Business news from Ukraine

METINVEST PAYS $22.6 MLN COUPON ON EUROBONDS

Metinvest B.V. (the Netherlands), the parent company of the Metinvest mining and metallurgical group, paid a $22.6 million coupon on newly issued eurobonds maturing in 2029.
“We paid the coupon. This is a regular payment. The company usually does not make any announcements on such payments,” the Metinvest’s press service told Interfax-Ukraine.
Metinvest issued 2029 bonds on October 17, 2019 as part of the group’s successful debut placement of bonds in two currencies and the completion of a transaction to extend the maturity of outstanding eurobonds. In particular, 10-year $500 million eurobonds were placed at 7.95% per annum and five-year EUR 300 million eurobonds at 5.75% per annum.
Bond -2029 were added to the high-yield CEMBI indices after their regular recalculation on November 29, 2019: CEMBI Broad and CEMBI Broad Diversified.

ENTERPRISES OF METINVEST GROUP RECEIVE $54 MLN FROM OPERATIONAL IMPROVEMENTS IN Q1

The enterprises of Metinvest Group, the largest Ukrainian mining and metallurgical holding, according to the results of operational improvement measures implemented in January-March 2020 brought $53.8 million of economic effect, of which about $25 million fell to Mariupol-based Illich Iron and Steel Works and Azovstal Iron and Steel Works.
The Metinvest-Mariupol division said on its Facebook page on Monday, May 4, that the greatest result was made by Azovstal, which reduced electricity consumption in the thick-sheet workshop and significantly reduced the length of the sheet production by using a manual marker for machine sheet marking after hot plate leveller. In the lime-burning workshop, the amount of calcine limestone was increased by 2% at a similar gas flow rate due to a change in the torch type of the furnace burner. Due to the implementation of these and other measures, the metallurgical plant saved $17.6 million.
In turn, Illich Iron and Steel Works in the first quarter following the replacement of four furnace carriage coke feed in the blast-furnace workshop with the three furnace carriage coke feed reduced coke and electricity consumption. In the lime-burning workshop, an increase in the load weight of 60 kg per furnace carriage allowed to save natural gas, without reducing the productivity and quality characteristics of the products. Due to a qualitatively new interaction between the remote sections of combined heat and power plants (CHPP), which previously belonged to CHPP-1 and CHPP-2, the minimum emission of blast furnace gas to flare was achieved and additional electricity generation was obtained. The economic effect of operational improvements introduced at the plant amounted to $7.3 million in January-March 2020.
Metinvest Group is a vertically integrated group of steel and mining companies that manages every link of the value chain, from mining and processing iron ore and coal to making and selling semi-finished and finished steel products. It comprises steel and mining production facilities located in Ukraine, Europe and the United States, as well as a sales network covering all key global markets. Metinvest business is divided for financial reporting purposes into two segments: metallurgical and mining. The group ended the first quarter with revenues of $2.9 billion and an EBITDA margin was 15%.
Metinvest Holding LLC is the management company of Metinvest Group.

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METINVEST INCREASES REVENUE TO $860 MLN IN FEB

The revenue of Metinvest B.V. (the Netherlands), the parent company of Metinvest mining and smelting group, in February 2020 increased by 4.8%, or $39 million, compared to the previous month, to $860 million from $821 million.
According to the company’s preliminary unaudited consolidated monthly financial statements, EBITDA for February totaled $129 million, which is $56 million more than in January ($73 million), while EBITDA from participation in the joint venture was $10 million (in January $7 million).
According to the report, the adjusted EBITDA of the group’s metallurgical division for February 2020 amounted to $46 million (in January $12 million), including minus $10 million from participation in the joint venture (minus $8 million), the EBITDA of the mining division is $102 million (in January $75 million), including $20 million ($15 million) from the joint venture. The management company’s expenses amounted to $7 million ($6 million).
Total revenue in February consisted of $682 million in sales of the metal division ($681 million in January), mining $248 million ($234 million), and intra-group sales of $70 million ($94 million).
The total debt of the company in February increased by $65 million compared with January, to $3.092 billion from $3.027 billion. At the same time, cash flow decreased by $38 million, to $253 million from $291 million.
The funds used in investment activities amounted to $74 million, in financing activities $71 million.

