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RUGroup developments in 2013
Unigran Group is successfully continuing its active development and business expansion. And 2013 was another year for the Group to improve production and other processes as well as to enter into new market segments.
On the way of ongoing modernization in 2013 there were several elements of a new equipment introduced. The two new large CATERPILLAR D8R dozers as well as fines washing plants by CDE Global have started operations at both Malyn Stone-Crushing Plant and Pyniazevychi Quarry. In particular installation of the new, more powerful, fines washing units allows the Group to increase volumes of conversion of fines into more value added products such as small aggregates fractions and granite sand. In its turn it will improve profitability of operations and reduce fines stocks. Besides, in 2013 the three new VOLVO dump trucks were added as well enhancing capacity and cost efficiency of production process at the Group quarries.
Development of the supplementary business lines is another priority on the way of expanding our market positions and important source of competitive advantage in the core business. Last year Unigran-Service LLC, the group company which is offering full range of drilling and blasting services and producing its own explosives, had increased its fleet with another mixing and charging bulk truck from TREAD Corp. And now there are seven state of the art mixing and charging vehicles in Unigran-Service fleet. Moreover, the capacities of production of Granemit, our branded liquid explosive developed by Unigran-Service, are expected to be increased significantly in the coming years after launching of the second explosives production plant had bought by the Group in 2013.
On the other hand, Unigran Group is continuing its expansion into new segments of building materials market and strengthening vertical integration throughout the core value chain. In 2013 the Group had closed acquisition of Budindustria-Service LLC which is extracting river sand in Kyiv region. We believe adding of river sand to our product range will satisfy more customer needs and allow us to benefit from cross selling synergies as well.