Ukrposhta JSC will receive EUR600 thousand for the installation of modular branches from the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development’s (EBRD) Special Crisis Response Fund, the company’s press service said.
According to the company’s announcement on Tuesday, the grant was provided in support of a EUR63 million loan already granted to Ukrposhta by the EBRD.
The company emphasized that the modular branches can be quickly installed in place of stationary branches that have been destroyed or damaged by enemy shelling.
“Modular offices will also be installed in settlements “cut off from the world” – with barrier-free access, equipped with Starlink and generators, they will become an island of stability for Ukrainians,” Ukrposhta said in a statement.
In addition, it is reported that in the modular branches it is possible to send a parcel within Ukraine and abroad; pick up ordered medicines; make a transfer or pick up funds sent by loved ones; subscribe to publications; pay utility and other bills; receive a pension.
The donors of the EBRD Special Crisis Response Fund are Canada, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, Norway, the Republic of Korea, Switzerland, the United Kingdom and the United States.
Ukrainian State Postal Communications Enterprise (USPS) Ukrposhta (Kiev) on April 10 announced a tender for services of mandatory insurance of drivers against transport accidents, 5 thousand people, according to the electronic public procurement system Prozorro.
According to the system, the expected cost of the purchase of services is UAH 2.160 million. The deadline for submission of proposals for the tender is May 12. As reported, the winner of a similar tender a year earlier was IC Expo-Insurance.
In 2023-2024, the State Customs Service of Ukraine cleared 103.7 million shipments, of which 94.6 million were imports and only 9.1 million were exports, according to a joint report by the customs office and Ukrposhta.
Of the total number of shipments processed over two years, about 60 million were delivered by Ukrposhta, according to the Ukrposhta website on Thursday.
The largest volume of shipments (73.7 thousand tons) was imported from China. Poland was in second place (38.6 thousand tons), and the United States was in third place (16.1 thousand tons). In addition, 4 thousand tons of shipments were received from the UK, 2.3 thousand tons – from the Czech Republic, 2.1 thousand tons – from Israel, 1.6 thousand tons – from Canada, 1.4 thousand tons – from Germany, 1.3 thousand tons – from Estonia.
According to the report, the most popular export destinations were the United States, which accounted for 46.65% of shipments during the period, the United Kingdom – 8.19%, Germany – 6.61%, Canada – 5.59%, France – 3.07%, Australia – 2.66%, Poland – 2.32%, Israel – 2.1%, Switzerland – 1.67%, Italy – 1.36%.
According to Ukrposhta, the most frequently ordered items by Ukrainians abroad were jewelry (6.23%), phone cases (5.37%), women’s clothing (3.28%), makeup and manicure products (3.28%), lighting devices (2.29%), toys (2.03%), cables (1.62%), phone protectors (1.51%), socks (1.3%), and chargers (1.14%).
The predominant value of goods ordered by Ukrainians over the past two years (81.33%) did not exceed EUR10. In the range of EUR10-20, 10.6% of goods were ordered, EUR20-50 – 5.3%, EUR50-100 – 1.9%, EUR100-150 – 0.5%, and more than EUR150 – 0.3%.
In 2024, 71.5% of all shipments were processed in less than three hours, 28% were processed up to 24 hours after arrival, and only 0.5% took longer than a day, Ukrposhta reported, emphasizing that electronic declaration was a significant step towards speeding up delivery.
The company reminded that 100% of parcels in Ukraine go through customs procedures exclusively electronically (paperless format).
In the fourth quarter of 2024, Ukrposhta JSC increased its net income by 11.5% year-on-year to UAH 3.59 billion, earning a net profit of UAH 97.7 million for the first time since the start of the full-scale invasion, the company reported on its website.
“Net income from sales of products (goods, works, services) for the fourth quarter of 2024 amounted to UAH 3,591.6 million, which is UAH 262.3 million, or 6.8% less than the plan and UAH 370.9 million, or 11.5% more than the actual data for the fourth quarter of 2023,” the interim report on the company’s website says.
It is reported that the failure to fulfill the revenue plan is due to the fact that Ukrposhta was unable to provide services in full in the regions where hostilities are taking place and in the temporarily occupied territories.
At the same time, a number of basic services have seen an increase in sales, which has made it possible to ensure revenue growth compared to the same period last year.
It is noted that during the fourth quarter of 2024, Ukrposhta received 22.7 million pieces of written correspondence, 13.3 million parcels and 23.3 million payments for domestic and international shipments.
Ukrposhta’s EBITDA in the last quarter of 2024 was positive and amounted to about UAH 200 million.
During this period, the foundation was laid for the renewal of the company’s logistics network and IT infrastructure, Ukrposhta said in its interim report.
“We are confidently looking forward to 2025, the year of the company’s radical renewal, achieving positive financial results and expanding the company’s activities in new directions to provide Ukrainians with basic services under any circumstances on 100% of the territory of our country,” the document says.
It is noted that in the fourth quarter, Ukrposhta fulfilled its debt obligations to creditors. In addition, at this time, it was completing the transition to a new centralized structure without separate branches and continued to work on the implementation of strategic investment projects, the key of which are transition to mobile branches in rural areas (with the financial support of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development); automation of mobile branches, which will allow Ukrposhta to fully automate its network; upgrade of critical back- and transactional IT systems to improve the quality of service delivery (USC, Track & Trace, BePost); a new CRM system, which will help the company estimate the number of real customers.
