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and Turkey.
Due to lower domestic interest rates, this year’s massive $4.6bn road building program is getting more funding from state bank loans, Prime Minister Honcharuk said Monday after meeting with the Ministers of Finance and Economy and the leadership of the central bank. “An additional 19.3bn UAH($785mn) at a lower interest rate is more quality roads in Ukraine this year -- mostly from state banks,” he said. In addition to the loans, Ukravtodor, the state highway agency, is expected to place at least $200mn in Eurobonds.
China Merchants Port Holdings is buying a minority stake in Odesa Port’s container terminal, Brooklyn - Kiev Port LLC. A unit of a Chinese state company, China Merchants is paying $1 billion to buy into the Odesa container terminal and nine other container terminals worldwide, reports the Center for Transportation Strategies. The seller, Rodolphe Saadé, CEO of the CMA CGM Group of Marseilles, says: “Given the high uncertainty caused by the coronavirus crisis, the closure of this transaction, as announced previously demonstrates the sustainability of the CMA CGM Group.”
9.2.5 Retail corporate news
9.2.6 Agriculture corporate news
Roshen, Ukraine’s largest candy maker, reports that sales fell 10% in the first two weeks of quarantine. “With the beginning of quarantine measures and the global economic crisis, we are witnessing a decline in purchasing power and, accordingly, demand for confectionery products,” the company tells Interfax Ukraine.
● Kernel
Kernel, Ukraine’s largest sunflower oil producer, has sold its 50% stake in its Russian grain terminal at Taman, on the Sea of Azov. A subsidiary of Russia’s VTB Bank paid €61mn cash for the terminal, which is 10 km east of Russia’s new bridge to Crimea, over the Kerch Strait. In a statement to the Warsaw Stock Exchange, Kernel said it hasn’t been involved in Russia operations since 2017, when it assigned its transshipment quota to Global trade giant Glencore, which owns the other half of the terminal.
9.2.9 Utilities corporate news
Ukraine’s leading coal & power holding DTEK Energy released its updated abridged financials on February 28, reducing its estimate of 2019 operating and net profit, while raising its operating cash flow estimate from its initially published financials on February 5. The company’s net revenue reached UAH76.80bn in 2019, a 15.4% y/y drop. Its 2019 operating profit was UAH0.54bn, or 95% less y/y (vs. 85% decline reported earlier), and net profit was UAH1.84bn, a 62% y/y decline (vs. a 47% drop reported earlier). At the same time, its operating cash flow before working capital changes was UAH17.61bn in 2019, which is a 33% decline y/y (vs. a 38% fall reported earlier). The company also provided its update on operations in 4Q19, which are generally in line with our estimates for 2019. Namely, based on the company reports, we calculate DTEK Energy produced 22.3 mmt of ROM coal
58 UKRAINE Country Report April 2018 www.intellinews.com
