Business news from Ukraine

“Interpipe” has increased its profit by 2.6 times in Q1

The international vertically integrated steel pipe and railway wheel company Interpipe in January – March this year increased its net profit by 2.6 times against the same period last year – up to $57.142 mn from $21.779 mn.

According to the interim report of the company on the operating and financial results for the first three months of 2023, its pretax profit amounted to $74.448 million compared to $29.202 million in the first quarter of 2022.

At the same time, Interpipe in January-March 2023 increased its free cash and cash equivalents from $153.777 million on January 1, 2023 to $207.824 million on March 31, 2023 (January 1, 2022 was $109.627 million, March 31, 2022 – $165.561 million).

EBITDA in Q1-2023 amounted to $79.427 million, while in Q1-2022 it was $15.139 million.

At the same time, the company cut its revenue by 4% to $229.291 mln from $239.185 mln.

As it was reported, steel output in January-March 2023 increased by 13% to 184 thnd mt compared to January-March 2022, pipes – by 12% to 105 thnd mt, but the railway production decreased by 13% to 20 thnd mt. The sales of products decreased by 23%, to 108 thousand tons, including pipes – by 20%, to 82 thousand tons, railway products – by 27%, to 19 thousand tons, steel billets – by 50%, to 6 thousand tons.

Net leverage ratio strengthened to 0.7x.

At the same time, the press release noted that in early 2023, production at all Interpipe enterprises was negatively affected by tight limits on electricity consumption by industrial consumers. However, already in March the situation improved due to removal of these restrictions.

Andriy Korotkov, the general director of Interpipe, stated that starting from the middle of the quarter, the company’s plants returned to stable operation, without any “broken” schedules. This made it possible to increase production at the end of the quarter, and in some segments, for example, in the pipe division, to get somewhat closer to the pre-war level.

“Even in difficult military conditions, Interpipe continues to fulfill all orders and delivers products to customers quickly and on time. Significant support is provided by the extension of the cancellation of all quotas and duties on Ukrainian goods by the United States and the EU,” the top manager noted.

“The net profit of Interpipe in 2022 is $204.441 mln, which is 2.2 times more than for the previous year ($91.316 mln). The pre-tax profit for last year was $220.579 million compared to $110.907 million for 2021. The revenue in 2022 decreased by 13.4% to $981.330 million from $1 billion 132.9 million a year earlier. At the same time, Interpipe has increased its free cash flow from $109.627 mln to $153.777 mln during the year.

“Due to the war, in 2022, Interpipe reduced EBITDA by 11% compared to the previous year – up to $204 million. Steel output in 2022 decreased 39% to 595 thousand tons, pipes – by 36% to 393 thousand tons, railway products – by 51% to 84 thousand tons.

Sales of products in the reporting period decreased by 37%, to 524 thousand tons, including pipes – by 36%, to 384 thousand tons, railway products – by 50%, to 87 thousand tons. Its sales revenues decreased by 13% to $981 mln, while net leverage remained at a strong and stable level of 1.1x.

“Interpipe is a Ukrainian industrial company producing seamless pipes and railroad wheels. The company supplies its products to over 80 countries all over the world through a network of sales offices located in the key markets of the Middle East, North America and Europe. In 2022, the company sold 384 thnd mt of tubes and 87 thnd mt of railroad products. The company sells its railroad products under the KLW brand.

Interpipe has 10 000 employees. In 2022 the company transferred 2.8 billion hryvnias to the budgets of all levels.

The company has five industrial assets: “Interpipe Nizhnedniprovsk Tube Rolling Plant (NTZ)”, “Interpipe Novomoskovsk Tube Plant (NMTZ)”, “Interpipe Niko-Tube”, “Dnepropetrovsk Vtormet” and the electric steelmaking complex “Dneprostal” under the “Interpipe Steel” brand.

The ultimate owner of Interpipe Limited is Ukrainian businessman Viktor Pinchuk and his family members.

