Business news from Ukraine

KSG AGRO GETS RATING AT ‘UAA+’

The rating agency Expert-Rating has affirmed the financial stability rating of KSG Agro SA (Switzerland), the holding company of the agricultural holding KSG Agro, at the level of “uaA+” on the national scale (corresponds to the BBB level on the international scale), the company said in a press release on Wednesday following an audit of its activities over the first half of the year.
According to the rating agency, this assessment of the company’s performance in the first half of 2021 is due to an increase in the level of coverage by its own capital of its debt obligations, the company’s profitability and a good level of its EBITDA to available loans.
“Throughout the period from June 30, 2020 to June 30, 2021, KSG Agro’s equity capital grew by 52.46%, up to $14.47 million, including due to its profitable activity and the reduction of retained loss. For the same period the liabilities of KSG Agro S.A. decreased by 12.52%, down to $55.7 million. The decrease in liabilities of KSG Agro S.A. was mainly due to selling three subsidiary companies in May, 2021,” the rating agency said in the report.
According to it, debt obligations of KSG Agro S.A. as of June 30, 2021, decreased by 12.52% compared to June 30, 2020, to $55.69 million. Long-term loans predominated in the structure of the company’s debt obligations as of that date: their volume increased by 7.52%, to $27.25 million, whiles the volume of short-term liabilities decreased by 54.19%, to $2.91 million.
The agency noted that EBITDA of KSG Agro SA in the first half of 2021 decreased by 22.49% compared to January-June 2020, to $2.69 million. At the same time, the ratio of EBITDA to its loan obligations as of June 30, 2021 decreased by 2.03 p.p. versus the same date last year, to 8.95%, which indicates the company’s ability to service its debt obligations.
The agency’s report indicated that the current macroeconomic situation in Ukraine did not significantly affect the sales volumes of the agricultural holding’s products, in particular, its revenue in the first half of 2021 decreased by 12.1% compared to the same period in 2020, to $6.81 million. During the specified period, the net profit of KSG Agro increased 48 times, to $13.7 million, mainly due to the sale of its subsidiaries.
“Therefore, according to the results of the first half of 2021, KSG Agro S.A. demonstrated high profitability indicators,” the rating agency said.
The agency recalled that the borrower or the particular debt instrument with rating “uaA+” is characterized by a high creditworthiness compared to other Ukrainian borrowers or debt instruments.

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KSG AGRO BOOSTS NET PROFIT 48 TIMES IN H1

In January-June 2021, the KSG Agro agricultural holding increased its net profit 48 times, year-over-year, to $13.7 million, of which the group of companies received $12.86 million through the sale of a number of its assets.
According to the holding’s statement on the website of the Warsaw Stock Exchange on Sunday, its revenue for the specified period decreased by 12%, to $6.81 million.
“In May 2021, the group sold its subsidiaries Soyuz-3 LLC, Agrofirma Vesna LLC, UAIH Trading House LLC. Agrofirma Vesna LLC and UAIH Trading House LLC are inactive organizations. Soyuz-3 LLC is a production organization engaged in crop production, but acquired with large commitments and remains outside the group’s ownership structure until such obligations are settled,” the company said in a statement.
It is specified that proceeds from the disposal of the subsidiary company Soyuz-3 LLC (Novopokrovka, Dnipropetrovsk region) from the agricultural holding amounted to $6.5 million, UAIH Trading House LLC some $4.27 million, Agrofirma Vesna LLC some $2.01 million.
KSG Agro for the reporting period reduced gross profit by 27%, to $2.48 million, operating profit by 28%, to $1.89 million, its EBITDA decreased by 22%, to $2.69 million.
According to the statement, the company in the first half of the year reduced profit in the crop segment by 37%, to $1.46 million, in the livestock segment by 19.4%, to $ 700,000, while in the segment “other operations” (production of fuel pellets and heat energy) increased by almost 44.5%, to $310,000.
“In 2021, the group started a project to gradually renew the sow population in Ukraine to increase the birth rate of piglets. To this end, the group is negotiating with Suisag, a Swiss pig genetics company, and Genesus, a Canadian genetic company. As of the date of these financial statements, the group expects to receive first batches of sows from Genesus,” the company said in the statement.
The agricultural holding said in the report that it is considering an international investment project with several partners to build a breeding pig farm in Kazakhstan for 50,000 pigs with an estimated total cost of EUR 30 million.
At the same time, KSG Agro said the total debt of the group of companies in U.S. dollars as of June 30, 2021 decreased by almost 44.5%, year-over-year, to $15.3 million, while it increased from UAH 82,000 to UAH 14.8 million
“In 2020, the group has already managed to increase its net current assets from negative $23.5 million as of January 1, 2020 to negative $6.3 million as of December 31, 2020. The group plans to complete the second phase of the process by the end of 2021, bringing net current assets to a positive value. As of June 30, 2021, the total balance of ‘other financial liabilities’ compared to December 31, 2020 decreased even more,” the group said.
According to the report, the majority shareholder and head of the board of directors of the agricultural holding KSG Agro Serhiy Kasianov, who owns it through Olbis Investments Ltd. (Panama), on August 2, sold 1 million shares (6.66%) of the group of companies to two legal entities with Polish jurisdiction, after the transaction, the share of Olbis Investments Ltd. amounted to 57.96% of the charter capital.
The vertically integrated holding KSG Agro is engaged in pig breeding, as well as in the production, storage, processing and sale of grain and oilseeds. Its land bank is about 21,000 hectares.
According to the agricultural holding itself, it is one of the top five pork producers in Ukraine.

