United Grain Company (UZK)

OJSC United Grain Company (UZK) was established on the basis of the Agency for Food Market Regulation (APR) of Russia in accordance with Decree of the President of the Russian Federation No. 290 of March 20, 2009.

UZK is a state agent during procurement and commodity interventions in the grain market, the main goal of which is to support domestic agricultural producers and increase their competitiveness.

The key areas of the company's activity are:

• ensuring the implementation of commodity interventions in the grain market (in accordance with the Decree of the President of the Russian Federation of March 20, 2009 No. 290)
• development of the infrastructure of elevators and granaries in Russia
• creation of conditions for competitive export of Russian grain and expansion of sales markets.

UZK is one of the largest infrastructure and trading companies in Russia. It is one of the five leaders among Russian grain exporters. In 2014, UZK in 18 constituent entities of the Russian Federation has 12 elevators with a total capacity of 1.8 million tons and 14 processing enterprises with a capacity of 1.2 million tons, as well as one of the largest port transshipment enterprises in the country - NKHP OJSC.

Performance indicators

2023: Revenue growth by 36.2% to RUB 100.4 billion

The United Grain Company (OZK) completed 2023 with revenue growth of 36.2% compared to the previous year - up to 100.4 billion rubles. Net profit during this time almost tripled - from 3.55 billion to 10.9 billion rubles. UZK CEO Dmitry Sergeyev disclosed such data under IFRS at the end of April 2024.

According to him, the growth in the company's revenues is largely due to an increase in export volumes, as well as grain transshipment. Sergeyev also provided data according to which the EBITDA indicator (profit before interest on borrowed loans and loans, income tax and depreciation, excluding interest received; reflects the cash flow from the company's operating activities, which remains at the disposal of creditors, investors and founders) at OZK in 2023 reached 16.2 billion rubles, having risen 2.7 times compared to the previous year.

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In 2022/23, OZK exported 2.3 million tons of grain to the agricultural year, and the main supplies came from Africa, the Middle East and Asia.

At the same time, there were no significant changes in logistics: we were able to adapt and maintain our presence in our traditional markets - these are Turkey, Bangladesh, Iran and Egypt, - said Dmitry Sergeyev in an interview with Interfax.

According to him, in the 2023 calendar year, the United Grain Company exported almost 3 million tons of grain, which was the highest figure in the last five years. Compared to 2019, exports increased from 1.6 million tons to 2.9 million tons.

New export destinations in 2023 include Malawi, Mozambique, Rwanda and Malaysia. It is also reported that in 2023 OZK delivered 103 thousand grains to Indonesia, which has never happened. In addition, as Sergeyev said, in 2023, OZK accounted for 70% of grain supplied to Iran from abroad.^[1]

2022: Revenue reduction by 29.3% to RUB 73.7 billion

The United Grain Company (OZK) ended 2022 with a 29.3% reduction in sales compared to 2021: they decreased from 104.3 billion to 73.7 billion rubles. The group's net profit also decreased - from 4.56 billion to 3.55 billion rubles. OZK released such data on May 18, 2023.

In OZK, the fall in revenue in 2022 was explained by a reduction in the volume of grain exports under sanctions pressure, as well as a reduction in the volume of operations of an international subsidiary due to a complete blocking of its activities. It is noted that revenue in 2022 was 14.3% higher than the result of 2020 (64.5 billion rubles), and net profit - by 60.6% (in 2020 it amounted to 2.21 billion rubles).

The United Grain Company (OZK) earned 73.7 billion rubles for the year

EBITDA in 2022 amounted to 5 billion 932 million 213 thousand rubles, which is 21.9% less than in 2021 (7 billion 595 million 159 thousand rubles), but 45.4% more than in 2020 (4 billion 078 million 625 thousand rubles).

At the end of 2022, OZK announced plans to order 14 new Russian-made marine dry cargo carriers for the transportation of grain to developing countries

As of the end of 2022, the OZK group - a trade and logistics operator of agricultural products - is one of the top 5 largest exporters of Russian grain. The UZK group includes the largest Russian deep-sea export grain terminal on the Black Sea - the Novorossiysk Bakery Plant (NKHP), a specialized terminal for transshipment and storage of grain and bulk cargo - the Port Elevator in Kaliningrad. The UZK railway fleet consists of 1.6 thousand grain carriers. The company is 50% plus one share owned by the state. The second shareholder (50% minus one share) is Demetra-Holding. UZK has been acting as a state agent for procurement and commodity interventions in the grain market for more than 20 years.^[2]

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