Astarta Agro-Industrial Holding, the country’s largest sugar producer, increased its revenue from sugar sales by 32% year-on-year to EUR142 million in 9M2023, according to the company’s report on the Warsaw Stock Exchange on Thursday.
According to the report, Astarta’s sugar sales amounted to 203 thousand tons. At the same time, its selling price increased by 8% year-on-year to EUR684 per ton, which allowed the gross profit of the sugar business of the agricultural holding to increase by 36% year-on-year to EUR41 against a slight increase in margin to 29%.
EBITDA of Astarta’s sugar business increased by 35% year-on-year to EUR35 million, while its margin remained stable at 24%.
The agricultural holding noted that in 9 months of 2023, exports of sugar and sugar-containing products accounted for 17% of Astarta’s total revenue, while a year earlier it accounted for only 7% of revenue.
According to the report, the sugar refining season in the 2023/24 marketing year (MY) at Astarta started on September 12. It involves five sugar factories of the agricultural holding.
As of November 8, Astarta’s sugar factories processed 1.1 million tons of sugar beet and produced 171 thousand tons of sugar, compared to 146 thousand tons on the same date in 2022.
“Astarta reported that Ukraine has already harvested 10 million tons of sugar beet with an average yield of 48 tons per hectare. Sugar production in 2023-2024 MY started at 30 factories. As of November 8, the country produced a total of 0.8 million tons of sugar.
Ukraine resumed sugar exports on September 15, and there are currently no export restrictions. For 9 months of 2023, Ukrainian sugar exports amounted to 295 thousand tons, which is 7 times more than a year earlier. The main buyer of Ukrainian sugar was the European Union, while Romania became the main importer, accounting for 31% of the total volume.
Astarta estimates that its share in the country’s exports was 11%. Its key European customers were in Romania, Spain and Hungary. 99% of the sugar exported was transported by land, and 85% of it was by road.
“Astarta is a vertically integrated agro-industrial holding company operating in eight regions of Ukraine. It comprises six sugar factories, agricultural enterprises with a land bank of 220,000 hectares and dairy farms with 22,000 cattle, an oil extraction plant in Globyno (Poltava region), seven elevators and a biogas complex.
In the third quarter of 2023, the agricultural holding earned EUR1.24 million in net profit, down 27.7 times compared to the same period in 2022. Astarta’s revenue decreased by 14.4% to EUR104.75 million, gross profit by 2.7 times to EUR26.96 million, operating profit by 7.6 times to EUR6.79 million, and EBITDA by 42.7% to EUR97.25 million.
Due to significantly better performance in the first half of this year compared to the first half of last year, in the first 9 months of 2023, net profit decreased by 9.8% to EUR 55.97 million, while revenue increased by 14.8% to EUR 392.00 million. The company’s gross profit increased by 3.0% to EUR 151.91 million, while operating profit decreased by 15.9% to EUR 79.91 million and EBITDA by 10.8% to EUR 116.63 million.
Astarta Agro-Industrial Holding, the country’s largest sugar producer, has allocated 29% of its production area to winter crops, according to a report on the Warsaw Stock Exchange on Thursday.
According to the report, winter wheat was sown on 49 thousand hectares, up 14% from a year earlier, and winter rapeseed on 12 thousand hectares, down 12% from last year.
“During the sowing campaign, the area under winter wheat was adjusted from 54 thou hectares to 49 thou hectares due to dry weather conditions to complete the sowing campaign in the optimal time,” the agroholding explained.
At the same time, oilseed harvesting is nearing completion. The gross harvest of sunflower amounted to 83 thsd tonnes with a yield of 3.0 t/ha, which is the same as last year, and soybeans – 169 thsd tonnes with a yield of 3.1 t/ha, which is 6% more than in 2022. Corn and sugar beet harvesting is 2/3 complete.
“Astarta also estimated its share in Ukraine’s exports of grains and oilseeds at 1% based on the results of 9M2023.
“Astarta is a vertically integrated agro-industrial holding company operating in eight regions of Ukraine. It comprises six sugar factories, agricultural enterprises with a land bank of 220 thousand hectares and dairy farms with 22 thousand cattle, an oil extraction plant in Globyno (Poltava region), seven elevators and a biogas complex.
In the third quarter of 2023, the agricultural holding earned EUR1.24 million in net profit, down 27.7 times compared to the same period in 2022. Astarta’s revenue decreased by 14.4% to EUR104.75 million, gross profit by 2.7 times to EUR26.96 million, operating profit by 7.6 times to EUR6.79 million, and EBITDA by 42.7% to EUR97.25 million.
Due to significantly better performance in the first half of this year compared to the first half of last year, in the first 9 months of 2023, net profit decreased by 9.8% to EUR 55.97 million, while revenue increased by 14.8% to EUR 392.00 million. The company’s gross profit increased by 3.0% to EUR 151.91 million, while operating profit decreased by 15.9% to EUR 79.91 million and EBITDA by 10.8% to EUR 116.63 million.
