On Wednesday, the share price of Astarta, Ukraine’s largest sugar producer, rose by 4.55% to PLN34.5 per share ($8.43 at the current exchange rate) on the Warsaw Stock Exchange after the publication of its half-year report with good financial results.
According to the stock exchange’s website, after closing the day before at PLN33 and the report published in the evening, trading on Wednesday started at PLN35 and reached PLN36 in the first minutes, but within an hour it corrected to PLN33.3, after which it gradually grew without such swings.
According to the report, in the first half of 2023, Astarta earned EUR54.73 million in net profit, up 97.4% compared to the first half of 2022, with revenue up 31.6% to EUR287.25 million and EBITDA up 42.7% to EUR97.25 million.
Net financial debt decreased from EUR43 million to EUR19 million over the half-year after repayment of bank debt, and net debt decreased from EUR152 million to EUR130 million.
A total of 329 deals were made on the day for almost PLN1.23 million. The rate corresponds to a capitalization of PLN862.5 million.
As for Kernel, where minority shareholders are awaiting the results of the additional issue for fear of dilution of their stake, their share price on Wednesday fell by only 0.1%, which was enough to drop below the PLN11 level to PLN10.99 per share for the first time in the company’s history.
The sharp decline in the value of cryptocurrencies this year put pressure on the shares of companies working in the field of digital currency mining, writes The Wall Street Journal.
Shares of American miners Riot Blockchain Inc. and TeraWulf Inc. Since the beginning of the year, prices have fallen by 78% and 89%, respectively, while the price of Canadian Hut 8 Mining Corp. and Bitfarms Ltd collapsed by 79% and 71%, respectively.
The price of bitcoin has fallen by about 70% from its November highs to $20,000. As a result, North American mining companies have earned less than $20 million per day in the last week, according to Glassnode. In October last year, the average daily revenue was about $72 million.
The situation is aggravated by the fact that banks are less and less willing to do business with representatives of the cryptocurrency sector, which negatively affects their ability to pay for the purchase of new equipment.
According to Arcane Research analyst Yaran Mellerud, companies have to sell almost all the mined cryptocurrency in order to purchase powerful new computers and chips. According to his estimates, in January-April 2022, publicly traded miners sold about 30% of all bitcoins they mined, and in May the figure exceeded 100% – that is, companies had to sell digital assets from their reserves.
“If they have to liquidate a significant portion of their reserves, this could put even more downward pressure on bitcoin prices,” Mellerud said.
According to Glassnode, if the price of bitcoin falls below $17,600, the miners will be unprofitable. On Saturday, the price of bitcoin at some point fell below $17,630 thousand. IDEG believes that the price at which bitcoin mining turns out to be breakeven is even higher – in the region of $28,000 thousand, and with this forecast, miners have been operating at a loss for several weeks.
The value of cryptocurrencies is falling along with other risky assets, including stocks, amid tightening monetary policy and increasing risks of a global recession, many analysts believe. As the world’s central banks are determined to keep raising rates, the fall in digital currencies could be protracted. So, the investment director of Absolute Strategy Research, Ian Hartnett, believes that bitcoin may well fall to $13,000.
A week earlier, market expert Igor Stakovichenko, responding to a request from Open4Business, said that in the current situation, the fall of the bitcoin market below 22,000 launched a new, even deeper “bearish phase” of the cycle, as it greatly shook the positions of long-term holders of the asset. The long-term holders, who had held their positions during the last drops, could not stand it and started dumping the cue ball at the lowest prices.
“This shook the entire structure, and both technical and macroeconomic indicators today indicate a possible fall in the main cryptocurrency to 16,000 or even lower,” the expert said.
However, according to Stakovichenko, it is too early to bury bitcoin, as “whales” (investors owning more than 10,000 BTC) continue to accumulate this digital currency, which may indicate the possibility of growth in the medium and long term.
In addition, the expert predicted possible stabilization and even some growth of the world’s main cryptocurrency.
CRYPTOCURRENCIES, GLASSNODE, MINERS, RIOT BLOCKCHAIN, SHARES, STAKOVICHENKO, TERAWULF, МЕЛЛЕРУД, ХАРТНЕТТ
The value of shares of eight out of nine Ukrainian agricultural holdings, whose shares are listed on foreign exchanges, fell sharply on February 24 due to the Russian military invasion of Ukraine, but partially recovered during March, reaching a maximum value for five groups of companies on March 29, during the Ukrainian-Russian negotiations in Istanbul.
Corresponding trends for securities of agricultural groups from Ukraine can be traced in the analysis of data from the Warsaw and London stock exchanges.
Thus, for the period February 23 – March 31, the price of shares of the Astarta agricultural holding on March 29 “bounced” to PLN28.5 compared to the pre-war PLN29.0 on March 23 (1.7% less). Similarly, on March 29, peak values during the war with the Russian Federation reached the price of shares of IMK – PLN21.0 (February 23 – PLN22.8, -7.8%), “Agroton” – PLN6.0 (PLN6.66, -10%) , Kernel – PLN36.5 (PLN46.4, -21.3%), Agroliga – PLN25.6 (PLN37.8, -47.6%).
