Business news from Ukraine

STATE-RUN UKRZALIZNYTSIA LAUNCHES CONTAINER TRAIN TO CHINA

JSC Ukrzaliznytsia has launched the first container train with export cargo on the route Ukraine – China. As Interfax-Ukraine was informed at the Ministry of Infrastructure of Ukraine on Tuesday, the train departed from the Liski container terminal in Kyiv.
The train consisted of 43 40-foot containers with lumber.
Following to Xian, the train will cover almost 10,000 km across the territory of four countries. Estimated travel time is about 18 days.
“In the middle of September, we received the 50th container train with imported cargo from China. Today, we are sending the first container train with Ukrainian cargo to China. We plan that these trains will become regular,” Board Chairman of Ukrzaliznytsia Oleksandr Kamyshin said.
According to him, the optimal transport for the development of trade relations between Ukraine and China is rail container transportation.
The Ukrzaliznytsia’s branch Liski provides a range of services in the field of organizing railway and intermodal transportation of transit and export-import cargoes in containers. The terminal allows for complex forwarding services for customers’ cargo with door-to-door delivery of cargo through the territory of the CIS, Baltic countries and Europe.
The center has container terminals in Kyiv, Kharkiv, Dnipro, Odesa and a transshipment complex in Chop.

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STATE-RUN UKRTELECOM SEES RISE OF EBITDA BY 29%

Ukrtelecom’s total income in the first half of 2021 amounted to UAH 3.4 billion (more than 10% more than in the same period in 2020), and Internet income exceeded UAH 1 billion (more by 7.4%), the company’s press service has said on Monday.
Ukrtelecom’s EBITDA in the first six months amounted to UAH 1.1 billion (an increase of 29%). EBITDA margin increased by 4.5 percentage points (p.p.), to 31.3%.
It is noted that for the specified period, the company’s telecommunications services income amounted to almost UAH 2.4 billion. Private subscribers were provided with services for almost UAH 1.5 billion, and business consumers – for UAH 692 million. The fixed optical Internet user base grew by 83%, to 203,000 subscribers.
In the business segment, Internet income increased by 10.2%, to UAH 226 million, and in the mass segment – by 6.6%, to UAH 786 million.
Ukrtelecom notes that the connection of small towns and villages to high-speed optical Internet continues. Currently, work is underway in almost 150 settlements, where more than 4,500 km of fiber-optic cable have been laid.
“Throughout the country, 850 medical and 1,250 educational institutions, as well as 380 territorial communities are already using optical Internet from Ukrtelecom. Of these, 156 medical and 233 educational institutions, 21 territorial communities have been connected this year. Ukrtelecom is awaiting the announcement of tenders by local communities to participate in the Ministry of Digital Transformation’s program to provide modern optical Internet for social infrastructure and rural population,” the company said.
According to it, in January-June 2021, income related to asset management also increased, in particular, from receipts from commercial lease of property not involved in production processes. It amounted to more than UAH 213 million, which is almost 41% more than in the same period last year.
In addition, the operator has launched a three-year fleet renewal program, which provides for the replacement of more than 1,300 vehicles used in production activities, including for disaster recovery teams, deploying fiber-optic networks, connecting and servicing subscribers.
Capital investments in the first half of 2021 amounted to almost UAH 310 million.
“The problem remains with the debt of local budgets to reimburse the company’s expenses for telecommunications services provided to citizens entitled to benefits. As of June 30, this figure exceeds UAH 124 million,” the company said.
In 2021, Ukrtelecom has already paid UAH 975 million in taxes to the budgets of all levels.

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STATE-RUN OSCHADBANK ISSUES THOUSAND MORTGAGE LOANS FOR UAH 710 MLN OVER SIX MONTHS

The State Oschadbank (Kyiv) has issued a thousand mortgage loans in the amount of UAH 710 million since the beginning of 2021, which is three times more than in the corresponding period last year, the bank’s press service said on Tuesday.
According to the report, in June, 250 loans were issued in the amount of UAH 191 million.
It is indicated that under the “Affordable Mortgage 7%” program the bank has issued 90 loans in the amount of UAH 82 million since the beginning of the year.
According to the statistics of the National Bank, as of March 1, 2021, in terms of total assets, Oschadbank ranked second in the rating (UAH 279.702 billion) among 73 banks operating in the country.

