Business news from Ukraine

Business news from Ukraine

“Nova Poshta” obtains $20 mln loan to expand Lviv hub

Nova Poshta LLC has taken out a $20 million loan from Credit Agricole Bank to buy out a cargo and postal terminal in Lviv region to improve the company’s logistics capacities in western Ukraine.
“The loan term is five years. The money will be used to develop a logistics hub in Lviv,” Nova Poshta said in a statement on Monday.
It is specified that the loan funds will also be used to automate and install new modern sorting lines, which will triple the hub’s capacity.
“This is not the first loan to Nova Poshta from Credit Agricole, and the new agreement is a consistent development of our strategic cooperation. When the time comes to finance large-scale international projects, we want to have a reliable credit reputation with leading European banks,” Petro Fokov, CFO of NOVA Group, said in the release.
Nova Poshta LLC, the largest logistics operator in Ukraine from the NOVA group, intends to acquire Nova Development LLC (Sokilnyky village, Lviv district, Lviv region), whose main activity is the lease and operation of its own or leased real estate.
As reported, at the end of February this year, the Antimonopoly Committee of Ukraine granted Nova Poshta permission to purchase more than 50% of Nova Development, the legal successor of Best Logistics Group, which was engaged in the construction and leasing of logistics complexes and was part of the full-cycle development holding Globus.
“Best Logistics Group has already cooperated with Nova Poshta during the construction of a sorting terminal in Lviv in 2019, with investments of almost EUR 10 million, with Nova Poshta’s investment of approximately EUR 4 million. According to Vyacheslav Klimov, co-founder of NOVA Group, Nova Poshta was responsible for the equipment, while Best Logistics Group was responsible for the construction of the building.
The authorized capital of Nova Development, according to the state register, is UAH 186.4 million, while that of Best Logistics Group was UAH 1 million. Volodymyr Fenyk is listed as a beneficiary through the corporate venture investment fund Magistrate Invest.
According to Nova Poshta’s report for the first half of 2024, its debt to banks as of the middle of this year amounted to UAH 3.4 billion, including UAH 489.2 million to a subsidiary of a French bank, UAH 1 billion 474.6 million to an Austrian bank, UAH 420.3 million to a Hungarian bank, and UAH 4.4 million to a German bank, as well as two loans from a Ukrainian bank worth UAH 747.7 million.
In the first half of 2024, Nova Poshta LLC increased its unconsolidated net income by 20.1% to UAH 20.12 billion, but the company’s net profit decreased by 38.1% to UAH 1.49 billion.

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“Nova Poshta” has issued bonds for one bln hryvnias

Nova Poshta LLC, the largest logistics operator in Ukraine and a member of the NOVA group, has fully placed its issue of interest-bearing unsecured F series bonds with a total nominal value of one billion UAH.
According to the National Securities and Stock Market Commission (NSSMC), the company registered the report on the results of the issue on August 14, while the issue was initially registered on April 26 this year.
According to the report for the first half of 2024, the bonds will mature on June 10, 2026, bear interest at 16% per annum, mature on June 5, 2026, and have a nominal value of UAH one thousand.
Nova Poshta registered a report on the placement of the previous series E issue of the same volume with maturity on August 8, 2025 and an interest rate of 17% per annum with the NSSMC on July 4 this year. Most of it, worth UAH 650 million, was purchased in May by Oschadbank (Kyiv). It was clarified that this is the third transaction since 2019 for the state-owned bank to finance Nova Poshta by purchasing corporate bonds.
Both series of bonds were placed without a public offering on the over-the-counter market.
As of the middle of this year, Nova Poshta’s liabilities on the E series bonds amounted to UAH 995.16 million, F series – UAH 994.88 million, and on the previously issued D series bonds maturing at the end of January 2025 – UAH 818.51 million.
As of the end of June this year, Nova Poshta’s total liabilities on bonds amounted to UAH 2 billion 808.55 million, while its liabilities to banks amounted to UAH 3 billion 136.12 million, and the total amount of liabilities and collateral amounted to UAH 15 billion 562.04 billion.
As reported, in 2023, Nova Poshta made two bond issues – “C” and “D” – each with a nominal amount of UAH 800 million. The C series bonds were issued for a 12-month term with a 24% p.a. rate, while the D series bonds were issued for 20 months with a 23% p.a. rate.
Earlier, in February 2023, the company redeemed the UAH 700 million Series B bonds issued in March 2020.
In the first half of 2024, Nova Poshta LLC increased its unconsolidated net income by 20.1% to UAH 20.12 billion, but the company’s net profit decreased by 38.1% to UAH 1.49 billion.

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“Nova Poshta” increases parcel deliveries by 17%

Nova Poshta LLC delivered 222 million parcels and cargoes in January-June 2024, up 17% compared to the same period in 2023, the company said on Monday.
“We have expanded our network of branches by more than 3.5 thousand service points and already have 30,550 branches and post offices. Of these, 12,180 are branches and 18,370 are post offices… 350 new branches and post offices were opened in the frontline areas,” the company said in a release.
According to the release, Nova Poshta’s capital investments in infrastructure development throughout Ukraine amounted to UAH 3.6 billion in January-June 2024, which is 47% more than in January-June 2023.
“By the end of 2024, the planned volume of investments is more than UAH 8 billion,” the statement said.
It is noted that the companies of the NOVA group paid UAH 5.8 billion in taxes and fees to local and state budgets in the first half of the year, which is 12% more than in the first half of 2023. In particular, Nova Poshta transferred UAH 4.5 billion, NovaPay – UAH 0.7 billion, Nova Digital – UAH 86 million, and Nova Global – UAH 66 million.
In addition, in the first half of 2024, Nova Poshta delivered 30 thousand tons of humanitarian aid in the framework of the Humanitarian Nova Poshta project.
As reported, Nova Poshta increased its unconsolidated net income in the first half of 2024 by 20.1% to UAH 20.12 billion, while the company’s net profit decreased by 38.1% to UAH 1.49 billion.

