Dnepropetrovsk begins to taste the fruits of the break with Russia
For a long time, residents of Dnepropetrovsk were confident that everything was fine in the city: enterprises were working, oligarch-governor Igor Kolomoisky would protect and feed everyone. Alas, the latest financial indicators of local industrial giants are beginning to demonstrate that it is time to come down to earth.
The latest news from Kolomoisky’s estate: the Dnepropetrovsk plant for the production of Vesta-Dnepr batteries has been declared bankrupt. Next in line is another enterprise of the Westa group - Vesta-Industrial.
For a long time, Vesta was positioned in the Ukrainian media as an example of successful domestic production. I myself have a Vesta, purchased as part of the support of a domestic manufacturer, and I don’t have any particular complaints about it, even after the Bosch.
Every year the company exported hundreds of thousands of batteries to Russia, occupying 14% of the market. However, over the past year, sales have fallen by 52%, and the plant's losses have increased sharply. As a result, the debts of Vesta-Dnepr alone amounted to 1,2 billion hryvnia with annual revenue of 0,84 billion hryvnia, and the value of the company’s shares fell by almost 97%.
Evil tongues say that the problem is not so much the problems with entering the Russian market and the debts of Vesta, but rather the fact that Vesta’s closest competitor, Ista, a similar battery plant, is also based in Dnepropetrovsk. And the owners of Ista, two Olegs - Zimin and Svinarchuk, were considered business partners of Petro Poroshenko even before his election as president. Thus, now Ista has every chance to remain the sole battery manufacturer in the region. However, of course, these are just rumors.
One way or another, the industrial giant of Dnepropetrovsk, the Yuzhmash plant, is risking the sad experience of battery manufacturers. After the adoption of a law prohibiting the sale of military goods to Russia, the company faced the threat of bankruptcy. Product sales volumes have already decreased by 80%. Zenit launch vehicles, which Russia purchased for the joint Russian-American project Start, are no longer paid for. Salaries at the plant are paid intermittently. And the rates at the enterprise are low - they rarely exceed 3500 hryvnia (less than $200), which does not attract young workers at all.
Draft laws on increasing the authorized capital of Yuzhmash and loading the enterprise with orders have been lying in the Cabinet of Ministers for a long time. And there was a meeting with the president. And the trade union is trampling on the doorsteps of Dnepropetrovsk deputies with requests for help. But things are still there - Yuzhmash finds itself in an increasingly dire situation every month. If the situation does not change, the legendary enterprise may not survive next year.
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