The Cabinet of Ministers approved the financial plan of the Ukrainian Railways public joint-stock company (Ukrzaliznytsia) for 2018 on Wednesday, February 14. Ukrzaliznytsia’s acting head Yevhen Kravtsov announced this in a statement.

The draft financial plan that was previously published provided for a net profit of UAH 709.879 million. Ukrzaliznytsia’s operating revenues for the current year are planned at UAH 92.188 billion. Net sales revenue are planned at UAH 88.377 billion, including revenues of UAH 80.468 billion from transportation of goods and passengers, UAH 7.909 billion from auxiliary production, and UAH 3.811 billion from other operations.

Ukrzaliznytsia’s expenditures this year are planned at UAH 91.479 billion. Expenditures on transportation, which account for 80.4% of the projected expenditures in the financial plan, are UAH 75.073 billion. These expenditures are projected to increase because of an increase in transport volumes, an increase in the volume of repairs of rolling stock, an increase in the prices of materials, and increased labor costs.

Ukrzaliznytsia’s gross profit is projected at UAH 8.472 billion, its EBITDA at UAH 20.173 billion, and its EBITDA margin at 22.8%.

The draft financial plan provides for payment of about UAH 18 billion in taxes in 2018.

According to Ukrzaliznytsia’s consolidated financial plan, passenger transport volume will decrease slightly in 2018. In total, 201.5 million passengers are expected to be transported by rail by the end of the year. This is 0.7% less than the figure projected in Ukrzaliznytsia’s financial plan for 2017 and 2.2% less than the figure expected financial report for last year.

Ukrzaliznytsia is expected to generate UAH 71.965 billion from cargo transportation this year. This is UAH 12.029 billion or 20.1% more than the figure projected for 2017 (the actual figures for 2017 are not yet available). Compared with the financial plan for 2017, this represents an increase of UAH 9.114 billion or 14.5% in revenue from cargo transportation.

Revenue from transportation of export cargo is expected to increase by 24.1% to UAH 23.086 billion. Revenue from transportation of goods within the country is expected to increase by 21.8% to UAH 29.697 billion. Revenue from transportation of imported cargo is forecast to increase by 19.1% to UAH 8.179 billion and revenue from transportation of transit cargo by 9% to UAH 11.002 billion.

The Cabinet of Ministers approved Ukrzaliznytsia’s financial plan for 2017 only in September 2017.