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“Kernel” posted $69 million in net profit

“Kernel, one of Ukraine’s largest agro-industrial groups, in the third quarter of fiscal year 2023 (FY, January-March 2023), earned $69 million in net profit, while it ended the same period last year with a net loss of $103 million.
According to a financial report on the company’s Web site, the agriholding’s revenue fell 51 percent to $825 million in the reporting period.
EBITDA for the third quarter of 2023FY was $155 million, compared to a negative $32 million in 2022FY.
Compared to the previous quarter, net income decreased by 67%, EBITDA – by 44%, and revenue – by 33%, Kernel said.
Agroholding attributed this decrease to a decrease in both volumes and prices.
The company added that the net change in fair value of biological assets resulted in a loss of $11 million in January-March 2023, compared to a loss of $74 million in the same period the previous year.
“Kernel also recognized a $20 million asset impairment loss in the third quarter of fiscal 2023.
It is specified that in the structure of EBITDA the segment of infrastructure and trade in the third quarter of FY 2023 decreased by 32% year-on-year to $71 million, but was higher by 15% quarter-on-quarter, which was facilitated by a high trade markup on grain of Ukrainian origin.
Due to a decrease in world prices for grains and oilseeds in January-March 2023, the agriculture segment posted a $24 million loss in the reporting period.
According to the report, Kernel managed to reduce its net debt to $833 million as of March 31 this year from $1.048 billion at the beginning of the year and $1.715 billion at the end of March last year.
At the same time, agricultural stocks decreased to $497 million from $593 million and $1.181 billion, respectively.
Overall, Kernel increased its net profit by 36% YoY to $437 mln and EBITDA by 11% while revenues decreased by 45% to $2.715 bln in 9M2003.
As reported, Kernel ended FY2022 with a net loss of $41 million compared to $506 million in net income in the previous fiscal year on revenue down 5% to $5.332 billion.

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In 2022 Interpipe received $204 mln in net profit

The international vertically integrated pipe and wheel company Interpipe received $204.441 million of net profit in 2022, which is 2.2 times more than the previous year ($91.316 million).
According to the company’s annual report, last year’s pretax profit amounted to $220.579 million compared to $110.907 million in 2021.
The revenue in 2022 decreased by 13.4% – to $981.330 million from $1 billion 132.9 million a year earlier.
At the same time, Interpipe increased its free cash flow from $109.627 mln to $153.777 mln during the year.
As previously reported, due to the war, Interpipe’s EBITDA in 2022 decreased by 11% YoY to $204 mln. Steel output in 2022 decreased 39% to 595 thousand tons, pipes – 36%, to 393 thousand tons, railroad products – 51%, to 84 thousand tons.
Sales of products in the reporting period decreased by 37%, to 524 thousand tons, including pipes – by 36%, to 384 thousand tons, railway products – by 50%, to 87 thousand tons. Revenue from sales decreased by 13% to $981 mn, net leverage remained at a strong and stable level of 1.1x.
It was noted, however, that 2022 was an extremely difficult year for the company. After a large-scale invasion by Russian troops at the end of February, Interpipe’s management was forced to halt all production facilities for employee safety reasons. It was only in April and May that production was gradually resumed at all enterprises of the group.
However, it was not possible to reach the pre-war production level because Interpipe had to rearrange the logistics chain of shipping finished products through the ports of the European Union due to the blockade of the Black Sea ports, Russian bombing of the transport infrastructure and shortage of fuel. This led to a 2.5-3.5-fold increase in transportation costs, depending on the route.
In the fourth quarter of 2022, Russia began regularly attacking Ukraine’s power infrastructure, which led to several blackouts at the national and regional levels. As a result of the resulting power shortages in the country, strict limits were imposed on power consumption by industrial consumers, including Interpipe’s enterprises, which had a negative impact on production.
CEO of Interpipe Andrei Korotkov noted that in the last year’s very difficult conditions, the company retained its workforce and industrial assets.
“Unfortunately, we have not managed to return to the pre-war level of finished product production. At the same time we expect to somewhat improve production results in 2023, including due to the extension of the cancellation of all quotas and duties on Ukrainian goods by the USA and the EU. In addition, Interpipe remains a conscientious and reliable partner to its creditors and investors. The company continues to service and repay its loan obligations in full since the beginning of the full-scale invasion,” the CEO explained.
“Interpipe is a Ukrainian industrial company producing seamless pipes and railroad wheels. The company supplies its products to over 80 countries all over the world through a network of sales offices located in key markets in the Middle East, North America, and Europe. In 2022, the company sold 384 thnd mt of tubes and 87 thnd mt of railroad products. The company sells its railroad products under the KLW brand.
Interpipe has 10 000 employees. In 2022 the company transferred 2.8 billion hryvnias to the budgets of all levels.
The company has five industrial assets: “Interpipe Nizhnedniprovsk Tube Rolling Plant (NTZ)”, “Interpipe Novomoskovsk Tube Plant (NMTZ)”, “Interpipe Niko-Tube”, “Dnepropetrovsk Vtormet” and the electric steelmaking complex “Dneprostal” under the “Interpipe Steel” brand.
The ultimate owner of Interpipe Limited is Ukrainian businessman Viktor Pinchuk and his family members.

