Page 61 - UKRRptJune18

indicators this year, driven by unfavourable commodity trends in late 2017 and early 2018," he added in a research note. In late November, the European Investment Bank (EIB) greenlighted a €37mn loan to Astarta. The EIB's funds will allow the company to improve logistics by building new facilities for storing grain and sugar, as well as upgrading existing ones. The EIB loan will be used to finance the development of IT solutions to optimise processes in the company.
Net revenue of Ukrainian grain producer Industrial Milk Company (IMC) decreased by 16.8% year-on-year to $30.6mn in January-March, the company said on May 17. The revenue drop was driven by corn sales falling 21.2% y/y to $27.3mn, which was the result of a 20.7% y/y drop in volume sold. While the sale of soybeans, the company’s second key crop, jumped 98% y/y to $1.6mn due to an 84% y/y advance in sales volumes and a 7.5% y/y improvement in its selling price to $403 per tonne. The company’s Ebitda fell to negative $3.7mn in the first quarter vs. negative $0.18mn a year ago. Its cash flow from operating activities before working capital dropped 55% y/y to $5.6mn in January-March. IMC’s investments in working capital decreased 25% y/y to $0.8mn, while its CapEx more than doubled to $3.5nm in January-March.
Ebitda of Ukraine's largest poultry producer MHP declined by 4% year-on-year to $89.2mn in January-March , according to the company’s financial statements published on May 22. 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 company’s CapEx more than doubled y/y to $52mn in the first quarter due to the preparation of construction of the second phase of the Vinnytsia poultry complex. The company’s operating cash flow before working capital changes was $93.6mn, or 13.3% y/y growth, while working capital investments jumped 61.2% y/y to $39.7mn in January-March. The main impact on MHP’s Ebitda occurred in its poultry segment where IAS 41 gains plunged to $2mn in January-March from $22mn in the same period of 2017, Andriy Perederey at Kyiv-based brokerage Concorde Capital wrote in a research note on May 22. Additionally, a $4mn loss in government grants and, likely, a 25% y/oy drop in revenue from vegetable oil sales, contributed to the yoy decrease in the segment’s Ebitda. These losses were offset by strong poultry prices in both UAH and US dollar terms. "MHP plans to boost poultry export volumes to 260-270 tonnes and production volumes by 40 tonnes until the end of 2018," Perederey wrote. "So we see that MHP will be able to generate Ebitda of $470mn, or 2.4% y/y growth."
9.2.7 TMT corporate news
Ukraine’s leading mobile phone company Kyivstar increased revenue in the first quarter of 2018 by 10.1% to UAH4.263bn ($162mn), the company reported on May 14. Revenue from mobile operator services amounted to UAH3.968bn, an 11% increase y/y, due to the growth in both the number of mobile Internet users by 1.6mn and mobile data use, Interfax-Ukraine reports. The average consumption of mobile data traffic per month increased by 121%, to 1.5 GB per subscriber. Revenue from mobile Internet services was up by almost 59% in the period and accounts for a third (33%) of total revenue from mobile communications. The number of mobile subscribers of Kyivstar in the
61 UKRAINE Country Report June 2018 www.intellinews.com