Companies@UA: База компаний Украины

Kyiv, August 3 (Interfax-Ukraine) – Estonia's Olympic Entertainment Group (OEG), which runs a casino chain in eight European countries, posted a EUR 13.5 million operating loss in Ukraine in the first half of 2009, including EUR 12.8 million in the second quarter, due to the country's ban on gambling.

As the company said in a statement on the Warsaw Stock Exchange on Monday, as of July 9, 2009, it launched the liquidation of its Ukrainian-based subsidiaries - Olympic Casino Ukraine LLC, Ukraine Leisure Company, and Eldorado Leisure Company.

As the company said, all of its 27 Ukrainian-based casinos were closed in May and June, as a result the company saw a shortfall of EUR 1.2 million in revenues. Moreover, losses from the partial sale of OEG's assets in Ukraine and its partial writing-off are estimated at EU 12 million.

According to the statement, OEG is to demand that the Ukrainian authorities compensate it for the funds it invested under an agreement on the mutual protection of investments signed by the governments of Estonia and Ukraine, and has already embarked on the process.

The company's EBITDA [Earnings before Interest, Taxes, Depreciation and Amortization] in the first half of 2009 was EUR 40,000.

As was reported, Ukraine on June 25, 2009 introduced a gambling ban, which will be in effect until a special law is adopted to envisage the right to gambling at specially created zones.