Page 71 - UKRRptMar19

embezzlement investigation of Mriya Agroholding, we don't expect its outcome will bring anything to Mriya's former creditors. Such a precedent shows that the Ukrainian courts are reluctant to convict anybody for financial fraud, which definitely plays against Ukraine’s investment climate.
9.2.7 TMT corporate news
Dragon Capital and AVentures Capital have acquired minority stakes in Ciklum, the London-based IT outsourcing company with about 3,000 employees in Kyiv. Andriy Nosok, Dragon’s Managing Director and Co-Head of Private Equity, said: “We believe that ongoing global digital transformation will support increasing demand for IT solutions and services, and that Ciklum is very well positioned to capitalize on this sustainable trend.” Michael Boustridge, Ciklum CEO, said: “This investment will continue to propel Ciklum’s rapid growth in delivering cutting edge technologies to clients around the globe.” All three companies are privately owned and the investment amounts were not made public.
Net profit of Ukrainian leading telecoms company Ukrtelecom shrank by 45.1% year-on-year to UAH474mn ($17.6mn) in 2018, the company's CEO Yuriy Kurmaz told journalists on February 27. The company's net income for the year decreased by 2.3% y/y to UAH6.449bn, while its Ebitda declined by 12% y/y to UAH1.618mn last year. The Ebitda margin was down by 2.7 percentage points (pp), to 25.1%. At the same time, the company's capital investments decreased by 36.2% y/y to UAH604mn, according to Interfax news agency. Earlier, Ukrtelecom attributed its shrinking net profit to the growth of resource taxes, negative fluctuations in the exchange rate and an increase in depreciation payments due to the commissioning of new equipment in the process of upgrading and developing the network, according to Interfax news agency.
Thieves steal copper telephone wires from Ukrtelecom at the rate of eight kilometers a day . The company, the largest fixed line operator in Ukraine, reported that almost 3,000 kilometers of cable were stolen last year. Thieves were responding to world copper prices which were $3 a pound for much of last year, 50% above the $2 lows of October 2016. Many thieves were repeat offenders and 30% of replaced wires were stolen, the telephone company says. Last August, Ukrtelecom launched a pilot program to move affected land line subscribers to cell service.
Nova Poshta increased package deliveries last year by 20%, hitting 174mn. Points of sale grew by almost quarter, to nearly 3,000 across Ukraine. Deliveries from the United States double and deliveries from Europe tripled, bring international shipments to 2.7mn, or 1.5% of the total. About 21% of Nova Poshta’s deliveries come from internet shopping. Nova Poshta has signed a deal to provide warehouse and delivery service in Ukraine for IKEA. This summer, the Swedish furniture retailer plans to open its first store in a showroom ‘city format.’
Ukraine's state-owned post operator Ukrposhta increased international shipment processing by 45% year-on-year to 34.4mn parcels and letter, which, among other factors, led to a 37% y/y jump in the company's revenues from international operations. The growth in imports was influenced by work with two new partners - the logistics platform of the Alibaba group of
71 UKRAINE Country Report March 2019 www.intellinews.com