Ukraine's Ovostar excluded from Warsaw Exchange indexes after free float drops below 10%
MOSCOW. Sept 26 (Interfax) - Agribusiness group Ovostar Union, one of the leading producers of eggs and egg products in Ukraine, will be excluded from the Warsaw Stock Exchange's WIG, WIG-CEE, WIG-food and WIG-Ukraine indexes following the trading session on September 26.
"Ovostar company no longer meets criteria of the above mentioned indices, because it's free float is lower than 10%," Ukrainian media reported citing GPW Benchmark.
The shares of an even larger Ukrainian agribusiness group, Kernel, were excluded from the exchange's indexes, including the mWIG40, mWIG40TR, WIG140, WIG-ESG, WIG, WIG-food, WIG-CEE, WIG-Ukraine and CEEplus, after the trading session on September 7 for the same reason.
As a result, the shares of only six companies will remain in the WIG-Ukraine country index, with two of them having a combined weight of more than 80%. At present, the index breaks down into 39.329% Astarta, 26.883% IMC, 19.158% Ovostar, 5.462% Coal Energy, 4.109% KSG Agro, 3.228% Agroton and 1.831% MLK Foods.
The WIG-Ukraine Index began to be calculated on May 4, 2011, with December 31, 2010 taken for the 1000-point baseline. WIG-Ukraine is a total return index, so it measures both the share price and returns on dividends and subscription rights. The index dropped another 2.77% to 246.1 on Monday.
Canadian insurance group Fairfax Financial Holdings increased its stake in Ovostar to 27.51% from 17.499% on September 13, while pension fund Generali OFE, which is managed by Generali Powszechne Towarzystwo Emerytlane S.A., divested its stake of 10.93%. Fairfax Financial increased its stake in Ovostar to 17.499% from 10.39% on June 30 by buying shares from Alliance OPF, and doubled its stake to 10.39% from 5.35% in March 2021.
Ovostar is a vertically integrated group that is one of Ukraine's leading producers of chicken eggs and egg products. The group's holding company, Ovostar Union N.V. carried out an IPO for 25% of its shares on the Warsaw Stock Exchange in June 2011, raising $33.05 million.
Ovostar posted a net profit of $20.63 million in the first half of 2023 compared to a net loss of $19.78 million in the same period of 2022. Revenue grew by 56.8% to $88.69 million, primarily on the back of higher prices for the company's products. The company closed 2022 with a net profit of $6.09 million, up 270% from 2021, while revenue rose 1.7% to $135.63 million.
Prime One Capital Limited, which is controlled by Ovostar CEO Boris Velikov and chairman Vitaly Veresenko, owned 67.93% of Ovostar as of the end of March 2023, the company reported earlier.