Agro-industrial group Astarta, the largest sugar producer in Ukraine, refused to pay dividends for 2021 and will direct EUR94.1 million to the retained earnings reserve.
As stated in the message of the company on Friday night, such a decision was made by its shareholders meeting on Thursday.
Shareholders also approved Astarta’s continuation of the buyback program for up to 12.5 million shares (50% of those outstanding) at a maximum price of PLN125 per share.
In addition, the meeting delegated to the board of directors the right to issue shares and grant options in the amount of not more than 10% of Astarta’s authorized capital for one year.
The shareholders also instructed the board of directors to select an auditor company to audit the company’s financial statements for 2022. Candidates for the review include international drug companies Ernst & Young, KPMG, Deloitte & Touche, PricewaterhouseCoopers, Grant Thornton, BDO and Baker Tilly.
The meeting reportedly approved the replacement of Marc M.L.J. van Campen as a member of the company’s board of directors with Savvas Perikleous.
Astarta is a vertically integrated agro-industrial holding operating in eight regions of Ukraine. It includes six sugar factories, agricultural enterprises with a land bank of 220 thousand hectares and dairy farms with 22 thousand heads of cattle, an oil extraction plant in Globino (Poltava region), seven elevators and a biogas complex.
In 2021, the agricultural holding increased its net profit by 14 times compared to 2020 – up to EUR122.5 million, EBITDA – by 1.8 times, up to EUR201.5 million. Its revenue increased by 18.2% – up to EUR491.35 million, a third of which (EUR170 million) was generated by the production and sale of sugar.
Agro-industrial holding “Astarta”, the largest sugar producer in Ukraine, in January-March 2022 reduced sales of this product by 44% compared to the same period in 2021 – from 58.14 thousand tons to 32.64 thousand. tons, while the average selling price on the domestic market increased by 14% – from UAH 16.14 thousand to UAH 18.45 thousand.
According to the report of the agrarian group on the Warsaw Stock Exchange on Wednesday evening, sales of wheat by the agricultural holding in the first quarter of this year increased by 2.6 times compared to January-March 2021 – up to 10.1 thousand tons, corn – by 2.8 times , up to 200 thousand tons, sunflower – 6 times, up to 21.5 thousand tons. Also, 71 tons of rapeseed were sold, which was not sold in the first quarter of 2021.
Milk sales for the specified period did not change, remaining at the level of 24.3 thousand tons.
In turn, the sale of soybean oil by Astarta in the first quarter of 2022 decreased by 2.1 times compared to January-March 2021 – to 12.6 thousand tons, and soybean meal – by 2%, to 39.1 thousand tons.
The agricultural holding clarified that the average cost of sugar sold in January-March 2021 increased by 14% compared to the same period a year earlier – up to UAH 18.45 thousand / ton, wheat – by 5%, up to UAH 8.3 thousand / ton, corn – by 34%, up to 7.5 thousand UAH / ton. At the same time, the average price of sunflower rose by 67% – up to 18.9 thousand UAH/ton, soybean oil – by 25%, up to 37 thousand UAH/ton, soybean meal – by 2%, up to 15.5 thousand UAH/ton. ton, milk – by 3%, up to 12.1 thousand UAH/ton.
Thus, taking into account the size of products sold and its average price, it is possible to estimate the estimated revenue of Astarta from the sale of sugar in the first quarter of this year at UAH 602 million, corn – UAH 1.5 billion, soybean meal – UAH 615.8 million , sunflower – UAH 407.6 million, milk – UAH 293.5 million, soybean oil – UAH 221.6 million, wheat – UAH 84.21 million, rapeseed – UAH 1.24 million. Accordingly, the total estimated revenue of the agricultural holding from the sale of these crops amounted to UAH 3.72 billion.
As reported, the agrarian group planned to transfer 1.1 thousand tons of food in the form of humanitarian aid to the Vinnitsa region, of which 530 tons have already been delivered to the region, while the Odessa region will receive 1.3 thousand tons of humanitarian aid (850 tons have already been delivered).
Astarta is a vertically integrated agro-industrial holding operating in eight regions of Ukraine. It includes six sugar factories, agricultural enterprises with a land bank of 220 thousand hectares and dairy farms with 22 thousand heads of cattle, an oil extraction plant in Globino (Poltava region), seven elevators and a biogas complex.
In 2021, the agricultural holding increased its net profit by 14 times compared to 2020 – up to EUR122.5 million, EBITDA – by 1.8 times, up to EUR201.5 million. Its revenue increased by 18.2% – up to EUR491.35 million, a third of which (EUR170 million) was generated by the production and sale of sugar.
Agroholding Astarta, the largest sugar producer in Ukraine, is investing $14.6 million in the construction of a bulk sugar storage facility on the territory of its Narkevychi sugar plant (Narkevychi, Khmelnytsky region) with a total storage capacity of 60,000 tonnes.
The decision of the board of directors of the group was published on the Warsaw Stock Exchange (WSE) on Tuesday evening.
The commissioning of the facility is scheduled for July 2023.
“Unique for Ukraine, technological solutions under the project will create optimal conditions for long-term storage of sugar and preservation of its original quality. Such warehouse will also allow optimising logistics costs, maintaining the high quality of the company’s products and selling it in alternative packaging,” Astarta said in the statement.
As reported, Astarta planned to build and put into operation this facility back in 2020.
The agricultural holding acquired the Narkevychi sugar plant in 2008.
