Spotlight on EBA

Ernst & Young Ukraine

Impact of the crisis on Ukrainian companies

On October 7, Ernst & Young Ukraine, jointly with EBA, presented the latest survey - Impact of the economic crisis on Ukrainian companies. We've conducted this study every quarter since November 2008 to identify emerging trends, as Ukraine experiences the severe effects of the economic crisis.

The study showed that profitability and sales revenues continue to weaken. However, for the first time since Q3 2008, over 50% of respondents reported quarter-on-quarter sales growth in Q2 2009.  Alexei Kredisov, Country Managing Partner in Ukraine, explains: "This trend may indicate early signs of a slow recovery by companies that are either getting used to doing business in the new economic condition or are finding a more permanent improvement in their business. However, this slight improvement which we have spotted is taking place on the background of the dramatic fall that the Ukrainian economy experienced in Q4 2008."

Ernst & Young launched the survey to satisfy the needs of the Ukrainian business community and we were glad to see that media appreciated our initiative and found our reports a timely analysis of the situation.
Natalia Partach

SUN InBev Ukraine

Ukraine - England - Chernigivske
On October 10, Chernigivske beer, a premium sponsor of the Ukrainian national football select team, together with the Euro 2012 department of the L'viv City Administration and the Ukrainian Football Federation, provided a live transmission of the Ukraine-England match at a specially equipped Chernigivske Fan Zone.

More then 15,000 visitors of legal drinking age took part in activities in the Chernigivske Fan Zone, including football make-up, football freestyle, a spontaneous football match, and a meeting with veterans of the Karpaty team that won the 1969 USSR cup, and a concert by TNMK.

We call it a real holiday "a la Chernigivske"!

Vasil Kisil & Partners Law Firm

Misleading advertising and concentration problems discussed during the First Ukrainian Competition Forum
The First Ukrainian Competition Forum was held in Kyiv on October 15-16.  The event was supported by the Antimonopoly Committee of Ukraine.

The purpose of the forum was to make participants aware of AMCU's recent practices, discuss the most urgent issues, perspective development of the competition practice and to facilitate public dialogue between the AMCU, businessmen, governmental authorities, and reputable law firms specialized in competition law to negotiate problematic aspects of laws and law enforcement practices.

The forum's participants discussed issues such as concentrations, anticompetitive concerted actions and abuse of the monopoly (dominant) position on the most significant markets of Ukraine, as well as those related to protection against unfair competition, including misleading advertising. As it was widely covered in the mass media, Ukraine's competition watchdog and communications regulator have ordered mobile operators Kyivstar, MTS Ukraine and Life:) to withdraw misleading marketing material on so-called "free" tariffs.

The telecoms regulator banned the tariffs in July and called for more information from the operators in September to see whether the nan was being obeyed. The advertising was found to not provide enough information to permit consumers to make a fair assessment of the tariffs. The operators were given ten days from the latest decision to withdraw all of the misleading material.

Ms. Mariya Nizhnik, senior associate with Vasil Kisil & Partners Law Firm, outlined the specifics of merger clearance applications handling by the Antimonopoly Committee of Ukraine. "To have an efficient, appropriate, transparent and predictable procedure for handling applications at the AMCU is one of the most important criteria ensuring the best results for a customer with minimum time and funds spent," Ms. Nizhnik noted in her speech.