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MAJOR OWNER OF KSG AGRO SELLS ONE MLN SHARES TO POLISH COMPANIES

The major shareholder and the head of the board of directors of KSG Agro agricultural holding, Serhiy Kasyanov, who owns it through Olbis Investments Ltd. (Panama), on August 2 sold one million shares (6.66%) of the group of companies to two legal entities with Polish jurisdiction, after the transaction the share of Olbis Investments Ltd. amounted to 57.96% of the charter capital.
The press service of the agricultural holding told Interfax-Ukraine about this transaction on August 4.
“The buyers were Polish companies together with beneficiaries in the European Union. Within a few days we will agree on all the formalities and will be ready to jointly inform the market about our future plans,” the press service quoted Kasyanov as commenting on the deal.
He explained that prior to the conclusion of the agreement, Olbis Investments Ltd. owned 9.7 million shares of KSG Agro S.A (Switzerland), the parent company of the Ukrainian agricultural holding, which accounted for 64.62% of its charter capital. Following the transaction, the Panamanian company owns 8.7 million shares of KSG Agro S.A (57.96%).
The press service of the agricultural holding emphasized that through this transaction, KSG Agro intends to attract investors to the development of meat processing facilities and to enter the markets for finished livestock products.
“The selling price of the shares has not been disclosed, but it is not lower than the market price and corresponds to the weighted average price of the holding’s shares on the Warsaw Stock Exchange (WSE) over the past few months. The buyers of the shares were two companies with Polish jurisdiction, whose names have not yet been disclosed,” the press service said.
Thus, according to the three-month dynamics of the value of shares of the agricultural holding presented on the WSE website, the investments attracted by it can roughly range from PLN 3.21 million ($ 834,000 at the current exchange rate) to PLN 4.49 million ($ 1.17 million).

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KSG AGRO WITH SWISS PARTNERS TO BUILD FARM IN KAZAKHSTAN

The founder and majority shareholder of the Ukrainian agricultural holding KSG Agro Serhiy Kasianov plans to build a pig-breeding complex in Kazakhstan for 200,000 heads, investments will amount to $50 million, the press service of the company told Interfax-Ukraine on Thursday.
“Kazakhstan has an advantageous geographical position, a land border with China. There is no African swine fever, which today is the main obstacle for many countries in the world to export pork to the Chinese market. There is a great interest of the government of Kazakhstan in supporting and creating conditions for such a project, but there are no people with experience in creating such enterprises from scratch. KSG Agro has both qualified personnel and experience in raising purebred pigs,” the press service of the company quoted Kasianov as saying.
The press service of the agricultural holding said that the Swiss companies participating in the project will supply technologies and animals of Swiss genetics to Kazakhstan. In particular, one of the investors is KS Genetic (Switzerland), which is chaired by Filippo Lombardi, ex-chairman of the Council of States of Switzerland.
The project of the livestock complex includes two sow farms with 4,000 sows each, which will make it possible to keep 200,000 heads of pigs per year, as well as a feed mill. The annual design production capacity is about 20,000 tonnes of meat.
According to Kasianov, the prospective markets for the products are China, Vietnam and South Korea.
The press service of KSG Agro said that it is not yet planned to attract credit or own funds of the Ukrainian agricultural holding for the implementation of the Kazakh project.
Currently, negotiations are underway with a number of potential investors on financial participation in the Kazakh project. The issue of attracting investors to the charter capital of KSG Agro for the development of the company’s meat processing facilities and its entry into new markets for finished products of the livestock industry is also being discussed.

