Page 72 - UKRRptJul20

9.2 ​Major corporate news 9.2.1​ Oil & gas corporate news
Ukraine's state-run oil and gas company​ ​Naftogaz​ reported a consolidated net profit of UAH3.2bn ($118mn) after tax in the January-March period. ​On June 2, the company said that the period was characterised by producing 3.9bn cubic metres of natural gas and selling 6.3 bcm and generating cash flows from operating activities of UAH10.9bn ($402mn). "We are facing challenging circumstances with the [coronavirus] COVID-19 crisis and the macroeconomic environment, with a sharp decline in gas prices this quarter," Naftogaz chief financial officer Peter van Driel commented in a statement. "Cash flow from operating activities for the first quarter was UAH10.9bn, compared with UAH28bn ($1bn), excluding discontinued operations, for the same period a year earlier."
Ukraine’s state-owned gas company​ ​Naftogaz​ transferred an all time record large dividend payment of UAH48.125bn ($1.8bn) to Ukraine’s state budget​, the company said in a press release on July 1. The dividend represents 95% of the companies profits and is 2.4 times higher that the Naftogaz dividend paid for 2018. Naftogaz paid UAH8.5bn of the sum in advance at the end of 2019 at the request of the government, which enabled urgent payments from the state budget that were at risk due to insufficient revenues. The government policy is for dividend payments to be equal to 95% of Naftogaz net profits generated in 2019. Naftogaz contributed almost UAH75bn in taxes and dividends to the state budget in the first six months of the current year. Revenues from Naftogaz to the state exceeded the $2.6bn compensation paid by Gazprom to the company under the Stockholm arbitration award that Naftogaz was also instrumental in bring about.
Naftogaz group paid UAH 31 billion of taxes and duties to the state budget in January-May 2020.​ Revenues from Naftogaz group exceeded 11% of total state budget revenues in January-May 2020. Naftogaz group remains Ukraine’s biggest taxpayer. In 2019, Naftogaz group’s tax and dividend payments to budgets of all levels totaled nearly UAH 121 billion.
Naftogaz has appointed Willem Koppuls, a 25-year veteran of Eastern European gas markets, as Director of the state energy company’s new Commerce Division​. Koppuls, a native of Holland, has worked in Ukraine and the region for Gaz de France, EDF, GDF SUEZ, ENGIE, reports Naftogaz. In April, Andriy favourov director of integrated gas business at Naftogaz was let go and his division was split into Commerce and Exploration and Production. In May, Sanzhar Zharkeshov, from Kazakhstan, was appointed head of Exploration and Development.
9.2.3​ Transport corporate news
Aivaras Abromavicius, director general of Ukroboronprom has fired Alexander Donets, president of Antonov​. In his place, Alexander Losya, vice president for design, is to serve as interim head. Aviation analysts say that the best strategy for Antonov in the 2020s is to focus on producing cargo planes and regional commuter jets.
72​ UKRAINE Country Report​ July 2020 ​ ​www.intellinews.com