Shareholders of agroholding Astarta will consider paying a dividend of EUR0.5 per share for 2022, worth EUR12.5 mln, the company said in a statement on the Warsaw Stock Exchange.
According to the statement, the distribution of profits for the previous year will be discussed at the May 24 shareholder meeting, which will be held on April 19.
In addition, shareholders are expected to instruct the board to hold talks with the company’s current auditor, PricewaterhouseCoopers, and its competitors, Ernst & Young, KPMG, Deloitte & Touche and Baker Tilly, and, depending on the outcome, appoint one of these firms as external auditor.
As reported, Astarta first paid a EUR12.155 million dividend in June 2021 based on its 2020 performance in the same amount as currently proposed – EUR0.5 per share. In the military year 2022, the company refused to pay them.
Agropromholding Astarta, the largest sugar producer in Ukraine, received EUR65.16 million in net profit in 2022, down 46.8% from 201.
Holding EBITDA last year decreased by 23.2% – to EUR154.77 mln, while revenues increased by 3.8% – to EUR510.07 mln.
Astarta shares rose 1 percent last Friday to PLN30.45 per share (about EUR6.6 per share).
“The company’s policy is to pay dividends at a level consistent with the Group’s growth and development plans, while maintaining a reasonable level of liquidity. The dividend policy will, however, be reviewed from time to time and the payment of any future dividends will actually be at the discretion of the general meeting of shareholders upon recommendation of the board of directors and taking into account various factors, including business prospects, future earnings, cash requirements, financial situation, expansion plans and Cyprus law requirements,” the company said in the dividend policy.
Agro-industrial holding Astarta does not expect a significant drop in income because of the ban on imports of agricultural products from Ukraine imposed by Poland and other neighboring countries, as it intends to export its products to Western European countries, representatives of the company’s board said at an online conference on Tuesday.
“We have permission to transit through these countries. Rather, our export targets are Western European countries, such as Spain, Italy, Greece and Croatia. We don’t see much risk to our revenues,” Infostrefa quoted Astarta Commercial Director Vyacheslav Chuk as saying from a conference call Tuesday.
Julia Bereshchenko, director of investor relations, expressed confidence that Astarta will be supported by expected sugar shortages in the EU and world market.
“Sugar shortages are expected not only in the EU, but worldwide as the world’s largest sugar producers, such as Brazil and India, begin to use sugar to produce ethanol. This could potentially reduce these countries’ exports,” she said.
As reported, Astarta agro-industrial holding, the largest sugar producer in Ukraine, received EUR65.16 million net profit in 2022, down 46.8% compared to 201.
The holding’s EBITDA shrank by 23.2% to EUR154.77 mln, while revenues increased by 3.8% to EUR510.07 mln.
Agricultural holding “Astarta”, the largest sugar producer in Ukraine, in October-December 2022, reduced sales of the product by 27.7% compared to the same period in 2021 – up to 62.1 thousand tons, but its average selling price rose by 43.6% – to 25.62 thousand UAH per ton.
According to the agrarian group’s report on the Warsaw Stock Exchange on Tuesday evening, milk sales in the fourth quarter of 2022 increased 9% to 26,500 tons.
Soybean oil sales jumped 75.3% to 10,700 tons, wheat 2.9 times to 135,200 tons, and rapeseed more than 2.9 times to 12,400 tons,
At the same time, soybean meal sales fell by 8.2% to 26.5 thousand tons, sunflower seed – by 8.3% to 23.3 thousand tons, corn – 4 times to 82 thousand tons.
Agroholding specified that the average cost of soybean oil sold in October-December, 2022 increased by 28.1% up to 44.67 thousand UAH/ton, soybean meal – by 23.5% up to 17.54 thousand UAH/ton, milk – by 8.8% up to 13.73 thousand UAH/ton, corn – by 66.5% up to 9.6 thousand UAH/ton, wheat – by 25.3% up to 9.4 thousand UAH/ton.
Only sunflower seed went down in price – by 7.4%, to 15.94 thousand UAH/ton.
Thus, taking into account the volume of sold products and their average price, we can tentatively estimate the growth of Astarta’s revenues in the fourth quarter of last year compared to the fourth quarter before last year at 7.4% – up to UAH 5 billion 796.4 mln. In particular, sugar decreased by 3.7% to UAH 1 billion 589.5 million, wheat – 3.6 times to UAH 1 billion 270.3 million, rapeseed – almost 2.9 times to UAH 280.3 million, soybean oil – 2.2 times to UAH 488.6 million, soybean meal – by 13.4% to UAH 644.7 million and milk – 18.6% to UAH 363.2 million.
Meanwhile, sales of corn decreased 58.8% to UAH 787.7 mln, while sunflower sales decreased 15% to UAH 372.1 mln.
The company also reported that to date it has harvested corn from 90% of the area, its average yield is estimated at 9 tons per hectare.
“Astarta is a vertically integrated agro-industrial holding operating in eight regions of Ukraine. It consists of six sugar factories, farms with 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 9M2012, Agropromholding received EUR102.2 mln, which is 11.7% more than in 9M2012. 9M2012 Agroindustrial Holding received net profit amounting to EUR 102.2 mln, which is 39.3% less compared with the same period of the previous year, while its revenue increased by 13% – to EUR 341.3 mln.