Ukraine’s Nova Poshta continues to expand its presence in Italian cities

“Nova Poshta, part of the Nova group of companies, opened a post office in the Italian capital Rome this weekend, the second city where the Ukrainian company has a presence in the country after it entered the Italian market with the opening of its first office in Milan last December.

“I think that Naples or Verona will be the next cities in Italy. These two cities are in the near future. We haven’t found premises there yet, but there will be openings,” Vyacheslav Klimov, co-founder of Nova Poshta and Nova, told Interfax-Ukraine during the opening.

According to him, at the same time, the company will increase targeted delivery to any location in Italy by building contacts with local market leaders to gain access to their networks, branches and post offices.

Klimov also said that Nova Poshta also plans to offer domestic delivery in Italy.

“One of the company’s strategic principles is fast.
We don’t know how to deliver for a long time. Now it (domestic delivery) will definitely be between Milan and Rome, it will definitely be next day delivery,” the co-owner said.

In a press release, Nova Poshta also noted that along with the opening of the Rome office, it began delivering parcels to partner post offices and delivery points located throughout the country, with delivery time to Ukraine starting at 7 days.

The Rome branch is open daily, and customers can send documents, parcels and cargo up to 100 kg to and from Ukraine, within the country and between the European countries of Nova Poshta’s presence.

It is specified that Nova Poshta’s own courier delivery will soon start operating in Rome and the suburbs, as it already does in Milan, and thanks to cooperation with local logistics companies, customers will be able to send parcels across the country.

In particular, since June, customers have been able to use a new delivery service to post offices and parcel delivery points from the GLS partner network operating in any part of the country. At such service points, customers can receive prepaid parcels weighing up to 25 kg and no more than 41x38x64 cm. Thus, according to the release, today the Nova Poshta network in Italy consists of two branches, 2000 post offices and 4500 parcel delivery points.

Italy, according to Eurostat, is the fifth largest European country with the number of Ukrainians with temporary protection status: at the end of May, there were 165.13 thousand of them, which is 0.50 thousand more than in April.

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Nova Poshta has placed bonds for UAH 1 bln

Nova Poshta LLC, the largest logistics operator in Ukraine and a member of the NOVA group, has fully placed its issue of interest-bearing unsecured E series bonds with a total nominal value of UAH 1 billion.
According to a report by the National Securities and Stock Market Commission (NSSMC), the company registered the report on the results of the issue on July 4, while the issue was initially registered on April 26 this year.
On May 21, the State Oschadbank (Kyiv) announced that it had entered into an agreement with Nova Poshta to purchase 15-month series E bonds worth UAH 650 million. It was clarified that this is the third deal since 2019 to finance Nova Poshta by the state-owned bank through the purchase of corporate bonds.
“Thanks to the financing raised, Nova Poshta has the opportunity to actively invest in the development and improvement of operational processes, quickly recover from the shelling of infrastructure, and our customers can continue to receive quality service,” Serhiy Yermolenko, Director of the Corporate Finance Department of the NOVA Group, was quoted as saying.
As reported, on April 26, the NSSMC also registered a UAH 1 billion issue of F series bonds on April 26, but there is no information on the results of this issue yet.
According to the 2023 report, the public offering of E series bonds started on February 19 this year, F series – on March 19, and their maturity dates are February 18 and March 18, 2027, respectively.
In 2023, Nova Poshta made two bond issues – “C” and “D” – each with a nominal amount of UAH 800 million. The C series bonds were issued for a 12-month term with a 24% p.a. interest rate, while the D series bonds were issued for a 20-month term with a 23% p.a. interest rate.
Earlier, in February 2023, Nova Poshta redeemed the UAH 700 million of Series B bonds issued in March 2020.
In 2023, the consolidated net income of “Nova Poshta” LLC amounted to UAH 43.65 billion, which is 53.3% more than in 2022, and the consolidated net profit reached UAH 4.28 billion, which is 31.1% better than in 2022.
According to its unconsolidated financial statements, in 2023, Nova Poshta LLC increased its net profit by 85.7% to UAH 3 billion 967.2 million, while its revenue increased by 54% to UAH 36.47 billion.

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“Nova Poshta” has entered French market

Nova group of companies has entered the French market by opening its first branch in Nice, which became the hundredth branch opened outside Ukraine in Europe, the group’s press service said on Saturday.
“We plan to open in Paris and Lyon by the end of the year, and then in other major cities – Lille, Toulouse and Bordeaux,” said Vladimir Popereshnyuk, co-owner of the NOVA group of companies.
He clarified that France became the 14th European country to enter the market.
According to the press release, Nova Post’s post office in Nice accepts parcels up to 100 kg, with delivery costs of UAH 900 for documents, UAH 950, UAH 1.5 thousand and UAH 2.5 thousand for parcels up to 2 kg, 10 kg and 30 kg, respectively. For parcels over 30 kg, customers will have to pay an additional UAH 100 for each kilogram of parcel.
Customers can also order courier delivery of parcels up to 1 thousand kg to any address in France. For parcels up to 30 kg, you will have to pay an additional UAH 100, or UAH 250 for every 100 kg of weight if the cargo is over 30 kg.
The company’s partner in targeted services is the local company Chronopost. You can send a parcel from Ukraine to one of the 17 thousand Chronopost parcel delivery points located throughout France.
It is specified that thanks to its partners, Nova Poshta now has more than 35 thousand service points in Europe.

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