The State Property Fund (SPF) of Ukraine has put up for auction on May 7 with an initial price of UAH 187.64 million a single property complex of the state-owned enterprise Dunaivtsi grain processing factory (Dunaivtsi village, Khmelnytsky region), which will become the first privatized state asset in the grain processing industry, the fund said on its website on Wednesday.
According to the fund, earlier, such plants were one of the key links in the agricultural monopoly controlled by the state, but with the transition to a free market, this asset became non-core for the state.
The SPF noted that most of the plants cannot be called successful, but these assets have excellent investment potential, since they were created as production sites in profitable locations and with a developed logistics infrastructure. The enterprises have powerful elevators and access to railways, as well as developed capacities for storage or transshipment of products.
The fund said that the privatization of grain processing factories is beneficial for all participants in the process: the state fills the budget and receives a revival of economic activity, investors – assets important for business development, and local communities – jobs and development of territories.
Dunaivtsi grain processing factory is engaged in the production of products of the flour and cereal industry and feed for animals kept on farms, wholesale trade in grain, unprocessed tobacco, seeds and animal feed.
The fund noted that the asset consists of buildings and structures with a total area of 79,800 square meters, including an administrative building, a canteen, bakeries, elevators, a mill, a laboratory, warehouses, workshops, garages and other outbuildings. The total area of the enterprise’s land plots is 67.3 hectares, on which there is the necessary technological equipment and communications: water supply, electricity, sewerage and access roads.
The plant in 2020 reduced its net profit by 14.2% compared to 2019, to UAH 2.26 million, its assets increased 2.4 times, to UAH 193.66 million, and total accounts receivable decreased by 16.9%, to UAH 20.24 million.
Kokhavynska paper factory (Lviv region), a tissue and toilet paper producer (the Kokhavynka trademark), in January 2020 increased production by 2.8% compared with January 2019, to UAH 42.09 million.
According to the UkrPapir association, production of paper at the factory in kind decreased 5.7%, to 3,150 tonnes. At the same time, production of toilet paper fell by 10.5%, to 8.6 million rolls (a total of 55 million rolls was made in Ukraine in January 2020, a rise of 1.7%).
Kokhavynska paper factory has been operating since 1939. The factory producers base paper for hygienic goods, toilet paper and paper towels. The capacity of paper making machines is 19,000 tonnes per year, processing equipment 90 million rolls a year.
The factory exports about 40% of the products. The main consumers abroad are the Czech Republic, Romania, as well as companies from Belarus, Moldova, Hungary, and the Netherlands.
As reported, in 2019, the factory produced goods worth UAH 547.64 million, which is 1.6% more than a year earlier, paper production grew by 2.3%, to 37,900 tonnes.
Kokhavynska paper factory (Lviv region), a tissue and toilet paper producer (the Kokhavynka trademark), in 2019 increased production by 1.6% compared with 2018, to UAH 547.64 million.
According to the Ukrpapir association, production of paper at the factory in kind increased 2.3%, to 37,900 tonnes. At the same time, production of toilet paper rose by 2.4%, to 113.69 million rolls (a total of 677.38 million rolls was made in Ukraine in 2019, a rise of 4.4%).
Kokhavynska paper factory has been operating since 1939. The factory producers base paper for hygienic goods, toilet paper and paper towels. The capacity of paper making machines is 19,000 tonnes per year, processing equipment 90 million rolls a year.
The factory exports about 40% of the products. The main consumers abroad are the Czech Republic, Romania, as well as companies from Belarus, Moldova, Hungary, and the Netherlands.
As reported, in 2018, the factory produced goods worth UAH 538.78 million, which is 27.8% more than a year earlier, paper production grew by 11%, to 37,050 tonnes.
JTI Ukraine, a large tobacco company, after a meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and ministers on Thursday has said that it resumes production at its factory in Kremenchuk (Poltava region) following the similar announcement made by British American Tobacco Ukraine.
“After yesterday’s fruitful meeting with the President of Ukraine, we decided to fully resume production of cigarettes at the Kremenchuk factory. From Monday, November 11, the JTI Ukraine factory will resume production at all lines,” Director Corporate Affairs at JT International Ukraine Gintautas Dirgela told Interfax-Ukraine on Friday.
As reported, British American Tobacco Ukraine after a meeting with Zelensky and ministers on November 7 has announced the resumption of production at the B.A.T.-Pryluky plant (Chernihiv region), starting from November 8, 2019.
