Battery manufacturer Ista-Center JSC (Dnipro) ended 2022 with a loss of UAH 12.78 million, while in 2021 the net profit was UAH 154.85 million, according to preliminary data. According to the information for the agenda of the general meeting of SA’s shareholders, which is scheduled for April 19, published in the NCSSM’s disclosure system, by the beginning of this year the company had a small undistributed profit (UAH 0,027 mln).
The shareholders plan to cover the loss incurred last year at the expense of the profit of the previous years.
According to the publication, for 2022, the company decreased its current liabilities 4.5 times to UAH 6.88 mln, while long-term liabilities decreased 10% to UAH 2.59 mln.
Ista Center’s assets decreased by 11.3% during the year, to UAH 268.62 mln, mainly due to the reduction in total accounts receivable by 2.5 times, to UAH 17.6 mln, and cash to UAH 0.14 mln instead of UAH 3.84 mln.
The equity capital of the JSC by the beginning of 2023 amounted to UAH 256,35 mln, the authorized capital – UAH 128,17 mln.
The agenda of the meeting includes, in particular, the issues of re-electing the supervisory board and auditing commission, approval of the main activity (production of batteries and accumulators) and plans for 2023.
“Ista-Center, which has been operating since 1995, is one of the plants producing starter batteries of Ista group in Dnipro (the other is DOZ Energoavtomatika).
According to the company’s financial report for 2021, which was published on its website February 1 this year, its net profit then increased 21-fold to 154.85 mln hryvnia, while its net income fell 16% to 173.62 mln hryvnia.
At that, 36.5% out of sold 195.1 thsd conventional batteries were exported, including 25.78% – to the former CIS countries, 10.08% – to EU countries (except Poland).
The company also reported about mastering the production of polypropylene-cased batteries for the needs of the Ministry of Defense.
The company has not yet announced the results of its activities in 2022.
At the beginning of 2022, the company employed about 130 people.
PrJSC Dniprovsky Metallurgical Plant (DMZ, formerly Evraz-DMZ), a member of DCH Steel of the DCH group of businessman Oleksandr Yaroslavsky, has completed the first stage of overhaul of coke oven battery No. 4, which will reduce emissions of air pollutants.
According to the company’s press release on Thursday, the total investment is about UAH 170 million.
As part of the investment project, 20 coking chambers were repaired at the DMZ coke-chemical site. Repaired furnaces do not lose coke oven gas – all of it goes for treatment. Due to the sealing of the refractory masonry, the elimination of leaks into the heating system from the coking chambers and more complete combustion of gas in verticals, emissions of pollutants will decrease.
The press service also said that the excess of coke oven gas, which may be formed during the commissioning period, will be sent to the afterburner, the work of which is fully consistent with the technological process. The repair of the rest of the coking chambers will continue at the operating battery, and it is planned to complete it by the end of the year.
“DMZ is systematically engaged in the modernization of fixed assets at the coke-chemical site. In addition to the overhaul of coke oven battery No. 4, this year, ceramic surfacing is being carried out at coke oven battery No. 1 and coke oven battery No. 2 with sealing of heating walls. In general, this will increase the efficiency of the furnaces and significantly reduce the burden on the environment,” Director General of the DMZ Vitaliy Bash said.
At the same time, it is recalled that since 2016, DMZ has invested UAH 475 million in environmental programs. During this time, the company has reduced air emissions by almost 25%. Now the enterprise has an investment program in the amount of $400 million, aimed at modernizing production facilities and reducing the burden on the environment.
DMZ specializes in the production of steel, cast iron, rolled products and products from them.
Megatex LLC (Konstantynivka, Donetsk region), the manufacturer of batteries from used batteries, has asked President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky to help solve the problem of legalizing the purchase of recyclable materials.
“We produce accumulator batteries from used batteries, and now when buying recyclable materials (any), a company engaged in cashing money flows is at the end of some link, while the plants recycling this raw material take the punishment from the tax service and prosecutor’s offices. If this is brought to the legal business, the government will receive UAH 4-5 billion of additional receipts,” Head of the company Yuriy Shapran said during a meeting between the president and business representatives of Khmelnytsky region on Wednesday, June 3.
In his opinion, a solution of this problem could be a tax of 3-4%, which the processor would pay for the supplier of raw materials.
“If buyers of recyclable materials pay a tax of about 3-4% for the supplier, then this money will go to the budget. Today, I can frankly say this, this is the cost of the services of cashing companies and it will be easier for business to work, it will not spend time on all these troubles with the law,” Shapran said.