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Ukrnafta’s financial plan provides for 12bn hryvnyas in net profit in 2023

The Cabinet of Ministers approved the financial plan of PJSC Ukrnafta for 2023, which provides for 12 billion UAH of net profit, the head of the company Serhiy Koretskyy said on Facebook on Monday.
“For the first time in the years of the company’s existence, this document was prepared in accordance with the requirements of the law of Ukraine “On management of state property” and received five mandatory conclusions of the ministries,” Koretsky wrote.
The conclusions, in particular, received from the ministries of economy, defense, energy, digital transformation and finance.
The document provides for the company on the results of activity in 2023 74 billion UAH of net income, 12 billion UAH of net profit, 25 billion UAH of tax payments in favor of the state, including rent, income tax, VAT, payroll taxation, as well as 9 billion UAH of investments, including a record 5.5 billion UAH of investments in production.
“The actual results of work, which we openly communicate, prove that managerial decisions taken by the team are able to provide a stable rhythmic work of the enterprise and, as a consequence, the growth of income and profits,” said the head of Ukrnafta.
As it was reported, Ukrnafta finished the first quarter of 2023 with a net profit of UAH 4.3 billion.
This figure is equal to net profit received by the company for the whole 2020 (UAH 4.3 billion) and almost twice as much as the result for 2021 (UAH 2.4 billion).
Ukrnafta’s average daily oil output in the first quarter of 2023 amounted to 3.926 thousand tons, while the average daily output in 2022 was 3.753 thousand tons.
On November 5, 2022, the Supreme Commander in Chief decided to confiscate Ukrnafta shares (except for the controlling interest in Naftohaz Ukrainy) as military property of the state for the period of martial law. Prior to the seizure, the structures of Ihor Kolomoyskyy and Hennadiy Boholyubov owned about 42% of Ukrnafta shares.
As of the end of March 2023, Ukrnafta had 89 fields with 3.7 thousand oil and gas wells. The company operates 451 petrol stations.
“Ukrnafta in 2022 reduced its production of oil with condensate by 8.6% compared to 2021 – to 1.37 million tons.
“Ukrnafta” in 2023 plans to increase oil production by 5.8% (by 0.08 million tons) compared to last year – to 1.45 million tons, gas – by 0.3% (by 0.003 million cubic meters), to 1.04 billion cubic meters

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Dnipropetrovsk Aggregate Plant reduced its net profit by 23.6%

