Agriculture

From February 1 exports of agricultural products from Ukraine will be carried out under condition of registration of contracts in the state Agrarian Exchange or its designated exchanges, which is a prerequisite for customs clearance. An exception is made only for exports of agricultural products as a humanitarian help or for international and technical assistance.

Astarta [AST PW, U/R] has finished its beet sugar production campaign. According to the Company’s data, around 1.56 mln thsd tonnes (+2% YoY) of sugar beets were processed to produce about 200 thsd tonnes of sugar (-11% YoY), due to a lower sugar extraction ratio (12.7% in 2010 vs. 14.8% in 2009). The Company underlines its reduction by 8% of gas consumption per tonne of sugar produced. Astarta also reported an increase in its land bank of 20% YoY to 210 thsd ha. Despite unfavorable weather conditions, Astarta has harvested more than 330 thsd tonnes of crops (corn +3% YoY, soybeans +61% YoY).

Ukrros [36U1 GR, BUY] has posted its financial results for 9M2010. The Company has increased its net sales by 4.5 times YoY to USD 91.6 mln, EBITDA by more than 5 times YoY to USD 25.7 mln with EBITDA margin of 28%. Ukrros has posted its net income of USD 13.1 mln against its net loss of USD 14.1 mln year earlier with net margin of 14.3%.

Kernel [KER PW, U/R] has signed a loan agreement for USD 80 mln with a European bank. The loan facility has been provided to the Company for general corporate purposes.

Landkom [LKI LN, HOLD] posted its harvest results for 2010 of 100 thsd tonnes, which is 12% lower than we expected (113.8 thsd tonnes). The Company has harvested 18.4 thsd tonnes of wheat, 39.6 thsd tonnes of rapeseed, 30.2 thsd tonnes of corn, 3.6 thsd tonnes of sunflower and 3.5 thsd tonnes of soybeans. Also, the Company has prepared 18.8 thsd ha of land for spring planting.

Kernel [KER PW, U/R] has increased its syndicated loan by USD 100 mln and the total amount available for Kernel under the Syndicated Secured Financing Facility is USD 360 mln. Such increase is provided in response to the increased sunflower seed market price. Additional funds will be used for further sunflower seed purchases, their storage and processing.

MCB Agricole [4GW1 GR, BUY] has acquired farm Peremoga in Odessa region with 2.69 thsd ha of arable land and has increased its total land bank to 93 thsd ha.

Ukrros [36U1 GR, BUY] has produced 174 thsd tonnes of sugar this season, which is almost 30% more than in a previous year. The Company has made 115 thsd tonnes of beet sugar and 59 thsd tonnes of cane sugar, which is 12% less and 14 times more respectively higher than in 2009.

The Cabinet of Ministers has prolonged grain export quotas until March 31, 2011. Also the Government decided to increase grain export quotas by 1.5 mln tonnes: 1 mln tonnes of corn and 0.5 mln tonnes of wheat.

Agroton Public Ltd [AGT PW, N/R], a diversified vertically integrated agricultural producer in eastern Ukraine, has published its healthy financial results for 9M2010: revenue increased by 31% YoY to 92.1 mln, EBITDA and EBITDA margin increased by 52% YoY and by 6 p.p. to USD 37.7 mln and 41% respectively and net income increased by 105% YoY to USD 24.8 mln.