Daily monitor

Kovelmoloko [KMOL UZ, U/R], a Ukrainian dairy producer that is affiliated with the Western Milk Group, decreased its net income by 2.4 times to USD 0.19 mln in 2008. The company’s assets increased by 41% to 58.7 mln. Kovelmoloko is going to hold an AGM on March 27, 2009 in order to review its 2008 financial results.

According to an announcement by the National Bank of Ukraine, the money base fell 3.6% to UAH 180 bln (USD 23.4 bln), while the money supply fell 4.6% to UAH 491.8 bln (USD 63.9 bln), in January.

The ampoule line capacity at Galytchpharm constitutes 200 mln ampoules a year. The company’s modernization project has been in effect since 2004. In order to upgrade its ampoule production capacities, the Arterium Corporation has spent a total of USD 5.01 mln.

January 2009 saw another sharp fall in Ukrainian electricity production (-14.6%) and net consumption (-15.4%) compared to January 2008. The worse performance among the electricity generators was shown by the fossil-fuelled power plants: -17.5% YoY.

Volynoblenergo [VOEN UZ, BUY], a west Ukrainian electricity distribution company, ended last year with a UAH 6.5 mln (USD 1.2 mln) net income, which is a 136% gain compared to 2007 results.

The National Bank of Ukraine (NBU) has stated that it is prepared to withdraw Prominvestbank from its provisional administration in the near future.

The National Bank of Ukraine (NBU) has announced that it will allow commercial banks to provide the restructuring of loans attracted by individuals, taking into account the financial state of the borrowers, and to raise the category by one level for restructured loan transactions with those borrowers who are able to confirm their ability to repay their loans and are registered as good.

Ukraine’s giant telecommunications company Ukrtelecom [UTEL UZ, U/R] – the country’s fixed-line incumbent – is going to double interconnection charges for M2F (mobile to fixed line calls) with mobile operators from UAH 0.25 to UAH 0.5 According to company officials, UTEL consider the old contract regarding interconnection fees to already be invalid.

According to a recent note from the State Statistics Committee of Ukraine, CPI grew 2.9% MoM (22.3% YoY), while PPI grew 0.2% MoM (20.4% YoY).

According to an announcement from the National Bank of Ukraine, the foreign reserves fell 8.6% reaching USD 28.82, a 15-month low.