Page 69 - UKRRptDec18

CFG’s Mark Laird as Executive Chairman. In the spring, the companies plan to submit a joint business strategy for working their combined land bank, which totals 210 thousand hectares.
Kernel EBITDA more than doubles in July-September 2018. Ukraine’s largest sunflower oil producer Kernel (KER PW, KERPW) reported EBITDA of $100.6mn in 1QFY19 (July-September 2018), a 2.18x y/y jump and 3.46x q/q surge, according to its financial report published on November 29. The company’s key segment, bulk oil production, generated EBITDA of $13.9mn (a 17.3% y/y drop and 9.7% q/q decline), while its bottled sunflower oil segment contributed $2.2mn to EBITDA (a 47.6% plunge y/y and 21.4% q/q drop) in 1QFY19. Also, Kernel’s EBITDA per ton of bulk sunflower oil decreased 13.3% y/y (and 6.9% q/q) to $37.1/t in 1QFY19. The company’s farming segment generated EBITDA of $52.8mn (a 3.9x y/y and 34.4% q/q increase), while its grain trading segment contributed $24.2mn to EBITDA, or a 15.1x y/y surge.
Astarta , Ukraine’s largest sugar producer, reports its net income through September was down 80% y/y, to $17mn . Concorde Capital’s Alexander Paraschiy writes: “Weak sugar prices will unlikely allow the company to show significant improvement in overall profit in the coming quarters.”
Farming company IMC generated $81.4mn in net revenue in 9M18 (flat y/y), according to its Nov. 16 report. Its EBITDA rose 18.4% y/y to $50.6mn, while its cash flow from operating activities before working capital decreased 26.4% y/y to $17.2mn in 9M18. The company’s working capital jumped 70.3% y/y to $10.3mn and its CapEx rose 10.0% y/y to $4.4mn. IMC’s total debt dropped 20.3% y/y to $48.9mn, and its net debt slid 18.8% y/y to $44.2mn. Its net debt-to-LTM EBITDA ratio was 0.94x as of end-9M18 vs. 1.19x a year ago.
Ukraine’s poultry firm MHP has signed an agreement to buy 90.7% of Slovenian poultry producer Perutnina Ptuj (PP), PP’s owner Slovenska Industrija Jekla (SIJ) said on November 20.
The Ebitda of Milkiland , one of Ukraine's leading milk processors, dairy producers and exporters, collapsed by 45% year-on-year to €4.5mn in January-September, according to the company's interim report published on November 15. Milkiland generated €98.9mn net revenue in January-September, or 6% less y/y. Its bottom line was negative at €13.4mn (vs. €4.5mn profit a year before). The company’s total debt stood at €86.2mn at the end of September 2018, or 0.4% less YTD. Its net debt to LTM Ebitda ratio amounted to 12.9x as of end-September, a dramatic increase compared to 8.3x at the year’s start. Milkiland’s January-September results imply that in the third quarter alone, the company’s revenue was €32.8mn (up 5% y/y) while Ebitda amounted to just €0.97mn (a 69% plunge y/y).
PepsiCo Ukraine is building a Lay’s potato chip production line at its Mykolaiv region food processing plant . Due to open next summer, the plant would consume about 50,000 tons of potatoes. PepsiCo will supply regional farmers with seed potatoes of varieties suitable for chips and training by company agronomists. PepsiCo Ukraine CEO Iryna Kozlova said: “Today we are preparing to install the first line for the production of potato chips.” Currently, PepsiCo only makes Lay’s potato chips in Poland. According to PotatoPro news site, Ukraine is the world’s fourth producer of potatoes, producing 22mn tons, 2.5 times Poland’s production.
69 UKRAINE Country Report December 2018 www.intellinews.com