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STATE-RUN UKRZALIZNYTSIA REDUCES ADMINISTRATIVE STAFF BY 30%

JSC Ukrzaliznytsia assessed the management personnel and decided to reduce the staff of the company’s management staff by 30%, the press service of Ukrzaliznytsia reported with reference to acting head of the board of Ukrzaliznytsia Ivan Yuryk on Monday.
According to him, by now the supervisory board of the company has already agreed on a new structure of the company’s central office, the reduction of one third of employees will take place within the framework of its reform: it should correspond to the strategy, tasks and scope of work.
“There was a lot of talk about optimization of the Ukrzaliznytsia staff, it’s time to move on to action. We should put things in order as soon as possible in the structure of the company’s management apparatus, eliminate duplication of positions and clearly distribute the functionality between departments. This will allow us to make and implement management decisions much faster, efficiently and effectively. Now it is necessary to reduce 30% of the staff positions of the management apparatus of the company, which employs more than 2,400 people,” the press service quotes Yuryk.
At the same time, Ukrzaliznytsia says that the reduction will not apply to employees of regional branches of the company and employees of labor occupations.
According to Yuryk, the dismissal of workers will take place in compliance with the labor legislation and in agreement with the trade union, for this the company has developed a certain algorithm of actions.
“Employees whose positions are subject to reduction will be promptly warned about this, with an offer of another job. Upon dismissal, they will receive all proper payments and severance pay in the amount of not less than the average monthly salary,” the head of the company said.

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STATE-RUN UKRENERGO NEEDS TO BORROW UAH 11.3 BLN

NPC Ukrenergo needs to attract UAH 11.3 billion under government guarantees for paying to electricity producers from renewable energy sources (RES) and state-owned generating companies, acting Energy Minister Yuriy Boiko has said.
“The debt to be paid off to the green power companies is UAH 9 billion, and according to our estimates, in order to maintain parity, the volume of funds raised will amount to UAH 11.3 billion,” he said at a press conference in Kyiv on Thursday.
At the same time, according to him, it is necessary to “repay debts in a balanced way”, which means their repayment both to RES producers and to state-owned generating companies involved in public service obligations (PSO).
He said that the bill No. 4119, which provides for Ukrenergo to receive government guarantees for loans to pay to the green power companies, is waiting for the president’s signing and will allow attracting the necessary loan.
“We are now on a schedule being realistic in terms of attracting loans,” Boiko said.
He also said that the current payments to RES producers will be provided, stressing that in August and September, the full payment to renewable energy generation has already been provided.

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STATE-RUN UKRGASBANK’S NET PROFIT GROWS 1.6-FOLD IN H1

The net profit of Ukrgasbank (Kyiv) in January-June 2020 amounted to UAH 437.18 million, which is 1.6 times more than in the same period of 2019 (UAH 275.99 million), according to the bank’s quarterly report posted on the bank’s website on Tuesday.
According to it, in the second quarter, Ukrgasbank’s net profit amounted to UAH 98.11 million, which is 2.3 times less than in April-June 2019 (UAH 221.71 million).
The bank’s net interest income for six months decreased 5.8% compared to the same indicator a year earlier, to UAH 1.44 billion, and net fee and commission income grew by 18.6%, to UAH 555.81 million, while the cost of creating reserves for expected credit losses decreased by 91.3%, to UAH 34.89 million.
Ukrgasbank’s assets in the first six months of 2020 increased 24.2%, to UAH 148 billion, including loans to customers and finance lease fell by 2.6%, to UAH 37.97 billion, and cash and cash equivalents decreased 9%, to UAH 42.24 billion.
At the same time, the bank’s investments, which are measured at fair value through other comprehensive income, increased 2.1 times over this period, to UAH 64.59 billion.
Liabilities of Ukrgasbank in January-June grew by 25%, to UAH 138.64 billion, including customer funds – by 27.4%, to UAH 131.63 billion.
The bank’s equity capital rose by 13.5% in the first six months of this year, to UAH 9.37 billion, while the charter capital remained at the level of UAH 13.84 billion.
JSB Ukrgasbank was established in 1993. The state, represented by the Ministry of Finance, owns 94.94% of the shares of the financial institution.
According to the National Bank of Ukraine (NBU), as of June 1, 2020, Ukrgasbank was ranked fourth in terms of total assets among 75 banks operating in the country.

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