Page 68 - UKRRptSept20

loans from Sberbank Ukraine, which were due on July 31 (the loans were 50% of the company’s total debt due this year). S&P assessed the restructuring deal as “opportunistic rather than distressed,” estimating that the lender “is receiving the originally promised value.”
Munich-based FlixBus is aggressively expanding into Ukraine this summer offering new routes​: Kyiv-Vilnius and Kyiv-Krakow-Prague. From Vilnius, travellers can connect to 12 other Baltic cities. Ukrainians increasing work in the Baltics where the older generation still speak Russian.
9.2.5​ Retail corporate news
Shabo, the Odesa region winery, opened its third store in China in August. ​ With Shabo stores now in Fuzhou, Guangzhou and X’ian, the company plans to open a store next year in Shanghai, says Stanyslav Kobyletsky, the company’s export director. Shabo produces 50mn bottles a year and exports to 18 countries.
IKEA Ukraine plans to offer 5,000 items in its first physical store in Kyiv,
says Florian Melle, Ukraine director of Ikea. He said: “A city-format store will open in Kyiv without a food department and restaurant, but we strive to launch them as soon as possible.” Earlier this year, IKEA started operating an online store that proved so successful that the company struggled to keep up with orders. Ikea’s first physical store in Ukraine is to open in Kyiv's Blockbuster Mall by the end of this year.
9.2.6​ Agriculture corporate news
● Kernel
Kernel​ has doubled its grain exports in two years, becoming Ukraine’s largest grain exporter. ​In the recently completed marketing year, Kernel exported 8mn tons, or 13.3% of Ukraine’s total grain exports. “Two years! This is exactly how much time it took to double our exports,” the company reports. Kernel now has 2.7mn tons of storage capacity, second only to the State Food and Grain Corporation.
● Other
KMZ Industries, grain storage and processing equipment manufacturer, expects sales to increase by 60% y/y​, the company tells Interfax-Ukraine. With 42 projects underway, Valery Kalashnik, attribute the growth to the high level of profitability of investments in the storage and processing of grain. The company makes silos, grain dryers and separators and transport equipment -- bucket elevators, belt, and screw conveyors. Most of the new construction has been in central Ukraine, in five oblasts responsible for 35% of the nation’s grain production: Poltava, Vinnitsa, Chernihiv, Cherkasy and Kirovohrad. With climate change, the elevator potential in the western and northern regions increases, where grain production is currently increasing,” says Alexander Lavrinchuk, an expert elevator business.
Dairy firm Milkland reported a 44% y/y decrease in its top line to €37.0mn in 1H20, according to its August 31 filing. ​The decline was the result of a 52% y/y fall in sales in Russia (to €17.5mn), a 23% y/y fall in Ukraine (to
68​ UKRAINE Country Report​ September 2020 ​ ​www.intellinews.com