Business news from Ukraine

UKRAINIAN ASCANIA GROUP INVESTS UAH 17 MLN IN PRODUCTION OF CIDER AND NON-ALCOHOLIC BEVERAGES

Ascania group of companies, a diversified Ukrainian holding, in 2018-2019 invested UAH 17 million in the launch of production of cider and non-alcoholic beverages in PET bottles at the Kvass Beverages plant (Zaporizhia).
“This year we’ve presented a large number of new products in the Ukrainian market. For the first time, we bottled cider in PET under the GardenZ brand, produced the Yarylko Karamelny kvass for children, launched the Yarylo Bily Imbyrny (Yarylo White Ginger) brand. In August 2018, we started producing lemonade in PET at the Kvass Beverages plant. Investments in the enterprise to launch output of cider and new products in PET accounted for a total of about UAH 17 million,” Inna Syrchenko, the head of the marketing department at Ascania FMCG, told Interfax-Ukraine.
According to her, the products of the plant are represented in the stores ATB, Silpo, Novus, Billa and other retail outlets.
Ascania group of companies unites 12 companies. Their activities include import, production and distribution of food, honey processing and exports, logistics services, electricity supply, production of small arms, security services and training for the security personnel of private and state structures, agriculture (growing roses).

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ASTARTA INVESTS $19.2 MLN IN GRAIN ELEVATOR IN POLTAVA REGION

Astarta agricultural holding in July 2019 started accepting grain at Semenivsky elevator (Poltava region) with a capacity of 120,000 tonnes and investments of $19.2 million, the press service of the holding has said. According to the report, this elevator is the largest one in Astarta’s structure. It is designed to accept grain from the agricultural holding’s farms and from partners.
The construction of the elevator lasted nine months, it can ship over 54 wagons of grain per day. According to the company, Astarta has seven grain elevators in Poltava, Vinnytsia and Khmelnytsky regions with a total capacity of 550,000 tonnes of grain. As reported, in March 2019 Astarta bought an elevator in Khmelnytsky region for EUR4.6 million.
Astarta after three years of profitable work in 2018 received a net loss of EUR21.11 million. Its revenue decreased by 18.8%, to EUR372.22 million, EBITDA by 2.1 times, to EUR56.87 million.

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UKRAINIAN EPICENTER INVESTS UAH 6 BLN IN AGRICULTURE

The Epicenter K Group, developing the agricultural business since 2016, has invested UAH 6 billion in agriculture and plans to invest UAH 2.5 billion more in silos, the co-owner of the company Halyna Hereha said at the Forum of Innovative Production Facilities Development held in Bila Tserkva on Thursday.
“We have invested UAH 6 billion in the agricultural sector, and we need another UAH 2.5 billion to complete the silo project. These are not only our funds, but also loans. Last year, we started building three silos and reconstructing six. Therefore, now a big investment is unrealistic,” she told Interfax-Ukraine.
According to Hereha, the company also intends to develop the dairy business. “We have animal husbandry of 20 dairy farms, but the volumes are small. In the future we plan to develop the business. There is a question of processing milk. We have not invested in animal husbandry yet, but we are discussing this,” she said.
Hereha also said that Epicenter also postponed the oilseeds processing project due to the unfavorable situation on the oilseeds market. “At present, the oil industry is declining, as producers cannot agree among themselves and simply dump the market. Therefore, we have stopped the processing process in the oil industry, but in the future we will do something interesting,” she said.
Hereha added that Epicenter is actively introducing new technologies, in particular, updating equipment and investing in the laboratory and precision farming. “In addition, we have a woodworking plant in Ivano-Frankivsk region. Now it makes a lot of products, a large percentage of them is exported, and some of them are for sale in the Epicenter [network],” she said.