Astarta, the largest sugar producer in Ukraine, has started harvesting sugar beet, for which it has allocated 39 thousand hectares in the 2023 season, the group’s website reports.
According to the report, on September 8, farmers in Vinnytsia region started digging, and agricultural producers in Poltava region will join the harvesting campaign on September 14.
According to preliminary estimates of the agricultural holding’s experts, this year’s yield and quality of sugar beet will be higher and better than last year’s figures.
In preparing for this year’s harvesting campaign and taking into account the experience of previous seasons, Astarta’s team paid special attention to logistics.
“The company has invested in the construction of almost 90 km of field roads. Also, on Astarta’s initiative and in close cooperation with the Poltava Regional Military Administration and the Globyno community, the company is completing the repair of a 25 km section of the Manzhelia-Globyno public road,” the statement said.
To optimize the delivery of raw materials from the field to the warehouses, the agricultural holding has purchased 22 self-propelled loaders.
In addition, Astarta continues to actively implement digital AgriChain products, including the new AgriChainLogistics module to optimize the processes of collection, delivery, storage and processing of raw materials.
“Astarta is a vertically integrated agro-industrial holding company operating in eight regions of Ukraine. It includes six sugar factories, agricultural enterprises with a land bank of 220 thousand hectares and dairy farms with 22 thousand cattle, an oil extraction plant in Globyno (Poltava region), seven elevators and a biogas complex.
As reported, Astarta earned EUR65.16 million in net profit in 2022, down 46.8% compared to 2021. Last year, the holding’s EBITDA decreased by 23.2% to EUR154.77 million, while revenue increased by 3.8% to EUR510.07 million.
In the first quarter of 2023, the agricultural holding earned EUR16.13 million in net profit, up 6.2 times compared to the first quarter of 2022, its revenue increased by 37.1% to EUR163.55 million, and EBITDA by 63.5% to EUR37.91 million.
The major shareholders of Astarta at the end of the first half of the year were the family of its founder and CEO Viktor Ivanchyk – 40.11% and Fairfax Financial Holdings LTD with subsidiaries – 29.91%.
On Wednesday, the share price of Astarta, Ukraine’s largest sugar producer, rose by 4.55% to PLN34.5 per share ($8.43 at the current exchange rate) on the Warsaw Stock Exchange after the publication of its half-year report with good financial results.
According to the stock exchange’s website, after closing the day before at PLN33 and the report published in the evening, trading on Wednesday started at PLN35 and reached PLN36 in the first minutes, but within an hour it corrected to PLN33.3, after which it gradually grew without such swings.
According to the report, in the first half of 2023, Astarta earned EUR54.73 million in net profit, up 97.4% compared to the first half of 2022, with revenue up 31.6% to EUR287.25 million and EBITDA up 42.7% to EUR97.25 million.
Net financial debt decreased from EUR43 million to EUR19 million over the half-year after repayment of bank debt, and net debt decreased from EUR152 million to EUR130 million.
A total of 329 deals were made on the day for almost PLN1.23 million. The rate corresponds to a capitalization of PLN862.5 million.
As for Kernel, where minority shareholders are awaiting the results of the additional issue for fear of dilution of their stake, their share price on Wednesday fell by only 0.1%, which was enough to drop below the PLN11 level to PLN10.99 per share for the first time in the company’s history.
Ukraine in the season-2023 can export more than a third of the produced sugar, as about 1 million tons is enough to meet the needs of the domestic market, while the production forecast is 1.6-1.7 million tons, CEO of Astarta agroholding Viktor Ivanchik said.
“The opening of the sugar market by the European Union (in 2022 – IF-U) has significantly helped Ukraine. We can export a third, if not more, of this year’s crop. We have enough in Ukraine about 1 million tons. This year’s production forecast is 1.6-1.7 million tons. This potential should be unambiguously used. We need to gain a foothold in the markets. Both for the near and distant future – this is a serious factor of Ukraine’s entry into the European Union with its goods, services and labor force,” he said during the Business Breakfast with Forbes Ukraina on Wednesday.
Commenting on the investigation by the Antimonopoly Committee of Ukraine (AMCU) regarding possible cartel collusion between sugar producers, Ivanchyk noted that the AMCU “constantly observes, conducts this or that research.”
“Today we do not see such a problem. It was not there before. We have convincingly proved to AMCU, with whom we have been in communication for the last five years, that there are no violations of antimonopoly legislation. It makes no sense for us to agree on prices and volumes. We compete hard on the Ukrainian market, as it is surplus,” Ivanchyk explained and added that sugar producers are in contact with each other on the basis of the industry association “Ukrtsukor”, but do not discuss the issues of prices or sales volumes.
