Daily monitor

Recently, the National Bank of Ukraine disclosed that, in the period October 1-November 1, private bank deposits in UAH (hryvnia) and foreign currency fell by 4.1% (or UAH 8.378 bln) from UAH 204.376 bln to UAH 195.997 bln. In particular during this period, private deposits in UAH fell by 9.8% (or UAH 12.396 bln) from UAH 126.686 bln to UAH 114.290 bln. Corporate deposits in UAH and foreign currency fell by 0.6% (or UAH 0.835 bln) from UAH 135.782 bln to UAH 134.947 bln.

According to an announcement by the State Statistics Committee of Ukraine, net FDI inflow to Ukraine in quarterly terms has slowed down to USD 1.17 bln, compared to USD 3.66 bln in 1Q08 and USD 3.55 bln in 2Q08, thus totaling USD 8.08 bln for the period January-September 2008.

Ukrnafta [UNAF UZ, BUY] will not sell oil at the auxiliary Ukrainian Auction 122-D, announced for November 18.

On November 14, the Astarta holding, a leading agricultural producer, released its consolidated financial results for 3Q08. The company’s revenues increased 30% YoY to USD 107.6 mln, EBITDA expanded 29% YoY to USD 43.8 mln and net income improved 8% YoY to USD 33.6 mln. All of the company’s key sale segments increased: +57% for crops, +28% for sugar, +32% for farm products.

The financial results for the first ten months of 2008 have been released for the Open Joint-Stock Company Balcem, a subsidiary of the Eurocement Group Ukraine. Its output was 2.587 mln metric tons of cement, compared to roughly 2.477 mln metric tons for the same period in 2007 – this represents a 104.4 % increase YoY. The volume of clinker production experienced 122% growth YoY, at 2.246 mln metric tons for January-October 2008, while it was roughly 1.848 mln metric tons for the same period in 2007.

Motor Sich [MSICH UZ, U/R] has signed a contract with the Chinese company Tianli for the licensed repair licensed repair of ÀI-25TLK engines for K-8J VPS training aircraft owned by the Chinese Air Force. According to the Industrial Policy Ministry of Ukraine, these are scientific-training aircraft.

The State Statistics Committee of Ukraine released figures about real GDP dynamics in October; GDP fell 2.1% YoY, compared to 5.5% YoY growth in September. GDP in January-October grew 5.8% YoY, compared to 6.9% YoY growth in January-September.

The Open Joint-Stock Company Dniprovagonmash [DNVM UZ, BUY], a large Ukrainian railcar producer, released its results for the period January-September 2008. The company’s plant increased railcar output by 17% to around 3,000 units, compared to its results for the first nine months of 2007.

According to an official announcement made by the Ukrainian Antimonopoly Committee, it has approved the option for Kryukiv Railcar [KVBZ UZ, BUY] to purchase a controlling stake in the Kremenchug Steel Plant [KRST UZ, N/R].

The agricultural holding ‘Mriya’ [MAYA GR, N/R] has expanded its land bank by 14.4% to 140 thsd ha. In particular, 6.5 thsd ha of this is located in the Ternopil Region, 9.5 thsd ha in the Chernovitskiy Region, and 4.2 thsd ha in the Khmelnitskiy Region. The land banks were obtained through lease agreements.