Artel Electronics, a home appliance and electronics manufacturer and one of Uzbekistan’s largest companies, has received a first-time Fitch rating of ‘B’ with a stable outlook. Artel has thus become the first private manufacturing company in Uzbekistan to be assigned a rating from one of the “big three” international rating agencies.

Fitch praised Artel’s “leading domestic market position”, “expected strong funds from operation” and “successful and long-term cooperation” with internationally renowned original equipment manufacturers. The rating follows a rigorous assessment of the company’s financial and commercial position, and provides an independent benchmark of its reliability as a borrower.

“Recent business reforms in Uzbekistan have enabled the country’s leading companies to restructure, access international financing opportunities and explore foreign markets. Capitalising on this, Artel Electronics has been successfully revising its existing processes to follow international best practice in financial reporting and ESG,” Fitch added.

“This is a really exciting moment for the company, and for Uzbekistan as a whole; we are one of the first companies to take advantage of new reforms introduced over the last three years and receive a credit rating. This is just the start of our journey, and we look forward to building on this rating and further improving our position in the months and years to come,” Kivanc Isik, deputy chairman for business development and strategy at Artel told bne IntelliNews.

 “We are delighted to have received our first rating from Fitch today. This moment follows months of hard work by the team at Artel as we work to align ourselves with the best global standards of corporate governance. The rating will help us deepen our cooperation with our partners, access new forms of financing, and is the natural next step towards entering international capital markets”, said Bektemir Murodov, CFO at Artel.

Founded in 2011 with limited product lines, Artel has grown to produce a wide range of household appliances and electronics, with over 10,000 employees operating throughout Uzbekistan. The company currently exports its products to over 20 countries throughout the CIS and the Middle East. It is also the regional partner of Samsung and Viessmann.