Page 68 - UKRRptDec19

9.2 ​Major corporate news 9.2.3​ Transport corporate news
UIA continues to pare money-losing flights.​ Starting November 16, Kyiv Boryspil-Bangkok will be reduced to three times a week, and then completely ended March 29. On January 14, UIA will stop flying to Krakow, a newly competitive route. In the last year, Ryanair started flying from Boryspil to Krakow and Wizz Air started flying from Kyiv Sikorsky to Krakow.
The Ukrainian government is going to reshuffle top managers of the nation's state-owned rail monopoly ​Ukrzaliznytsia​ (Ukrainian Railway) due to inability to "absolutely wild" corruption ​in the company, according to Prime Minister Oleksiy Honcharuk. "Corruption at Ukrzaliznytsia continues. It is absolutely wild there. They [employees] steal from almost everything, and where is the roof on this thing?" the PM said in a recent televised interview. "We will make personnel decisions in the near future, because it is impossible to continue working the way they work now." Over the past years, Ukrzaliznytsia was able to convince many observers of the implementation of reforms in the company, including the successful fight against corruption, however this was mainly the result of the monopoly's PR company.
9.2.6​ Agriculture corporate news
● Kernel
Ukraine’s largest sunflower oil producer​ ​Kernel​ gained EBITDA of $106.5mn in 1QFY20 ​(July-September 2019), a 6.0% y/y increase and 75.2% qoq surge, according to its financial report published on November 27. The company’s key segment, oilseed processing, generated EBITDA of $22mn, a 37.5% y/y rise and 2.7% q/q decrease in 1QFY20. The company’s EBITDA per ton of oil rose 85.0% y/y to $74.0/t in 1QFY20. Its infrastructure and trading segment EBITDA decreased 7.9% y/y (or a 3.8x jump qoq) to $35mn, while the company’s farming segment EBITDA rose 9.4% y/y (and 16.7% q/q) to $58mn in 1QFY20. Kernel’s revenue fell 25.8% y/y to $846mn in 1QFY20. The company’s oilseed processing segment revenue declined 17.1% y/y to $296mn and its infrastructure and trading segment revenue dropped 20.4% y/y to $691mn in 1QFY20. Its farming segment revenue rose 18.6% y/y to $134mn in 1QFY20. Kernel’s net profit dropped 21.3% y/y to $59.4mn in 1QFY20. Its operating cash flow before working capital changes rose 6.5% y/y to $57.6mn, while its net cash from operating activities was negative $85.9mn vs. negative $3.8mn a year ago. The company’s net debt reached $1,144mn on September 30 (vs. $686mn a year ago) and its net debt-to-LTM EBITDA ratio surged to 3.3x from 2.5x a year ago.
● Astarta Holding
Astarta EBITDA falls 33% in 9M19, reports disappointing P&L. ​Ukraine’s farmer and leading sugar producer Astarta (AST PW) generated EUR 333.6mn in net revenue in 9M19, according to the company’s interim report published on Nov. 14. This is a 32% increase y/y. The growth was driven by increased
68​ UKRAINE Country Report​ December 201 ​ ​www.intellinews.com