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May. The plant is to employ 900 people, reports the district administration. Undertaking the project is Kostal Ukraine LLC which opened a plant five years ago in Pereiaslav, about one hour south of Boryspil. Employing 1,000 workers, the Pereiaslav plant makes parts for Audi, BMW, Ford, Mercedes, Renault, SKODA, SEAT and Volkswagen.
9.2.3 Transport corporate news
Ukraine's state-run railway operator Ukrzaliznytsia saw a 1,470% increase in net profits in 2019, which amounted to UAH3bn ($110mn), the company said on April 29, posting the consolidated financial statements for 2019 audited by Ernst & Young. Ukrzaliznytsia's Ebitda grew in 2019 by a modest 6%, to UAH17.3bn ($632mn), and sales revenue was 8.4% up, to UAH90.4bn ($3.3bn). "Revenue from the transportation of goods and passengers, which in 2019 amounted to UAH82.4bn ($3bn), made the largest contribution (91%) to the total sales revenue," the company said. Meanwhile, Ukrzaliznytsia recently complained that the tax payments had increased significantly in 2019, preventing it from investing more in rolling stock. According to acting CEO Ivan Yurik, last year the company had to pay UAH4bn as a land tax and another UAH1.5bn as fuel duties, an amount that would have been enough to buy 196 new passenger carriages or 12 10-car commuter trains. In late March, former acting CEO Željko Marček said that the company was expecting losses of between UAH6bn and UAH10bn in the January-June period of 2020. Ukrzaliznytsia is responsible for 82% of rail freight operations in Ukraine and 50% of passenger transportation.
In the latest musical chairs at the top of government, Zeljko Marcek,
acting CEO of Ukrzaliznytsia, is being let go after two months on the job, Infrastructure Minister Vladyslav Krikliy, told reporters Tuesday. Krikliy did not clarify why he was firing Marcˇek from the post of running the state railroad, Ukraine’s largest employer. Marcˇek, an ethnic Serbian veteran of Ukraine corporate posts, had been on the UZ board since 2016. Once the quarantine is lifted, Krikliy will hold competitions for the CEO posts at UZ and at the Ukrainian Sea Ports Authority. Currently, candidates cannot travel to Kyiv for interviews.
The closing of Ukraine to international air travel will cost UIA $60mn,
“according to the most optimistic scenario,” company president Yevhen Dykhne, tells Ukrainska Pravda. For a company that used to operate 1,000 flights a week, UIA now is grounded for at least one month, running off savings and paying employees 2/3 salary. In the last two weeks of March, the government’s stop-go-stop orders on air travel unnecessarily cost the company millions, he said. On charges that UIA conducted price gouging in the final days, Dykhne said ‘artificial intelligence’ set prices to match market demand.
UIA is working through 27,000 calls from passengers seeking to re-book or get refunds on tickets for travel during the quarantine, Dykhne tells Interfax-Ukraine. Quarantine regulations forced the airline to close its call centre, which employed up to 600 operators in an open space format. Instead, requests are largely handled by email, by about 100 people day. Dykhne expects Ukraine’s air market to contract this year by 30-40%.
The Infrastructure Ministry has asked the Cabinet of Ministers to approve Ivan Yurik as acting CEO of Ukrzaliznytsia, reports Liga.Business. Since
61 UKRAINE Country Report May 2020 www.intellinews.com
