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8.3 Stock market
8.3.1 Equity market dynamics
Ukraine’s stock market index PFTS turned out to be one of the world’s best-performing ones in 2018 , according to CNBC, a business news channel, a subdivision of American-based National Broadcasting Company television network. The media outlet reported on January 3 that Ukraine’s performance has increased by as much as 80.39% through 2018, as demonstrated by data sources provided by Refinitiv, a global financial data centre formerly associated with Thompson Reuters group.
Horizon Capital, the US-based private equity fund management company, has raised $200mn for its third Ukraine fund , exceeding the original goal of $150mn. “It is sending a message to the market that there are companies who want to invest long term capital in Ukraine,” Lenna Koszarny, Horizon’s CEO, said of the 10-year fund. “There is so much demand we are turning investors away.”
Ukraine’s top 100 state-owned companies saw their net profits drop by 42% during the first half of 2018 , compared to the same period one year earlier, UNIAN reports. The entire drop can be blamed on Ukrtransgaz, the gas line operator, which saw its profits drop to 9% of the H1 2017 level. The top 100 state companies have assets totaling $50bn, accounting for 93% of the value of Ukraine’s 3,364 state companies. Of this group, 1,594 – or 47% -- actually function.
China's Bohai Commodity Exchange (BOCE) has been cleared to acquire a 25% stake in Ukraine’s PFTS Stock Exchange , the nation's leading stock exchange and trading system, the country's Antimonopoly Committee said on December 7. The move followed May's rejection of the deal due to "insufficient information disclosure", according to UNIAN news agency. In September, BOCE representatives were negotiating with another Kyiv-based stock exchange, Ukrainian Exchange, with a plan to acquire a 36% stake in the company. At the time, Ukrainian Exchange’s business development director Alexey Sukhorukov said that his firm was in the process of issuing shares to a new, strategic investor, according to the Kyiv Post. In June 2017 , BOCE and Ukrainian State Property Fund (SPF) signed an agreement on the sale and purchase of 99.9% of the Ukrainian small-sized Bank for Reconstruction and Development (UBRD). The UNDR was founded in 2004 with the main aim of providing credit support small and medium-sized businesses. In November 2016, the SPF said the bank was sold at the starting price of UAH82.8mn (€2.8mn). BOCE CEO Yan Dongsheng offered in June 2017 to sign a memorandum of cooperation with the SPF in order to "work fruitfully to help Ukraine conduct effective privatisation and disseminate information about Ukrainian privatisation prospects among its customers".
8.3.2 Dividends dynamics
Ukraine’s largest iron ore pellet exporter Ferrexpo will pay a special interim dividend of US cents 6.6 per share on January 15, the company reported in a December 6 regulatory filing. The record date for the payment will be December 14, and the total amount paid to shareholders will be
58 UKRAINE Country Report February 2019 www.intellinews.com