JSC “Dnipropetrovsk aggregate plant” (DAZ, Dnipro) in January-March 2023 received a net profit of 14.06 million UAH, which is 23.6% less than in the first quarter of 2022.
According to the company’s interim statements, published on Thursday in the information disclosure system of the National Commission on Securities and Stock Market (NKTSBFR), its net income increased by 8% – to UAH 55.47 million.
DAZ reduced its operating profit by 20.5% to UAH 20.31 mln, and its gross profit by 3.2% to UAH 34.39 mln.
Compared with the beginning of 2023 current liabilities of DAZ increased by 6.3% to UAH 281.34 million, while long-term liabilities decreased by 4.6% to UAH 68.13 million.
As noted in the report, the main risk factor for DAZ remains the military aggression of the Russian Federation against Ukraine. This affects the inflationary processes, affecting the growth of prices for materials, equipment and energy resources, and reduces the possibility of receiving funds amid growing needs for them.
DAZ is an enterprise with many years of experience in the production of aircraft equipment, which accounts for more than 2/3 of the total production volume, as well as hydraulic equipment for mines and general technical products (fuel and other liquid pumps).
Most of the products are sold in Ukraine, but in recent years there has been a significant increase in supplies to the EU
As it was reported, in 2022 the plant received UAH 36.72 mln of net profit, which is 15.6% more than a year before, while net profit increased by 1.4% to UAH 175.56 mln. The profit was directed to the development of production
DAZ believes that one of the key factors for its development in 2023 is to expand its stock of orders by 1.5 times by 2022.

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“Astarta” increased its net profit 6.2 times

Agropromholding Astarta, the largest sugar producer in Ukraine, received EUR16.13 mln in net profit in Q1 2023, which is 6.2 times more as compared to Q1 2022, according to the company report on the Warsaw Stock Exchange.
According to it, during this period revenues increased by 37.1% to EUR163.55 million, gross profit – 2.2 times to EUR59.71 million, operating – 2.4 times to EUR25.92 million and EBITDA – 63.5% to EUR37.91 million.
In UAH Astarta net profit in the first quarter of this year increased 7.5 times – to 632.59 million UAH, while revenues increased by 66.6% – to 6 billion 415.09 million UAH.
It is noted that all business segments have improved, but the best result was shown in the agricultural segment, which brought EUR80 million of revenue, which is 28% more than last year, which is 49% of the total consolidated revenue.
Revenue from the Sugar Production segment increased 86% over the same period last year, to EUR37 million, and revenue from the Soybean Processing segment increased 20%, to EUR31 million.
The livestock segment generated revenue of EUR11 million compared to EUR10 million in the first quarter of 2022.
In the structure of EBITDA the main shares are in the agriculture segment – EUR10.50 million (EUR12.74 million in the first quarter of 2022), sugar production – EUR11.66 million (EUR4.34 million) and soybean processing – EUR10.22 million (EUR4.24 million in the first quarter of 2022).
“Astarta noted that export revenues increased by 39% year-on-year to EUR98 million, accounting for 60% of total revenues.
It points out that capital investment in the first quarter of this year was EUR3.25 million compared to EUR4.84 million in the first quarter of last year, while net financial debt decreased during the quarter from EUR43 million to EUR17 million after bank debt and net debt decreased from EUR152 million to EUR130 million.
The report also states that Astarta is continuing its spring planting campaign in all seven of its areas of presence. Rainy and cold weather slowed it down, but was favorable for the development of winter crops.
The company has revised its 2023 crop rotation. The area under winter crops was 57 thousand hectares, including 43 thousand hectares of wheat and 14 thousand hectares of rape, while the area under corn and sunflower is planned at 19 thousand hectares and 28 thousand hectares. Soybean area will increase to 56 thousand hectares, to increase the volume of its own raw materials for the processing plant.
“Astarta” reported that the sowing of sugar beet is already completed, its area is 39 thousand hectares, which is 20% more than in 2022.
The area under organic crops remains unchanged at 2 thousand hectares.
As reported, Astarta received EUR65.16 million in net profit in 2022, a decrease of 46.8% compared to 2021. EBITDA of the holding in the past year decreased by 23.2% – to EUR154.77 million, while revenue increased by 3.8% – to EUR510.07 million.
The main shareholders of Astarta at the end of the first quarter were the family of the founder and CEO Victor Ivanchik, Fairfax Financial Holdings LTD – 29.21%. Another 2.64% belonged to Kopernik Global Investors, 1.88% to Heptagon Capital and 0.62% to Metlife PTE SA.

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