The state-owned Oschadbank (Kyiv) has provided the Lviv City Council with a second loan of UAH 668 million for a term of five years to improve energy efficiency and municipal facilities.
“Oschadbank has signed another loan agreement with the Lviv City Council—the second in the last six months—for UAH 668 million,” Oschadbank CEO Serhiy Naumov said on Telegram.
Other terms of the loan have not been disclosed.
The total amount of loans provided by Oschadbank to the Lviv City Council under signed agreements has already exceeded UAH 1.5 billion, the bank said.
It is noted that the funds will be used to develop strategic urban infrastructure, in particular roads and housing and communal services, and one of the main areas of use will be improving energy efficiency.
“The money will go to a biogas plant with combined production of electricity and heat, an electrical substation, a boiler room with connection to a cogeneration unit, and investments in the company Lvivteploenergo,” Naumov added.
As reported, Oschadbank’s share in energy lending in the first quarter of 2025 exceeded 31%. During 2024-2025, contracts worth over EUR 85 million were signed in the corporate business segment with its participation, in particular for projects to develop energy generation and storage. These include the first case on the market of bank lending for a project to install 30 MW of energy storage systems to provide ancillary services, which was implemented by KNESS as part of a tender by NEC Ukrenergo.
Lviv Locomotive Repair Plant (LLRP), part of Ukrzaliznytsia, plans to repair 17 locomotives in 2025, compared to 16 in 2024, according to information about plans for the current year in the company’s report for the previous year.
According to LLRZ, it also plans to increase the repair of traction motors and their anchors by 30% to 495 units, and auxiliary electric machines by 19.2% (or 30 units) to 186 units.
At the same time, the production plan for the repair of wheel sets is 450 units, compared to 556 units repaired last year.
According to the plant, last year it repaired, in monetary terms, locomotives worth UAH 453.26 million (55% of total sales), wheel sets worth UAH 171.84 million (21%), traction motors worth UAH 99.5 million (12%), and their anchors worth UAH 55.2 million (7%).
In 2024, the plant increased its net profit by 55% compared to 2023, to UAH 24 million, with net income growing by 39% to UAH 827.7 million.
Operating profit increased by 29.8% to UAH 31.3 million, and gross profit by 27.8% to UAH 62.3 million.
“Capital investments in 2024 amounted to UAH 16.522 million. We also saw an increase in EBITDA of UAH 7.9 million, reflecting a trend towards improvement in the company’s financial position compared to last year,” the report says.
At the beginning of this year, the plant employed 846 people (599 of whom were men).
Founded in 1861, LLRZ is now a large Ukrainian enterprise specializing in the repair of electric locomotives, traction motors, and wheel sets.
Kovalska Group is completing the construction of the first phase of a modern autoclaved aerated concrete plant in Rozvadiv village (Lviv region) and has completed the installation of equipment and is preparing for commissioning, the company’s press service reports.
“Investments in the construction of two stages will amount to more than EUR 100 million. This is the largest project in the company’s history. We are building the plant in accordance with European standards, with increased requirements for quality, environmental friendliness, and efficiency. The products will be sold both in Ukraine and abroad,” the group’s CEO Sergiy Pylypenko was quoted as saying in the release.
The first stage’s capacity will allow it to produce almost 600 thousand square meters of aerated concrete products annually, including blocks, panels, U-blocks and reinforced elements. After the second stage is commissioned, the capacity will increase to 1.2 million square meters per year, making Kovalska Aerated Concrete one of the largest producers of autoclaved aerated concrete in Ukraine.
The enterprise is being built on an industrial site of over 140 hectares located 40 km from Lviv, where lime and sand quarries and industrial assets for their processing are already operating.
A Siltek dry mix plant is planned to be built within the same area, which, together with the aerated concrete plant and quarries, will form Kovalska’s western industrial hub, located in close proximity to partners and customers, as well as to the European border.
During construction, special attention was paid to infrastructure.
In addition to the production lines, an administrative and amenity complex, repair shops, warehouses, a hotel, a space with a shop, a food court, a sports ground and a parking area are being built on the site. The architectural design of the complex will reflect Kovalska’s approach to construction: quality, functionality, recognizable style and aesthetics. The non-industrial part of the infrastructure will be open to residents of Rozvadov and guests of the enterprise.