“We heard words of support and assurances about an early solution to the problem that has damaged our industry and the country’s economy as a whole. Therefore, despite some uncertainty about the fate of bill No. 1049, but relying on the president’s guarantees, we plan to gradually restore production in Pryluky, starting as early as November 8, 2019,” the company said in the statement.
British American Tobacco Ukraine on October 11, 2019 stopped production at B.A.T.-Pryluky plant. The company explained its decision by the adoption by the Verkhovna Rada of bill No. 1049 with the norm on the state regulation of the trade margin on cigarettes. Then the company turned to the State Fiscal Service to withdraw 25 million excise stamps and return UAH 505 million paid for them.
JTI Ukraine, one of the largest tobacco companies in Ukraine, on October 22 said that it refused to pay for 16 million excise labels worth UAH 350 million in connection with the reduction of production over the adoption of bill No. 1049 containing a requirement of regulating the cigarette markup. The company cut production by 73% compared with its plans in the second half of October.
Earlier Philip Morris Ukraine, British American Tobacco, JTI and Imperial Tobacco in Ukraine are mulling the possibility of decreasing production and later closing the tobacco factories on the territory of Ukraine over the adoption of the legislative requirement on the government regulation of markup on their goods by the Verkhovna Rada.
Bill No. 1049, passed at second reading, introducing a single account for paying taxes and duties, the single social security contribution, sets a fixed markup for wholesale and retail traders of tobacco products at 7% and 13% of the maximum retail price per package.
Vasyl Khmelnytsky’s K.Fund is about to open UNIT Factory, a school for programmers in Kharkiv, K.Fund’s press service told Interfax-Ukraine on Thursday.
K.Fund notes that UNIT Factory will prepare programmers using its own ucode curriculum, one of the key features of which is the challenge-based learning methods, that is, solving real-life problems for obtaining applied knowledge.
“This methodology was initiated by Apple and is used in the Apple Developer Academy where students not only learn how to write code, but also create ready-to-market products,” it said.
In addition, it indicates that in the new UNIT Factory campus in Kharkiv, students will be able to master such programming languages and technologies as C, C++, Web (HTML, CSS, JS, PHP) and Java. Duration of training is from one to two years (depending on the progress of a student).
Participants for the UNIT Factory program will be qualified through a so-called marathon, which will last about a month and will start on September 30, 2019 (in total, three marathons are planned this year), K.Fund said.
Training will begin in the middle of January 2020 and will cost UAH 15,000 per calendar year. Any person who is 17 or older can register for the qualification stage.
“We are pleased with the success of UNIT Factory and expand it by introducing new educational practices. For two years, we have been investing in the development of ucode, the program built on Challenge-Based Learning meeting the requirements of the modern world. We want our talented youth to have access to high-quality, up-to-date IT education and find a well-paid job here in Ukraine,” Vasyl Khmelnytsky, Founder of UFuture Investment Group, said.
K.Fund was founded by Ukrainian businessman Vasyl Khmelnytsky in 2015 to support projects in the field of education and economics.
UNIT Factory is a project of K.Fund, founded by Vasyl Khmelnytsky, and supported by a non-profit public organization, Osvіtorіa. Its mission is to promote Ukraine’s innovative development through training of IT professionals.
Roshen Corporation will allocate UAH 160.4 million for the second stage of reconstruction of Kyiv Confectionary Factory Roshen, PrJSC Kyiv Confectionery Factory Roshen said in the information disclosure system of the National Commission on Securities and the Stock Market. According to the company, the funds will be used for landscaping the territory with the arrangement of a fountain in the territory of the confectionery factory at 1 Nauky Avenue in Holosiyivsky district of the capital. The general contractor of the work is European Construction Technologies LLC.
As reported, Roshen in 2018 announced the investment of UAH 90 million in the creation of a public space in the territory of the factory. The provisional name of the reconstruction project is Roshen Plaza.
According to the company, the factory does not cease to exist, but its capacity is reduced. Part of the production premises will remain in the factory’s territory, the company’s office and public facilities will be located in one of the buildings.
Roshen Corporation is one of the top 30 largest confectionery manufacturers in the world.
The Roshen network in Ukraine includes 50 stores in five regions of Ukraine. The first one opened in Kyiv in 2009. The corporation annually opens five or six stores.
