Page 60 - UKRRptJune18

9.2.6 Agriculture corporate news
Ebitda of Ukraine's agricultural giant Astarta plunged 69% year-on-year to €13.mn and its bottom line plummeted 88% y/y to €3.7mn, the company said. Astarta's cash generated from operations fell 71% y/y to €24.9mn and a 39% y/y drop in net revenue to €90.6mn in the first quarter.
Ovostar’s net profits rise by 1.7%. Ovostar Union, one of the county’s leading producers of eggs and egg goods, recorded $7.3m net profit the first quarter of 2018 , 1.7 times higher y/y. Its revenue increased 1.7-fold, to $33.9mn, due to an increase in sales and prices. Export sales for the reporting period doubled y/y and reached $14.4mn, while the share of exports in total revenue was 43%. Accessibility to the EU market has made the difference, company director-general Borys Belikov said.
MHP net profit grows by 1.6 times in the first quarter, 2018 . Myronivsky Hliboproduct, the country’s largest poultry producer, that is also engaged in the production of grain, sunflower oil, and meat, made $90mn of net profit during this period, which is 1.6 times more y/y. Its revenue increased by 10%, to $306mn, and export revenue was $162mn (53% of the total revenue). MHP sold 135,307 tonnes of poultry in January-March 2018, which is 9% more y/y. Export sales of the agricultural holding increased by 28% to 63,140 tonnes, while the volume of sales in the domestic market fell by 4%, to 72,160 tonnes, Interfax-Ukraine reports.
Ukraine's largest poultry producer MHP plans to invest over $250mn the launch of the second line at Vinnytsia poultry farm, a biogas complex in Vinnytsia and modernisation of existing production facilities in 2018, the company's CFO Viktoria Kapeliushna told Interfax news agency on May 22. Specifically, $160mn-$170mn will be sent to launch the second line of Vinnytsia poultry farm in a month and a half, near $20mn to build the second biogas complex in Vinnytsia, while the rest of the investment will be sent to modernise existing production facilities. According to MHP's financial statements published on May 22, the company’s capex more than doubled y/y to $52mn in the first quarter of 2018 due to the preparation of construction of the second phase of the Vinnytsia poultry complex. The company's Ebitda declined by 4% year-on-year to $89.2mn in January-March. The key contributor to the decline was its poultry segment, in which Ebitda fell 9.4% y/y to $77mn in the first quarter. Grain-growing operations Ebitda was flat y/y ($6mn in January-March), while the meat processing segment generated Ebitda of $8mn, or 60.0% y/y growth.
The International Finance Corporation (IFC) has confirmed its plans to allocate of a $30mn loan to Ukraine's agricultural giant Astarta . The loan will finance the company’s two-year investment programme to modernise sugar plants and improve their energy efficiency, as well as purchase new farm machinery and construct new storage facilities. "The new project will further integrate farmers into the company’s domestic and global value chains," the multinational lender said in a statement on May 23. Alexander Paraschiy at Kyiv-based brokerage Concorde Capital believes that being one of the least leveraged agricultural companies, Astarta continues to count on cheap debt financing from Western financial institutions as part of its strategy, which now is focused on boosting internal efficiency. "That will create the grounds for mid-term value growth of Astarta, despite an expected decline in P&L
60 UKRAINE Country Report June 2018 www.intellinews.com