According to the Group’s earnings reports, in 2024, the Group earned UAH 32 million 870 thousand in net profit, which is 24.4% lower than in 2023.
Kovalska Industrial and Construction Group LLC was founded in 2007. The ultimate beneficiaries are Oleksandr and Serhiy Pylypenko (33% each), Volodymyr Surup (17.3%) and Mykola Subotenko (16.7%).
The authorized capital of the group is UAH 62 million 289 thousand 815.
The occupancy rate of Lviv hotels in 2024 dropped to 49% compared to 52% in the same period in 2023, the press service of the Hotel Matrix hotel analytics project reports.
“The year 2024 was a period of significant changes for the Lviv hotel market: the city lost part of its business tourism status to Kyiv. The decline in corporate and business bookings led to a decrease in overall occupancy, which, despite active attempts to increase ADR, could not fully compensate for this loss, leading to a decrease in annual RevPAR compared to 2023,” Hotel Matrix reported.
According to Hotel Matrix, the average daily rate (ADR) for the reporting period amounted to UAH 2785, which is 5.8% more than in the same period in 2023. At the same time, RevPAR (revenue per available room per day) decreased by 3.2% to UAH 1375.
“Despite the 5.8% increase in the average room rate, it was not enough to compensate for the decline in occupancy. This indicates that Lviv hotels, although they were able to adapt their tariff policy, were unable to cope with the complete loss of customer flows, which led to a decline in RevPAR in 2024,” the study says.
It is noted that Lviv hotels should revise their hotel strategies for 2025 to compensate for these changes in the dynamics of customer flow.
Hotel Matrix is a web-based hotel analytics product developed by experts from Poland and Ukraine. It was launched in May 2020. Currently, 200 hotels are connected to Hotel Matrix.
PJSC Concern Khlibprom (Lviv), one of Ukraine’s largest producers of bread and bakery products, posted a net loss of UAH 65.667 million in 2024, compared to a net profit of UAH 70.83 million a year earlier.
According to the agenda of the annual general meeting of shareholders scheduled for April 30 this year in remote mode, the shareholders are proposed to cover the net loss of UAH 161,366 thousand incurred by the company in 2024 at the expense of deferred income, and not to accrue or pay dividends.
In addition, the shareholders are proposed to approve the report of the management and the supervisory board on the financial and economic activities of the company for 2024, to recognize the work of the management and the supervisory board as satisfactory. They also have to approve the reports and conclusions of the audit firm Nexia DK Audit LLC and decide on the need to take the measures recommended by the auditor.
According to Opendatabot, in 2024, Concern Khlibprom PJSC increased its revenue by 7.4% to UAH 2.036 billion, its debt obligations by 1.5 times to UAH 567.38 million, and its assets by 11.4% to UAH 1.19 billion. At the same time, the number of employees decreased by 52 people to 2,601. The company’s authorized capital is UAH 163.55 million.
Concern Khlibprom is one of the largest enterprises in the Ukrainian bread market, producing up to 200 tons of products daily: bread, bakery, confectionery and semi-finished dough products. The company has five processing plants located in Lviv and Vinnytsia regions. It owns the Khlibna Khata, Vinnytsiakhlib, Khlib po-Lvivski, Lyublyanna, Bandinelli, and Panerini trademarks.
The company’s beneficiary is Natalia Antonova, the ex-wife of OKKO Group majority owner Vitaliy Antonov. In October 2024, she acquired a 25.3% stake in Concern Khlibprom from Universal Investment Group LLC and became the owner of 98.1% of the company’s shares.
Director General of the King Daniel Halytskyi International Airport “Lviv” (LWO) Tetyana Romanovska said that the airport may resume flights in late spring or early summer “under an optimistic scenario,” the Lviv edition of High Castle reports.
“We would like the opening of the airport to take place in the summer period, because we understand that the main air traffic falls on vacations, summer and when the day is long. If it happens as early as April or May, it will be very good for us,” Romanovskaya said in an interview.
She added that “five to seven” airlines are ready to work in Lviv, within a month after the launch of the terminal.
“Wizzair, Air Baltic, Turkish Airlines, Sky Up, Austrian Airlines, Lufthansa, LOT are ready to fly from Lviv. Now we are talking about restoring regular flights from Lviv. Sky Up airline is likely to try to return charter flights. They have a good network of routes in Europe”, – said the head of the airport.
