase in investment. In general, the net cash outflow in the reporting period amounted to $20.9 million compared to a net cash inflow of $4.1 million as of June 30, 2018.
As of June 30, 2019, the total debt of the company increased slightly compared to December 31, 2018 and amounted to $391.5 million. Net debt increased 6.5%, to $390.9 million. Issue of the company’s eurobonds maturing on October 29, 2018 amounted to 60% of total debt.
KSG Agro agroholding saw $0.895 million of net profit in 2017, which is almost 77.4% less than in 2016. According to an unaudited report of the company posted on the website of the Warsaw Stock Exchange (WSE), revenue last year grew by 10.8%, to $23.19 million. Gross profit fell by 10.6%, to $11.64 million, and operating profit – by 29.6%, to $11.24 million.
Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) fell by 26.4%, to $12.73 million.
In 2017, the company increased sales of pigs and young pigs by 5.6%, to 9,810 tonnes (in monetary terms by 38.8% – to $11.8 million). Last year, the holding collected a crop harvest which was 1.6% less than in 2015 – 50,600 tonnes. In particular, 18,400 tonnes of sunflower, 19,700 tonnes of wheat, 5,200 tonnes of barley, 1,700 tonnes of corn, and 800 tonnes of rapeseed were harvested.
In the structure of KSG Agro’s revenue for the last year, the share of the grain segment decreased to 36% from 37% in 2016, the pig-breeding segment grew to 33% from 26%, processing – to 22% from 20%. Net debt of the company as of December 31, 2017 was $47.8 million.
KSG Agro restructured $3.88 million of liabilities for 30 years. This loan was previously taken in Credit Agricole Bank. In January 2018, the bank conceded it along with property rights as a pledge to a third party that restructured the loan.
The company is negotiating with international creditors related to the restructuring of the total debt of $18 million. The agroholding in 2017 signed letters of intent, which agreed on the preliminary conditions for debt restructuring. In accordance with them, KSG Agro is obliged to repay the debt in ten years starting from 2018. In December 2017, the group made a final decision on the choice of a legal adviser and began the process of preparing the agreement.
AGRO, AGROHOLDING, EXCHANGE, KSG, PROFIT