He said that in this case there will be no avoidance of identifying a supplier, which the EU is opposed to.
“We identify him (the supplier), but we pay this tax for him and then he is free, he is honest. The company paid the tax for him and it will not require any additional taxes afterwards,” Shapran said.
In addition, he considers it necessary to cancel the payment of a 5% import duty on recyclable materials for the production of batteries.
“We import raw materials from abroad, and we have a 5% duty, while there is no any duty on other raw materials. We have very low margin, so it is very difficult,” the head of the company said.
He also said that the company is ready to work, it has prospects and more and more foreign partners (it exports 75% of its products), and it is also ready to increase production volumes.
“There were problems under the previous government authority, namely Vesta plant in Dnipro, where former MP Dzenzersky [Denys Dzenzersky, MP of the seventh convocation] worked completely off the books. They were bankrupt, but they worked and the tax service did not come there, while we were unprofitable for four years,” Shapran said.
“That is, there are two problems, namely, to legalize the purchase of recyclable materials and remove the import duty on raw materials,” he said, providing Zelensky with the prepared materials.
Since 1993, Megatex LLC has been producing various lead alloys and is engaged in the production and maintenance of accumulator batteries, their purchase and recycling.
Ukraine seeks to take part in several projects in Egypt, in particular projects on modernization of a steel works and reconstruction of a coke-oven battery for a company, Ukraine’s First Deputy Prime Minister, Minister for Economic Development and Trade Stepan Kubiv has said. “Ukraine is ready to undertake several projects in Egypt. The first one is modernization of Helwan steel works worth some $200 million and reconstruction of a coke-oven battery for El Nasr for Coke & Chemicals worth some $80 million,” Kubiv wrote on his Facebook page after a meeting with the minster for state-owned companies of Egypt who visited Ukraine with the purpose of attracting Ukrainian specialists to construction and modernization of Egyptian state-owned enterprises.
Kubiv also said that last year goods flow between Ukraine and Egypt reached almost $2 billion, and trade with services grew by 62% in 2017 compared with 2016.
BATTERY, COKE-OVEN, EGYPT, MODERNIZATION, PROJECTS, RECONSTRUCTION, STEEL WORKS
National energy company Ukrenergo believes that in the conditions of rampant development of renewable energy, highly maneuverable balancing facilities (battery and gas reciprocating power plants) with a capacity of 2.5 GW should be built in Ukraine before 2025, Ukrenergo Head Vsevolod Kovalchuk said at the presentation of the respective study in Kyiv on Tuesday.
“Quick maneuverable balancing facilities should cover 30% of the installed capacity of facilities using renewable energy. Based on the forecasts of how the total capacity of solar power plants and wind farms will increase, by 2025 we need to build maneuverable facilities with a capacity of 2.5 GW – energy storage facilities with lithium batteries and gas reciprocating plants,” he said.
Kovalchuk said that the cost of building these facilities is about UAH 55 billion.
The head of Ukrenergo said that if Ukraine does not build highly maneuverable facilities, then with an increase in the share of renewable energy, it will have to limit production of nuclear power plants (operating in the basic mode) and increase the share of coal-burning thermal power plants (TTPs capable of maneuvering). This will raise the total cost of electricity generated in the country by 57.7%.
Another alternative scenario is to limit the operation of solar power plants and wind farms in the peak periods. This will cost the country even more, as it will have to pay for both operation of nuclear power plants and TPPs, as well as compensate for under-generated electricity of solar power plants and wind farms. In this scenario, the total cost of electricity generated in the country will increase by 99%.
“Out of the three possible scenarios, the construction of highly maneuverable balancing facilities leads to the least increase in the cost of electricity – by 48.7%. The investment of UAH 55 billion in their construction will save UAH 65 billion in comparison with the scenario of limiting the operation of renewable energy,” the head of Ukrenergo said.
The head of the company said that, in his opinion, the construction of energy storage facilities with lithium batteries should be stimulated either by introducing a special tariff (following the example of ‘green’ energy) or through the mechanism of auctions.
“We will initiate the introduction of a feed-in tariff, or other mechanisms that would make it possible to make the profitability of these highly maneuverable facilities no lower than for facilities consuming renewable energy,” Kovalchuk said.
The head of the company said that a pilot project can be organized through Ukrenergo, when the Ukrainian power grid operator itself holds an auction for the construction of energy storage facilities.
At the same time, he said that it would be impossible to delay the solution of the problem. The first 500 MW of highly maneuverable facilities should begin to operate in 2020.