“Today, the customers who are in the subscription database and those who pay fees and receive parcels are two different categories of customers,” the report says.
According to the report, Ukrposhta plans to launch a new mobile client application in the first quarter of 2025.
Last year, in the fourth quarter, Ukrposhta operated 5219 stationary and 2063 mobile outlets. The company’s average number of employees was 28,945, including 5,950 postal operators and 5,834 postmen. The average salary of a full-time employee in the reporting period was UAH 17,872.
Earlier, Ukrposhta CEO Ihor Smelyansky said in an exclusive interview with Interfax-Ukraine that the company ended the fourth quarter of 2024 with a profit for the first time since the start of the full-scale invasion, but despite improving EBITDA and operating income, it has a “paper” loss for the whole of 2024.
Earlier it was reported that in January-September 2024, Ukrposhta JSC increased its net income by 12.28% compared to the same period in 2023 – up to UAH 9.38 billion, reducing its loss by 4.9% to UAH 565.64 million.
Starting February 1, Ukrposhta JSC has introduced new weight categories with discounts for the Small Package Prime, the company’s press service reports.
According to Ukrposhta’s announcement on Wednesday, the company has introduced new weight categories with discounts starting February 1: 0-100 g, 500-750 g and 750 g-1 kg. The largest discount of up to 15% applies to shipments weighing up to 100 g. The discount in the 500-700 g category is 10%.
Delivery of small items weighing up to 100 g to the United States will now cost about UAH 270, and to European countries – from UAH 250. You need to pay only for the actual weight, not the volume, the post says.
Volume loyalty programs for Ukrposhta’s regular corporate and individual customers will remain in effect.
“Lower tariffs mean even more opportunities for competition on an equal footing, and flexible weight categories allow for a choice that is optimal for everyone,” the press service quoted Ukrposhta CEO Ihor Smelyansky as saying.
According to the company, about a quarter of the shipments of Ukrainian exporters who sell their goods on the largest marketplaces Etsy and Amazon weigh less than 100 grams. These include decorative elements and jewelry, the company said.
Smelyansky reminded that the delivery time abroad with Ukrposhta ranges from 4 days to the UK, 7-10 days to the address or one of the 15 thousand branches in the United States.
“Just yesterday, we received a message about how cool it is that a shipment from Zhytomyr to Dublin arrived in just 6 days,” said the Ukrposhta CEO.
According to Smelyansky, more than 1.7 million items of Ukrainian goods worth about $1 billion are currently available on American and other international platforms. More than 60% of shipments are made with Ukrposhta.
Earlier it was reported that Ukrposhta announced the signing of a new cooperation agreement with the British Royal Mail (UK), the terms of which allowed the introduction of a 15% discount for sending PRIME packages weighing up to 1 kg from February 1.
“Ukrposhta, as a member of the Universal Postal Union, is able to deliver shipments to any address in more than 230 countries and territories of the world. The partner network of national post offices consists of more than 660 thousand branches serving 5.3 million postal customers.
After the transfer of shares in the First Investment Bank (PinBank) to Ukrposhta, the company will offer minority shareholders who own about 12% of the shares a buyout procedure, and in case of refusal, it will “dilute” their share to 5% by applying the compulsory purchase procedure, the company’s CEO Igor Smelyansky said in an exclusive interview withInterfax-Ukraine.
“We have to consolidate the remaining 12% of the bank’s shares, which are currently owned by minority shareholders,” he said.
According to him, an independent appraiser will be engaged to assess the bank’s current capitalization and thus determine the market price of the stakes held by minority shareholders.
“This is the amount we will offer them. Of course, it is their right to accept or refuse. If they refuse, Ukrposhta, as the majority shareholder of the bank, will have the opportunity to decide to increase the bank’s capital. Accordingly, the share of minority shareholders may be “diluted” to almost 5%. This will make it possible to apply the procedure of compulsory redemption of shares. That is why our plan is quite clear and irreversible,” explained Smelyansky.
He also said that at the first stage of the bank’s integration into Ukrposhta’s structure, operational and IT audits will be conducted, and the supervisory board and team of Ukrposhta Bank will be formed.
“We already understand that we will need to invest in the creation of modern and reliable IT systems of the bank. We also have to carry out preparatory work at Ukrposhta to integrate the bank into the existing infrastructure. We need to form a team, and, objectively, we need a new team to fulfill the range of tasks we set,” Smelyansky said.
As reported, according to information on the PINbank website, as of February 9, 2023, the second shareholder after Yevhen Giner, who owned 88.890583%, was Oleksandr Shadruk’s Ukrpravo Law Firm LLC with a share of 9.509417%, while the remaining shareholders had 1.6%. However, the Renome venture capital non-diversified closed-end investment fund managed by Renome-2008 Asset Management Company LLC reported an increase in its stake in PINbank from 1.6% to 5.9478%, while Ukrprav’s stake decreased to 5.0929%. In addition, on February 6, 2023, the National Bank of Ukraine decided to transfer the voting rights on Giner’s shares to its trustee Gennadiy Mykhaylenko.
At the end of September 2023, PINbank ranked 57th among 63 Ukrainian banks in terms of total assets (UAH 482 million). Its net loss for 9 months of 2022 amounted to UAH 30 million, but due to the bank’s liquidity, the issue of its transfer to the DGF was not raised at the moment.