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METINVEST COMPLETES ACQUISITION OF 73% STAKE IN DNIPROVSKY COKE CHEMICAL PLANT

Metinvest B.V. (the Netherlands), the parent company of Metinvest Group, has completed the acquisition of a stake in PrJSC Dniprovsky Coke and Chemical Plant (formerly Evraz-Dniprodzerzhynsk Coke and Chemical Plant, Dnipropetrovsk region) and currently owns about 73% of the shares of the enterprise.
“In 2014, Metinvest Group sent an application to the Antimonopoly Committee of Ukraine (AMC) for the acquisition of a controlling stake in Dniprodzerzhynsk Coke and Chemical Plant. About a year ago, the AMC approved this deal subject to a number of restrictions. Currently, Metinvest has become the owner of approximately 73% of the shares in the plant,” the company’s press service told Interfax-Ukraine.
As reported, the Antimonopoly Committee of Ukraine allowed Metinvest B.V. to establish control over the plant in connection with plans to commission new coke and chemical facilities at other plants and additional obligations of the group.
Prior to this, Metinvest received a number of permits from the antitrust authorities of other countries to acquire this enterprise, however, the transaction was not officially announced, the transfer of the plant to the group was not confirmed.
According to the National Depository of Ukraine, in the fourth quarter of 2019 Misandaiko Holdings Ltd. and Mastinto Trading Ltd. (both Cyprus) owned 23.6384% of the charter capital each, Metinvest B.V. (the Netherlands) held some 47.28%.
The charter capital of the plant is UAH 170.584 million.

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METINVEST INTERNATIONAL VERTICALLY INTEGRATED MINING AND METAL GROUP CUTS NET PROFIT IN 2019

Metinvest B.V. (the Netherlands), the parent company of the Metinvest international vertically integrated mining and metal group, cut net profit by 71.5% in 2019 compared with 2018, to $341 million from $1.188 billion with the decline in margin by 7 percentage point (pp), from 10% to 3%.
According to the audited consolidated financial results for 2019 released by the company on Wednesday, its revenue for decreased 10%б to $10.757 billion, earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) fell by 52%, to $1.213 billion with a drop in margin of 10 pp, to 11% from 21%.
The total debt of the company in 2019 increased 11% compared to 2018, to 3.032 billion from $2.743 billion. At the same time, cash and cash equivalents decreased 2%, to $274 million from $280 million.
Net debt grew by 12%, to $2.758 billion.
Capital investment increased 17%, to $1.055 billion from $898 million.
The main shareholders of Metinvest are SCM Group (71.24%) and Smart Holding (23.76%), jointly managing the company.
Metinvest Holding LLC is the managing company of Metinvest Group.

METINVEST REPAYS PART OF DEBT OF $75 MLN AHEAD OF SCHEDULE

Metinvest B.V. (the Netherlands), the parent company of Metinvest mining and metallurgical group, has reduced its debt on pre-export financing by $75 million, to $406 million by early repayment of part of this debt.
According to the company’s press release, this move exempts Metinvest from scheduled payments of the principal amount over the next few months, which will provide greater financial flexibility for the group during the period of lower steel prices.
“This payment is the planned use of part of net proceeds from the recent issue of bonds denominated in two currencies, which was made to extend the maturity of the group’s eurobonds and received significant support from the global community of investors and the leading European financial institutions,” the press release reads.
As reported, in April 2018 Metinvest refinanced $2.271 billion in debt, issuing two tranches of bonds in the amount of $1.592 billion and received a pre-export credit line of $765 million. This is Metinvest’s largest issue of eurobonds with the lowest coupon so far and the longest maturity. It is also the largest issue of eurobonds in the Ukrainian corporate sector. The deal received significant support from the global community of investors and the leading European financial institutions. The joint managers of the transaction were Deutsche Bank, ING Bank (both London branches), Natixis (France), and UniCredit Bank (Germany).