OREANDA-NEWS. November 20, 2007. Credit-Rating, a nationally recognized credit rating agency in Ukraine, on November 16 assigned a long-term credit rating of uaBBB to upcoming UAH10m 3-year registered coupon bonds (B series) to be issued by Dnepropetrovsk-based Pridneprovskyi Combine Joint-Stock Company OJSC, the press service of Credit-Raring reports. The company`s primary activity is milk processing. In the course of analysis, Credit-Rating considered issuer's financial statements for 2003-2006 and 9M2007 as well as other inside information furnished by the company.

An obligor or a debt liability with uaBBB credit rating is characterized with the SUFFICIENT creditworthiness as compared to other Ukrainian obligors or debt liabilities. This level of creditworthiness is affected by adverse changes in commercial, financial and economic conditions.

Factors maintaining the rating:

Growth in issuer's key figures in the past few years, specifically the net sales in 2006 made up UAH159.8 mln, which is 1.5x higher than in 2003 (UAH157.5 mln for 9 months of 2007), the issuer's EBITDA rose 3.6x to UAH10.9 mln (UAH9.9 mln for 9 months of 2007).
Issuer's modest debt burden, in fact the Issuer's consolidated debt on banking loans and on bonds accounted for UAH18.3 mln, in which 28.1 per cent is issuer's assets and 54.8 per cent is issuer's equity.

Factors constraining the rating:

- The issuer's sales are concentrated in a single region, namely Dnepropetrovsk Oblast accounts for approximately 60 per cent of the issuer's sales (for January-August 2007).
- There is high region's vulnerability to fluctuations in milk prices associated with seasonality in its production, reduction in resource basis and significant regulatory influence.
- The dairy market remains hotly competitive, with such a tendency expected to retain.