By KYIV. Nov 16 (Interfax-Ukraine) – Kernel agro-industrial group is negotiating with its creditors to defer the repayment of debt obligations, which have grown to a record high since the start of the Russian military invasion of Ukraine, to $1.95 billion as of June 30, 2022, which is 37% more than on the same date in 2021.
According to a financial report on the holding’s website, this increase in debt was mainly due to a sharp increase in short-term debt raised to replenish working capital in the winter of 2021-2022 and outstanding by the summer of 2022 due to Russian aggression and related with it negative factors.
According to the group of companies, its net debt obligations by June 30, 2022 increased by 1.8 times compared to the same date last year – to $ 1.49 billion, and the ratio of debt to EBITDA jumped to a five-year record ratio of 6.8x compared to 1.0x in 2021.
"The Russian invasion began just at the peak of our working capital cycle, when we had the highest seasonal debt level of $1.95 billion in the history of the company and an all-time high inventory of $900 million. Fortunately, we entered into this is a turbulent time in a relatively good financial condition, so we continued to service our debt, but we were forced to negotiate a deferral of repayment of the principal debt to creditors," the holding said.
Kernel recalled that the first such negotiations allowed it to defer the repayment of the principal amount of the debt until September 30, 2022, and now it is negotiating to extend the delay until June 30, 2023.
"As of the day of this report, we received refusals to extend the maturity of the principal debt in the amount of $627 million with creditors until June 30, 2023. For debt obligations totaling $246 million, we are in the process of formalizing such refusals," the holding emphasized in the report.