In UAH terms Astarta’s net profit for 9M2012 decreased to EUR 341.3 mln. Astarta decreased its net profit by 38.6% – to UAH 2 bln 76.15 mln, while its revenue increased by 14.7% – to UAH 11 bln 268.54 mln.
Agroindustrial holding Astarta, the largest sugar producer in Ukraine, has completed its 2022 sugar season, which lasted from September to January, with a total of about 2 million tons of sugar beet processed into 282 thousand tons of sugar.
According to the company’s website on Wednesday, the past sugar season was the most difficult in the holding company’s history, although the volume of sugar produced increased by 6% over the 2021 season, and by 25% over the 2020 season.
It is specified that Astarta’s sugar yield from the raw materials last season was 14.26%, while the Ukrainian average was 13.98%, and 99% of the produced sugar corresponds to the highest quality category.
The holding referred to the preliminary data of Ukrtsukor association, according to which Astarta’s share on the Ukrainian sugar production market in 2022 season was 25%.
The sugar producer specified that its planted areas under sugar beet in central and western regions of Ukraine were not significantly affected by military operations, but it faced a number of other challenges.
“Due to increased costs for fertilizers, crop protection products and fuel, sugar beet cultivation costs per hectare have risen. Nearly continuous rains during the harvest period have made both harvesting the crop and transporting it from the fields to processing plants much more difficult. However, Astarta harvested 1.8 million tons of sugar beets in 2022 at a yield of 56 tons/ha,” the holding quoted its director of agricultural products processing Yevgeny Sadovy as saying.
“Astarta stressed that it was able to implement a number of energy-saving projects at its sugar refineries during the war, in particular, a scheme for autonomous power supply to enterprises in case of a power blackout.
“Astarta is a vertically integrated agro-industrial holding operating in eight regions of Ukraine. It consists of six sugar factories, 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.
Agricultural holding in 2021 increased net profit 14 times compared with 2020 – up to EUR 122.5 mln, EBITDA – 1.8 times, up to EUR 201.5 mln. Its revenue increased by 18.2% – to EUR 491.35 mln, one third of which (EUR 170 mln) was generated by sugar production and sales.
Agroindustrial holding “Astarta”, the largest sugar producer in Ukraine, plans to process up to 2 million tons of sugar beet, grown at the own enterprise and supplied by the third-party farmers in the current season.
To date, the sugar plants have already produced 241 thousand tons of white sugar from more than 1.7 million tons of beets, and plan to process more than 200 thousand tons more, the holding said in a statement on the Warsaw Stock Exchange.
“Astarta” in 2022 began the sugar season on September 16, a total of five sugar refineries of the group were working during the season.
As reported, on December, 9 sugar beet in Ukraine is harvested from 98% of the planned areas, totally 8.9 million tons (+0.3 million tons for the last week) from 177 thousand hectares (+3 thousand hectares).
“Astarta is a vertically integrated agro-industrial holding, which operates in eight regions of Ukraine. It consists of six sugar factories, agro-farms with land bank of 220 thousand hectares, dairy farms with 22 thousand cattle, oil extraction plant in Globino (Poltava region), seven elevators and biogas complex.
Agroholding increased its net profit in 2021 14 times compared to 2020 – up to EUR 122.5 mln, EBITDA – 1.8 times, up to EUR 201.5 mln. Its revenue increased by 18.2% up to EUR 491.35 mln, one third of which (EUR 170 mln) was generated by sugar production and sales.
Cyprus has issued a temporary certificate of continuation of activity to the parent company of Astarta agro-industrial holding Astarta Holding N.V, certifying its registration as a company temporarily operating in the Republic of Cyprus under the name Astarta Holding PLC.
As the holding reported on the Warsaw Stock Exchange on Thursday evening, the corresponding certificate was issued to the company on September 16 by the Department of the Registrar of Companies and Intellectual Property of the Ministry of Energy, Trade and Industry of the Republic of Cyprus.
It is specified that Astarta received a temporary certificate of registration in Cyprus as part of the ongoing process of its cross-border migration to the jurisdiction of Cyprus from the Dutch jurisdiction.
“The migration has taken effect, which means that the company was temporarily registered in Cyprus under the name Astarta Holding PLC, the seat of the Company was transferred from Amsterdam (Netherlands) to Nicosia (Cyprus). The company lost its legal address in the Netherlands and began its activities under the name Astarta Holding PLC,” the holding said in an exchange message.
At the same time, the formal completion of the legal migration will occur after Astarta receives the final certificate of continuation of its activities, for which it needs to provide evidence of the official transfer of registration from the Dutch Commercial Register (Handelsregister) to the Companies Registry in Cyprus within 6 months after receiving the temporary certificate of registration .
According to the report, the change of jurisdiction of Astarta took place without dissolution of the company, termination of its existence or reincorporation, its shares were not replaced by new shares and remain listed on the Warsaw Stock Exchange. Also, migration does not affect the voting rights and the right to profit of the company’s shareholders.
Astarta is a vertically integrated agro-industrial holding 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 heads of cattle, an oil extraction plant in Globino (Poltava region), seven elevators and a biogas complex.
In 2021, the agricultural holding increased its net profit by 14 times compared to 2020 – up to EUR122.5 million, EBITDA – by 1.8 times, up to EUR201.5 million. Its revenue increased by 18.2% – up to EUR491.35 million, a third of which (EUR170 million) was generated by the production and sale of sugar.