The CEO of Astarta also noted that with the opening of the market to the European Union, sugar producers and exporters fall under the European regulatory policy. This forces the management of the country’s largest sugar producer to “look even more meticulously at our and all our employees’ compliance with these requirements.”
“I don’t see any risks of coming under investigation,” he stated.
Asked about pressure, particularly from law enforcement agencies on business, Ivanchik declined to voice specific cases, but confirmed that Astarta also has to face such problems.
“To be in society and be free from problems in the business community is unrealistic. “Astarta tries to build relationships on a legislative basis. We are as law-abiding as possible. There is absolutely no reason to suspect us of anything,” he assured and confirmed that his colleagues have to face more complicated problems.
According to the head of the agricultural holding, there is an initiative to create a public association on the basis of the Federation of Employers of Ukraine (FEU), which is called “Manifesto-42” (from Art. 42 of the Constitution of Ukraine on the right of every citizen of Ukraine to conduct entrepreneurial activity – IF-U) to protect Ukrainian business from unjustified encroachments by law enforcement and controlling bodies.
Ivanchyk reminded that business has the right to publicly and legally defend its interests. “Especially since Ukrainian business has now shown very good examples of patriotic attitude, help, selflessness. This should be respected by the state in a partner-like manner,” he emphasized.
The CEO of Astarta noted that business received understanding from the state leadership, in particular, a month ago at a meeting with the President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky, Prime Minister Denis Shmygal, teams of the Office of the President and the Cabinet of Ministers.
“We (representatives of business – IF-U) were assured that the state controlling bodies will pursue a legitimate policy on this matter, communicating with us through the business ombudsman and through our joint structures, such as the Federation of Employers of Ukraine, Ukrainian Club of Agrarian Business, European Business Association, CEO Club Ukraine. We will be able to build such relations absolutely openly, honestly and transparently”, – the head of Astarta is convinced.
“Astarta is a vertically integrated agro-industrial holding operating in eight regions of Ukraine. It includes six sugar factories, agricultural farms with a land bank of 220 thousand hectares and dairy farms with 22 thousand cattle, oil extraction plant in Globino (Poltava region), seven elevators and biogas complex.
In the first half of 2023, Astarta’s revenue from sales of key products increased by 64.8% year-on-year to UAH 10.72 bln. The main contribution was made by sales of sugar – UAH 3.27 bln, which increased by 75.5%, corn – UAH 2.66 bln (+53.2%) and soybean meal – UAH 1.96 bln (+84.5%).
Astarta Agro-Industrial Holding, the country’s largest sugar producer, will expand its support for the development of agricultural microbusinesses by raising EUR1.5 million from a partner bank in Germany in 2023, said Viktor Ivanchyk, CEO of the agricultural holding.
“We only help small businesses. We don’t give money, we give equipment. The equipment that is necessary for their specific business. This is a good synergy between large companies like ours and small businesses that exist in the regions of our presence,” he said on Wednesday at the Business Breakfast with Forbes Ukraine.
Ivanczyk said that since the beginning of the war, he has personally supported a number of social projects implemented by the agricultural holding, including those aimed at supporting micro and small agricultural businesses.
“I was amazed when 220 applications were submitted for the 60 projects we announced a year ago. We processed them all, looked at them, and decided that 60 projects was not enough. Therefore, we asked the bank to extend the project,” said the CEO of the agricultural holding.
According to him, in 2022, partner banking institutions in Germany provided EUR 1.2 million for the implementation of this social project, and in 2023 they will provide Astarta with another EUR 1.5 million. “We are increasing the amount of assistance and the number of projects,” the CEO of the agricultural holding emphasized and added that there are currently about 100 of them.
Ivanchyk noted that the assistance is provided to agricultural microbusinesses mainly in the regions where the agricultural holding operates. The agricultural holding has one requirement for the project participants – to work on the basis of an honest, responsible attitude towards partners and the community based on the goals and principles of sustainable development.
“I see this as a great opportunity to build an ecosystem. This system is built not only on mutual economic benefits. It is built on a common philosophy. This makes us believe that the project will last as long as possible,” Ivanchyk summarized.
“Astarta is a vertically integrated agro-industrial holding company operating in eight regions of Ukraine. It comprises six sugar factories, agricultural enterprises with a land bank of 220 thousand hectares and dairy farms with 22 thousand cattle, an oil extraction plant in Globyno (Poltava region), seven elevators and a biogas complex.
In the first half of 2023, Astarta’s revenue from sales of key products increased by 64.8% to UAH 10.72 billion year-on-year. The main contribution was made by sales of sugar – UAH 3.27 billion, up 75.5%, corn – UAH 2.66 billion (+53.2%) and soybean meal – UAH 1.96 billion (+84.5%).