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JABIL CIRCUIT FROM USA INVESTS $16 MLN IN CONSTRUCTION OF ELECTRONICS MANUFACTURING SITE IN UKRAINE

The U.S. Jabil Circuit has invested $16 million in the construction of a second stage of the electronics manufacturing site in the village of Rozivka, Zakarpattia region, Jabil Director General in Ukraine Serhiy Kartsev told reporters at the presentation of the plant on Friday. With the opening of the second stage, the site’s area has doubled to 46,600 square meters, and in the short term, Jabil plans to increase the staff to 5,000.
“Since the founding of the first Jabil manufacturing site in Ukraine, we have invested over $2 million in infrastructure facilities, which were later transferred to the village council. In particular, we built two new wastewater treatment plants, one of which is intended for Rozivka and it is our contribution to development of the environment protection in the region,” Kartsev said.
According to Kartsev, the Jabil plant in Uzhgorod is the only one in Europe engaged in the production of full-cycle products, the plant is constantly expanding its production capacity.
The plant also collaborates with more than 20 universities of Ukraine, including 25 engineering faculties, which programs have certain specifications for work with Jabil.
About 65% of the volume of products manufactured at the site is intended for the telecom industry. Also, Uzhgorod plant produces goods for the smart home market, consumer goods and goods for the automotive industry.
Mobile phones, media players and PCs for exports to the European Union will be assembled at the new site.
Jabil Circuit is among top three global leaders among companies offering supply chain solutions. Electronics for Nespresso, Ceragon, Sagemcom, SIAE Microelettronica, DUCATI Energia, SIT and TeleTec brands is assembled at the Uzhgorod site
Jabil is an electronic product solutions company providing comprehensive electronics design, production and product management services to global electronics and technology companies.
The first manufacturing site in Zakarpattia region was launched in 2004. As of early 2019, around 3,000 employees worked there.

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AURUM GROUP INVESTS IN AGRICULTURAL EQUIPMENT

Aurum Group, a diversified industrial and investment group, in the current year has already invested over UAH 16.1 million within the framework of the program for agricultural equipment modernization, a press release of the group reads.
“Developing the agricultural sector, we plan to use innovative agricultural technologies and this year we have invested more than UAH 16.1 million in modernization of agricultural equipment. Part of these funds is the group’s own resources, as well as bank financing,” founder of the group Olena Lebedeva said.
Today, Aurum Group’s agricultural enterprises cultivate more than 12,000 hectares of land.
“Since 2018, FUIB has been working with Aurum Group to finance building freight railcars based on Diesel Plant, and in 2019 they began cooperation with the agribusinesses of the group: the bank transferred agricultural equipment worth UAH 12.4 million to Aurum Trans under the terms of financial leasing,” head of the financing leasing department at FUIB Volodymyr Rudenko said.
Aurum Group was registered at the end of 2016. Its core business is engineering, rail freight transportation, industrial pump building, chemical industry, investment in real estate, and the agricultural sector. Today, the group exports its products to the CIS countries, the Middle East, the United States, and China.

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ARCELORMITTAL INVESTS OVER UAH 600 MLN IN ENVIRONMENT PROTECTION IN UKRAINE

ArcelorMittal Kryvyi Rih (Dnipropetrovsk region) in 2018 invested over UAH 600 million in environment protection.
According to the company’s press release, environmental measures allow the company to comply with environmental regulations established by law.
At the same time, the press service said that the company annually allocates funds for the implementation of major investment projects, as well as for the repair of fixed assets related to environmental protection. The repairs help to maintain equipment in working condition and not to increase the burden on the environment.
Thus, in 2018, in the metallurgical production units, repairs were made to gas treatment plants of sintering machines No. 1 and No. 5, twin-steel steel-making unit No. 6, converter No. 3. Also, repair work was done on power equipment (combined heat and power plant three, cooling towers, and water lines).
In the mining department in 2018, the modernization of the crushing and ore-dressing plants was actively carried out: the gas-cleaning equipment was reconstructed, slurry pipelines were repaired and pump units were replaced in the slurry workshop. Last year, the company carried out startup works to launch new aspiration units of sections Nos. 4, 5, 6 of the ore-dressing plant No. 1.
In addition, ArcelorMittal Kryvyi Rih, when implementing large-scale investment projects, introduces the best available technologies, thanks to which it is possible to gradually reduce the burden on the environment. Major investment projects include the reconstruction of coke-oven batteries Nos. 5 and 6 using a set of environmental measures and an automated environmental monitoring system, the modernization of the sinter shop No. 2, the construction of two new machines for continuous casting of billets and new gas treatment plants and the introduction of an automated eco-monitoring system, reconstruction of ore-dressing plants of the mining department, peak boiler house, tailing dumps and other projects.
From 2006 to 2018, the enterprise invested UAH 6.2 billion in the environment, over 120 gas treatment plants were reconstructed and built, thereby achieving national standards.

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