By KYIV. Nov 30 (Interfax-Ukraine) – The industrial and construction group Kovalska is considering a complete shutdown of enterprises for two months in the event of the most negative scenario for the energy supply situation in Ukraine, general director of the group Serhiy Pylypenko has said.
"The most negative scenario is that we stop at the end of December and will not work until the second half of February. Completely. We calculate such a scenario when the sites are completely mothballed, we send people on vacation or downtime and wait for the situation to improve," Pylypenko said in an interview with the Ekonomichna Pravda publication.
According to him, due to the deterioration of the situation with energy supply, consumption of construction materials will be significantly reduced. At the same time, in November, consumption of construction materials and ready-mixed concrete is only 20-25% of the pre-war level. The Group’s sales and production volumes fell by 80% due to the war.
"Our sales, together with the volume of production, fell by 80%. We were forced to lay off about 60% of the staff. We cannot provide some people with work, as we work on a part-time schedule. The company employed 5,500 people, now about 1,500 work on a permanent basis," Pylypenko said.
The Group’s key task remains the preservation of assets and key personnel, the Group’s CEO noted. At the same time, the Group does not consider the relocation of its facilities. There is also a plan to build a plant for production of aerated concrete and dry building mixtures in Lviv region, it is expected to be launched in a year.
At the same time, the Group froze the project for production of panel structures for construction of budget housing, which it announced in 2020.
"The project was frozen. Market conditions changed significantly. When we saw the consequences of missile attacks, panel construction turned out to be a big question: will there be demand, will this design be stable, will it withstand ‘arrivals.’ In addition, this is a capital-intensive project, it requires large investments in equipment and changes in approaches to construction," Pylypenko explained.
The industrial and construction group Kovalska has been operating in the construction market of Ukraine since 1956. It unites more than 20 enterprises in the field of extraction of raw materials, production and construction.