Astarta is a vertically integrated agro-industrial holding operating in eight regions of Ukraine.
Sugar refineries of the Astarta agricultural holding processed 1.844 million tonnes of sugar beet and produced 266,000 tonnes of sugar in 2021, which is 18% more than in 2020, the company said on Thursday.
“The organizational and technical measures carried out in the current season and the introduction of resource-saving technologies allowed Astarta to increase the energy efficiency of sugar production and reduce gas consumption for processing 1 tonne of beets by an average of 6% compared to 2020,” executive director of the company Valeriy Sokolenko said in a press release.
He added that in 2021, Hlobyne Sugar Refinery operated on biogas produced at company’s Hlobyne Bioenergy Complex from organic residues from sugar production (raw pulp).
Astarta also said that 99% of the produced sugar corresponds to the highest quality category, of which 53,000 tonnes are of extra quality.
Taking into account the processing of imported raw cane sugar, the agricultural holding’s total sugar production this year amounted to 339,000 tonnes, the press release says.
It indicates that the processing season lasted 100 days, the sugar content of raw materials remained at a high level and an average level for the holding’s enterprises amounted to 17.0% (on average in Ukraine, according to Ukrsugar, – 16.9%), and the sugar yield – 14.4% (14.2%).
Astarta recalled that in 2021, the holding’s enterprises harvested 1.584 million tonnes of sugar beet (yield – 47.4 tonnes/ha), 508,000 tonnes of corn (8.6 tonnes/ha), 94,500 tonnes of soybeans (3.0 tonnes/ha), 76,200 tonnes of sunflower (2.7 tonnes/ha), 268,000 tonnes of winter wheat (5.76 tonnes/ha) and 23,400 tonnes of winter rapeseed (3.24 tonnes per ha).
Astarta is a vertically integrated agro-industrial holding operating in eight regions of Ukraine.
Astarta, the largest sugar producer in Ukraine, over January-June and April-June 2021 reduced sugar sales compared to the same periods in 2020 by 25%, to 55,460 tonnes and 113,600 tonnes, respectively, while over the first half and the second quarter, the products sold by it went up by 66%, to UAH 17,280 per tonne and UAH 16,690 per tonne, respectively.
According to the company’s report on the Warsaw Stock Exchange on Friday evening, sales of corn by the agricultural holding in the second quarter of 2021 fell by 21% compared to the second quarter of 2020, to 78,650 tonnes, while the price increased by 9%, to UAH 4,950 per tonne. In the first half of this year, its sales decreased by 55%, to 151,290 tonnes with a rise in price of corn by 17%, UAH 5,270 per tonne.
In addition, in the second quarter of 2021, Astarta sold 34% less soybean meal than in the second quarter of 2020 – some 23,750 tonnes (with a rise in price of 45%, to UAH 14,570 per tonne); 49% less soybean oil – 4,210 tonnes (its price has doubled to UAH 37,840 per tonne); 5% more milk – 23,650 tonnes (it has risen in price by 20%, to UAH 11,600 per tonne); and also twice as much wheat – 2,240 tonnes (it has risen in price by a quarter, to UAH 6,550 per tonne). During the specified period, the company has increased sales of sunflower seeds 4-fold, to 135 tonnes, with their rise in price 2.7 times, to UAH 19,180 per tonne.
According to the results of the first half of 2021, Astarta sold 23% less soybean meal than in the first half of 2020 – some 63,520 tonnes (with a rise in price of 59% to UAH 14,960 per tonne); 13% less soybean oil – 16,840 tonnes (with a rise in price by 76%, to UAH 31,580 per tonne); 4% more milk – 47,850 tonnes (it has risen in price by 17%, to UAH 11,680 per tonne); and also 37% more wheat – 6,070 tonnes (it has risen in price by 56%, to UAH 7,410 per tonne). During this period, the company increased sales of sunflower seeds 37 times, to 3,720 tonnes, with their price doubling to UAH 11,590 per tonne.
Astarta is a vertically integrated agro-industrial holding operating in eight regions of Ukraine. It includes eight sugar factories, agricultural enterprises with a land bank of 243,000 hectares and dairy farms with 25,000 animals, seven elevators, a biogas complex and a soybean processing plant in Poltava region (Globino Processing Plant LLC).
Lyst-Ruchky LLC (Ruchky village, Poltava region), part of Astarta agro-industrial holding, exported the first batch of organic soybeans under a contract with the German processing company Agriprotein GmbH, the agricultural holding’s press service reported.
“A supply contract of organic soybeans was concluded with the German processing company Agriprotein GmbH. As per contract, the quality of delivered products has to be confirmed in two stages. The first samples of soybeans were selected and tested by the European laboratory Galab (Germany) prior to signing a contract. The organic origin of the product and its high quality was confirmed. The second stage of the inspection took place upon delivery and organic status of soybeans was reaffirmed,” the company said on its website.
“As reported, last year Astarta completed a three-year journey to the first harvest of organic grain and oilseeds crops in sync with the European trend of expanding organic farming methods. In the 2021 season, the total area of the company’s land bank under organic products is 1,800 ha with the following crops: soybeans, millet, mustard, sunflower, corn and winter wheat,” the report says.
“The company also plans to certify this crops according to Bio Suisse (Switzerland) and USDA NOP (USA) standards,” it said.
As reported, Lyst-Ruchky in July 2020 received a certificate of a manufacturer of organic products. To confirm this status, it took three years of work in a transitional period, the corresponding intermediate inspections and certifications.
