Daily monitor

According to Interfax, Motor Sich [MSICH UZ, BUY], a large aviation engine producer in Ukraine ,signed a new contract with the Indian Air Force to modernize the engines in 105 of India’s Antonov AN-32 aircraft.

Avantazh Corporation is initiating a private placement of 15% of its shares in Nov-Dec 2008.

Mriya [MAYA GR, BUY], one of the top agricultural holdings in Ukraine, with a land bank in operation of 190 thsd ha, released its audited 2008 IFRS results. Key highlights: net revenues increased by nearly 5 times to USD 89.4 mln, EBITDA expanded by 4.5 times to USD 74.2 and net income surged by 4.6 times to USD 66.8 mln. As of January 1, 2009 Mriya’s bank debt amounted to USD 45.2 mln and the company accumulated USD 71.5 mln in cash, including cash in banks.

According to a press release from Zaporizhtransformator [ZATR UZ, N/R] – the world's largest manufacturer of transformer equipment – the company has signed a new contract with ArmRosgazprom in Armenia. ZATR will delivery four power transformers to the firth block of the Razdanskaya Thermal Power Plant (FFPP). The new power block will be launched in August 2010.

On June 23, 407.4 thsd mt of oil was sold at Resources Auction 130, which took place on the floor of the Ukrainian Interbank Currency Exchange. According to the UICE’s official information, the average price of the oil was UAH 1,288 per mt (up 4.9% from the last large-volume auction, Auction 129-D, which took place on May 26), or USD 19.2 per bbl (excluding VAT, at USD/UAH 7.6130, up 5.3%).

Ukraine’s law makers voted yesterday to hold the country’s presidential elections on January 17, 2010. The vote in the Verkhovna Rada (VR), which was supported by 399 of 442 legislators present, is the legislature’s second attempt to set the date, as a prior call to hold the election on October 25, 2009, was struck down by the Constitutional Court of Ukraine.

The Supreme Court of Ukraine yesterday invalidated the ruling of the Supreme Commercial Court of Ukraine on Dniproenergo’s [DNEN UZ, U/R] share issue and thus cancelled DNEN’s 52% additional share issue from 2007.

The National Bank of Ukraine (NBU) has issued a resolution which regulates the order of lending to the Deposit Guarantee Fund (DGF).

Sokrat participated in June macroeconomic consensus forecast organized by the Ukrainian business magazine Expert. The meeting involved 14 Ukrainian leading economists representing a variety of private sector companies, think tanks and academia.

President Viktor Yushchenko shot down a bill targeting a 94% increase of beer excise duty that had been previously adopted by the Parliament. The main reason for the disapproval, the President stated, was the inappropriate allocation of the additional income from the tax increase.