Page 58 - bne IntelliNews Country Report: Ukraine Dec17

online project that includes a recent Yandex.Market major RUB30bn deal with internet services giant Yandex .
9.2.6 Agriculture corporate news
Revenue of Ukraine's agricultural giant Astarta increased by 61% year-on-year to €348.7mn in January-September , the company said in a report published on November 7. The company's sugar segment demonstrated a 55% y/y growth to €155.8mn in January-September, while its crops segment surged by 147% y/y to €105.7mn and milk segment was up by 35% growth to €22.8mn. The company’s Ebitda stood at €111.7mn (a 13% y/y decrease) in January-September. The key factors to declining Ebitda were an absence of government grants (which amounted to €20.1mn the year before) and smaller gains from revaluation of agricultural produce (a €5.6mn y/y drop). Smaller Ebitda resulted in a 6% y/y decrease of the company’s bottom line to €74.1mn. "While the company’s revenue in January-September appeared to be a bit better than we expected (€340mn), its Ebitda is weaker than our expectations," Alexander Paraschiy at Kyiv-based brokerage Concorde Capital wrote in a research note on November 8. Concorde forecasts Astarta's 2017 Ebitda at €130mn-€140mn.
Ebitda of Ukraine's largest sunflower oil producer and grain trader Kernel decreased by 36.3% year-on-year (a 22.7% quarter-on-quarter rise) to $46.1mn in 1QFY18, according to the farmer's financial statements. Kernel’s key segment, bulk oil production, generated Ebitda of $16.8mn (a 58.5% y/y jump and almost flat q/q), while its bottled sunflower oil segment contributed $4.2mn to Ebitda (a 2.1-fold surge y/y and 16% q/q drop). The company’s farming segment contributed $13.7mn to 1QFY18 Ebitda, or a 1.5% increase y/y and 1.6-fold increase q/q. The company's grain trading segment Ebitda plunged 65.1% y/y to $1.5mn, implying a low 1% Ebitda margin in 1QFY18. Its silo services segment contributed $8.2mn to 1QFY18 Ebitda, or a 15.5% y/y increase, while export terminal services Ebitda dropped 18.1% y/y to $8.6mn. The farmer's net profit fell 64.5% y/y to $22.8mn in 1QFY18. The company’s net debt was $110.6mn at September 30 vs negative $76.1mn a year ago. Kernel also updated the results of its farming campaign. The yields of its old land bank (before the acquisitions it made in 2017) fell 12.8% y/y on average (corn yields dropped 20.2% y/y to 7.1 tonne per ha, sunflower seeds decreased 10% y/y to 5.3 tonne per ha, soybeans - 29.6% y/y to 1.9 tonne per ha), according to a note published by Kyiv-based brokerage Concorde Capital on November 27.
Ukraine's largest poultry producer MHP is considering several options for acquiring five poultry farms in Europe , particularly in Poland, France and Germany, the company's CEO Yuriy Kosyuk told journalists on November 21. The company has already entered into negotiations, Kosyuk added. The expert added that the company’s export volumes could strongly increase after such an acquisition. But we are keeping unchanged our expectation that MHP will be able to generate $440mn-$450mn in Ebitda in 2017. Earlier, Polish media noted that MHP has plans to acquire Exdrob, a Polish poultry producer and exporter.
Revenue at Ukraine’s leading poultry meat producer and farmer MHP rose 18% y/y to $970mn in 9M17 , the company said on November 16. The company’s revenue from poultry sales improved 22% y/y to $600mn due to
58 UKRAINE Country Report December 2017 www.intellinews.com