Daily monitor

In 1Q09, the number of Ukrtelecom [UTLM UZ, U/R] internet users rose by 32.6% YoY to reach 680 thd unique users, according to a company press release.

Yesterday the Ukrainian government announced that it had changed the bank recapitalization rules. In particular, the new version of the statement increases the minimum threshold to a 60%+1 stake from 50%+1.

As of May 8, 2009 Ukraine had exported a total of 23.79 mln mt of grain during the 2009 marketing year. This includes 7.73 mln mt of mill wheat, 6.0 mln mt of forage wheat ,4.6 mln mt of corn and 5.3 mln mt of barley . Moreover, as of May 8, 2009 Ukraibe had exported 0.6 mln mt of sunflower seeds and 2.6 mln mt of rape seeds.

The government of Ukraine endorsed the draft of a bill that will increase the beer excise by 74.2% to UAH 0.54 (USD 0.07) per liter. Moreover, the government proposed to increase the wine excise by 2.8 times to UAH 1.4 (USD 0.18) per liter. The draft will be forwarded to the Parliament for further consideration and adoption.

According to a note from Moody’s Investors Service, the agency has downgraded Ukraine’s foreign and local currency government bond ratings from B1 to B2 and assigned a negative outlook.

On Thursday the State Property Fund (SPF) will attempt to sell a 25% stake in Chernigivoblenergo [CHEON UZ, BUY] with an initial asking price of UAH 119 mln (USD 15.5 mln). This implies a UAH 4.0 per share asking price for CHEON which is in the current market range.

The National Bank of Ukraine announced its preliminary aggregated data concerning the performance of the Ukrainian banking system in April.

MCB Agricole [4GW1 GR, BUY], the holding company for Ukrzernoprom Agro, received USD 2 mln as a prepayment for the export of 12 thsd mt of winter rapeseeds to be shipped in July– August 2009. Terms of supply - SPT Black Sea port. Mr. Leng, the General Director of the company, stated, “Despite the inoperative banking system and credit crunch, our company is succeeding in attracting the funds we need via forward contracts.

According to a note issued by the IMF on Friday, May 8, 2009, the IMF mission has approved the provision of the second tranche, worth USD 2.8 bln, to Ukraine within the USD 16.4 bln emergency stand-by loan program approved in November 2008. Therefore, the total volume of the loan provided thus far has grown to USD 7.3 bln.

Vinnifruit [VINIP UZ, N/R], a Ukrainian juice producer, released its financial results for 2008. Key highlights: net revenues decreased by 4.2% YoY to UAH 174.6 mln (USD 22.68 mln), EBIT shrank by 2.6 times to UAH 9.7 mln (USD 1.26 mln) and net losses amounted to UAH 104.3 mln (USD 13.55 mln).