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KSG AGRO INCREASES EBITDA BY 2.9 TIMES IN 2020

KSG Agro in 2020 cut its net profit by 68.8% compared to 2019, to $1.27 million, while increasing EBITDA by 2.9 times, to $6.02 million.
According to the audited report of the holding, published on Friday evening on the website of the Warsaw Stock Exchange, its revenue over the past year decreased 11%, to $21.34 million.
At the end of 2020, KSG Agro increased its gross profit 2.4 times, to $6.25 million, and operating profit 10.5 times, to $4.35 million.
The company said that the crop yield in 2020 increased by 5.2% compared to 2019 – up to 40,000 tonnes, while the wheat crop increased by a quarter, to 17,900 tonnes, rapeseed – 2.4 times, to 2,730 tonnes, sunflower harvest decreased by 9.7% – to 11,700 tonnes.
“The total area of agricultural land used by the group as at 31 December 2020 is 21,000 hectares, of which 10,000 hectares are currently under winter crops and are expected to yield a total of 23,60 tonnes of wheat, barley and rapeseed at harvest. The group manages to maintain crop farming revenue at comparable levels to pig breeding, but because crops are exposed to weather conditions, revenues from pig breeding are still considered by management to be more reliable and remain the key strategic focus,” KSG Agro said in the report.
According to the agricultural holding, its revenue from the livestock segment in 2020 decreased by 8% compared to 2019 reaching $10.3 million, while the food processing segment brought the company 22% less, and amounted to $8.4 million. The total marketable pig number of the company as of December 31, 2020 increased by 7.8% compared to December 31, 2019, to 41,416 heads.
“Current year harvest was comparable to the previous year, so the relative decrease in sales is mostly attributable to the general slowing down in business when the first coronavirus prevention measures were introduced, and people were beginning to adapt to the new reality. After that, demand for crops and pork, as well as other goods used to manufacture food products, returned to the previous levels,” the company said in the report.
According to the company, there had been no significant impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the group’s profitability position so far. The pandemic is not expected to have an immediate material impact on business operations.

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KSG AGRO EXPECTS GRAIN HARVEST IN UKRAINE TO GROW BY 10-15%

KSG Agro agricultural holding expects grain harvest in Ukraine to grow by an average of 10-15% compared to 2020, and one of the best harvests for the agricultural holding, owner of the agricultural company Serhiy Kasyanov has said in a press release from the company.
“Now we are primarily talking about winter crops, but I do not see any problems with spring crops either. Perhaps we will move somewhere in time and harvest the sunflower not in September, but in October. But this will not significantly affect the results. We, for example, predict that in our agricultural holding it will be one of the best harvests in recent years,” he said.
According to the farmer, the harvest forecast is very optimistic throughout the country, even in traditionally arid regions.
As reported, KSG Agro is a vertically integrated holding engaged in pig breeding, production, storage, processing and sale of grain and oilseeds. The land bank of the agricultural holding is 23,900 hectares in Dnipropetrovsk and Kherson regions.
KSG Agro in 2020 reduced its net profit by 3.2 times compared to 2019, to $1.27 million, increased EBITDA by 3.1 times, to $6.532 million, its revenue over the past year decreased by 11%, to $21.34 million.
Revenue from the livestock segment in 2020 decreased by 8%, to $10.3 million, while the food processing segment brought in 22% less and amounted to $8.4 million.

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