The war in Ukraine has dramatically changed the geopolitical landscape in Europe. Ruukki Construction fully condemns Russia’s attack and the hostility towards Ukraine and its people.
Safety of our employees, customers and partners is of the highest importance at Ruukki. All of Ruukki’s operations in Ukraine have been suspended and all shipments and sales to Russia and Belarus have been discontinued. For some time, this will also affect the delivery capabilities of some product groups.
Our thoughts are with the people of Ukraine and our colleagues, customers and partners, who are in the middle of the war. Ruukki and our employees in various countries help our Ukrainian colleagues and their families by providing financial support and resettlement assistance. We are grateful to all those who work tirelessly to help the people of Ukraine.
SSAB supports Ukraine through UNHCR
As part of SSAB, Ruukki is donating to UNHCR, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees to support the people in Ukraine. UNHCR is present in the country with a structure already set up and has vast experience in rapid response, relief and refugee assistance, including people fleeing inside Ukraine.
Ruukki is constantly monitoring the development of the situation and taking any necessary actions to secure the safety of its people.
Ruukki has a factory in Kopyliv, some 50 kilometers west from Kyiv, and sales offices in some ten locations in Ukraine. Altogether, Ruukki has 73 employees in Ukraine.
In Ukraine, Ruukki products for commercial construction are represented by Rauta. Rauta Group was set up in 2014. Its core business is the design of constructions, supply and assembly of construction materials. The company has a license for the construction of facilities with medium (CC2) and high (CC3) consequences.
According to the unified state register, the owner of a 100% stake in the statutory capital of the company is Andriy Ozeychuk.
The European Business Association (EBA) conducted an express survey of 53 executives of the association’s member companies, during which 90% reported continuing to work as usual.
“According to the results of the express survey conducted by the association last night (on the eve of Russia’s decision), about 90% of company executives reported that they continue to work as usual. Of these, about 70% of companies already have plans B for emergency situations. At the same time, 15% report readiness for relocation, but remain in Ukraine and continue to follow the course of events,” the association said in a release on Tuesday.
“Only 3% of business leaders reported going abroad, another 11% – about the departure of their families, however, some did this at the request of the head offices of the companies,” the EBA said.
“The self-possession and strength of our companies, which continue to work and believe in a better future for Ukraine, is extremely impressive. Responsible business has always been an active participant in important events in the country, takes care of its employees and their families, supports the army and society. Business believes in Ukraine! Therefore we hope that the state will also declare its support by preventing pressure on transparent business,” the press service said, citing EBA Executive Director Anna Derevyanko.
The EBA offices in Kyiv, Lviv, Odesa, Dnipro and Kharkiv also continue to operate as usual, the EBA added.
Representatives of Ukrainian business faced difficulties in implementing a system for monitoring, reporting and verifying greenhouse gas emissions, the European Business Association (EBA) said.
In particular, there is a shortage of verifiers to validate the emissions data of about 400 companies for a month and a half, according to its statement on Friday.
The EBA said that under the law on greenhouse gas emissions, companies must submit the first verified reports along with approved monitoring plans for the recent year by March 31, 2022. To date, according to ISO 14065:2015 national standard, only three verifier companies have been accredited, and two of them have appeared in the last two weeks, association said.
The EBA believes that in the current situation it will be necessary to extend the deadlines for submitting reports or provide conditions for the temporary submission of unverified reports.
According to the association, these negative aspects may lead to the application of sanctions against companies, in particular, by the State Environmental Inspectorate. Therefore, the EBA considers it expedient “to exclude the relevant issues on the subject of inspections of environmental inspectors.”
“Only verified data on CO2 emissions will allow companies to prove the effectiveness of the measures taken to decarbonize production and maintain a competitive position in the European market… That is why the European Business Association turned to the Prime Minister with a request to intervene and facilitate the involvement of all stakeholders in the dialogue: business, the Ministry of Ecology, State Environmental Inspectorate,” coordinator of the Committee for Industrial Ecology and Sustainable Development of the European Business Association Olha Boiko said.
In addition, businesses need to clarify the mechanism for calculating and paying the eco-tax for carbon emissions in order to create a full-fledged emissions trading system in Ukraine, the association said.
“If earlier there was no clear unified methodology for calculating emissions, now after the introduction of unified approaches, the data of some companies may change significantly,” the EBA said.
Over 2021, mobile operator Lifecell LLC (lifecell) received a net profit of UAH 610.9 million, which is 4.24 times less than in 2020 (UAH 2.589 billion), according to the company’s financial statements.
At the same time, the operator’s income in 2021 increased by 24.1%, to UAH 8.483 billion.
EBITDA increased by 30.9%, to UAH 4.751 billion, while EBITDA margin increased by 2.9 percentage points (p.p.), to 56%.
Lifecell’s capital investments in 2021 increased by 3.2%, to UAH 3.594 billion.
According to the information provided, in the fourth quarter of 2021, the operator’s income increased by 25.7%, to UAH 2.406 billion. EBITDA in the October-December quarter increased by 26.5%, to UAH 1.319 billion.
On an annual basis, the operator’s active three-month subscriber base in 2021 expanded by 13.6%, to 9.2 million (compared to 8.1 million in 2020).
The active three-month 4.5G subscriber base in 2021 grew 32% year-on-year to 73% of total mobile data users at the end of the year. Average data consumption per user in the fourth quarter of 2021 grew by 13%, mainly due to higher data usage by 4.5G users, the company notes. The penetration of smartphones in the lifecell network at the end of the fourth quarter of 2021 was 83%.
The company’s active three-month ARPU increased by 12.3% in 2021 and amounted to UAH 83.2 compared to last year’s figure of UAH 74.1. At the same time, the 12-month MoU increased 2.7% year-on-year, while falling 3.5% year-on-year in the fourth quarter.
Operator lifecell is the third largest mobile operator in Ukraine. Turkcell (Turkey) owns 100% shares of Lifecell LLC.
Businessman Sergiy Tigipko, whose assets include PrJSC Dneprometiz, intends to acquire Nail LLC (Khmelnytsky), a large Ukrainian plant for production of nails and various fasteners, a market source told Interfax-Ukraine.
According to the source, in the near future the relevant documents for approval of the purchase will be submitted to the Antimonopoly Committee of Ukraine.
TAS Group has not yet commented on this information to Interfax-Ukraine.
Tigipko’s TAS Group includes assets in the financial and agricultural sectors, real estate, venture projects and an industrial group.
Nail LLC, according to information on its website, was founded in 1994 as a manufacturer of nails. In 2018, it merged with Avismetiz LLC. In addition to traditional construction, carpentry and roofing nails, the company produces special types of nails – in reels and loose, which are used in production of wooden containers and pallets, as well as various means of fastening: self-tapping screws, screws, confirmations, bolts, nuts, washers, threaded rods, anchors , drills, etc. The main office and production facilities of the company are located in Khmelnytsky.
President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky calls on businessmen and politicians who left the country to return to Ukraine within the next 24 hours, as this is “an important moment of the country’s unity.”
“I would focus on our management, on our country, on the people who today, some of them, are abroad, members of some parties, I don’t even want to say their names, you all understand what kind of people they are. It seems to me that this is a serious challenge. I think we should give them a signal – a fair one. First of all, from the Verkhovna Rada, from the speaker, from the state, and on my own behalf I would like to ask them to bring some of their relatives within 24 hours, to return to the country after all,” Zelensky said at a joint briefing with the German chancellor in Kyiv on Monday.
He stressed that this is an important moment, “the moment of the country’s unity.”