At the same time, on March 29, the value of the securities of the KSG Agro group of companies even exceeded the pre-war figures, reaching PLN2.92, which is 5% more than on February 23, PLN2.78.
The most highly quoted shares of the agricultural holding MHP were $5.26 (PLN21.98) on March 3, which is -11% less than the pre-war $5.96 (PLN24.91). Milkiland reached a similar peak on March 18 – PLN1.22 against PLN1.45 (-15.8%), and Ovostar – on March 23, PLN59 against PLN58 (+1.6%).
In turn, the largest drop since the beginning of the invasion of the aggressor country of the Russian Federation, the shares of MHP agricultural holding reached $ 3.3 (PLN 13.79, -80%) on March 24, Kernel – on March 8 (PLN 18.8, a fall of 2.5 times ), Agroliga on March 3 (PLN16.5, a drop of 2.3 times), Astarta on March 2 (PLN14.2, a drop of 2 times), IMC on March 7 (PLN12.6, a drop of 1 .8 times), KSG Agro on March 24 (PLN 1.55, a drop of 1.8 times), Agroton on February 24 (PLN 4.0, -40%), Milkiland on February 24 (PLN 0.96 , a third drop), Ovostara on March 21 (PLN54.5, -7.6%).
As of 17:00 March 31, Kernel shares are valued at PLN33.0, MHP – $4.2 (PLN18.39), Astarta – PLN26.15, IMC – PLN20.5, KSG Agro – PLN2.68, Ovostar – PLN49.6, Milkiland – PLN1.22, Agroliga – PLN23.7, Agroton – PLN5.78
BTA Bank (Kazakhstan), which owns 20.284% of shares in the National Joint-Stock Insurance Company Oranta (Kyiv), has reduced its block of shares to 0%, according to the information disclosure system of the National Securities and Stock Market Commission.
It is specified that the amount of voting shares of NS-Finance LLC (Kyiv) in Oranta increased to 72.389660% from 50.106890%, and their number – up to 95,718,477 from 66,254,700.
As reported, NS-Finance LLC notified of the conclusion of a sale and purchase agreement on December 13, 2021, as a result of which it became the owner of a controlling stake in Oranta in the amount of 50.0035%. After that, NS-Finance sent a public offer to purchase shares from all holders of the insurer’s shares at UAH 1.05 per share. The purchase of shares on its behalf is carried out by DM BROK LLC (Kharkiv).
According to the National Securities and Stock Market Commission, as of the first quarter of 2021, BTA Bank owned 35.17% of shares in Oranta, the Cypriot companies Visiline Limited – 9.424%, Cezavelios Holdings Ltd. – 5.623%, Chilwell Limited – 9.991%, and another 7.1826% – are held by Maria Loseva.
Oranta is the legal successor of Ukrgosstrakh, founded on November 25, 1921. In 1993, Ukrgosstrakh was reorganized, its founder on the part of the state was the State Property Fund of Ukraine (SPF). In 2007, the SPF sold the last state-owned block of shares to the investor.
The insurer operates on the basis of 33 licenses: 15 compulsory and 18 voluntary types of insurance.
China asks Ukraine to properly resolve the conflict issue surrounding the purchase of Motor Sich shares by Chinese investors, Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Hua Chunying said at a briefing, answering a question from the RIA Novosti Russian state agency about the reaction to possible nationalization enterprises by decree of the President of Ukraine.
“China asks the Ukrainian side to protect the legitimate rights and interests of Chinese enterprises and investors in accordance with the law and properly resolve the relevant issues,” Chunying said in a transcript of the March 25 briefing on the Chinese Foreign Ministry’s website.
The spokesperson said that the Foreign Ministry was informed about the relevant documents on Motor Sich.
Caris Ukraine LLC (Kyiv), controlled by South Korean Caris, intends to buy out the shares of minority shareholders of Strila crane building company (Brovary, Kyiv region), in which it owns 89.837% of shares.
According to the public irrevocable demand published in the information disclosure system of the National Securities and Stock Market Commission of Ukraine, the shares from the minority shareholders will be redeemed at UAH 129.4 per share (with a par value of UAH 110).
The charter capital of JSC Strila is UAH 6.21 million.
At present, Strila plant, which employed ten people by the beginning of this year, does not carry out production activities (since 2015), and receives main income from the sale of materials and partial lease of premises.
Caris, according to its information, has enterprises in many countries of the world, construction, logistics companies, companies for the production of innovative materials and components for road construction and traffic safety, and also has an R&D center that owns patented innovative technologies for the production of polymer and superhard materials used in heat power engineering, industrial electronics and mechanical engineering.
