Konstantin Panfilov, former First Deputy GD of Uglemetbank JSC, was appointed the company’s new GD. The decision was made by the company’s Board of Directors on March 1, 2006. Mr Panfilov succeeded Sergey Babenkov appointed in March 2001. The company’s Board of Directors also commissioned the former director of Uglemetbank Moscow branch to take up the vacant post of the company’s First Deputy GD.

Yuzhnouralsky armaturno-izolyatorny zavod JSC (Reinforcement and insulator works of Yuzhnouralsk) has held a dealer meeting. Among the organizations that took part in the meeting were Horda Ltd. (Moscow), TiT CJSC (St. Petersburg), Aizovets CJSC, Yuzhnouralskaya izolyatornaya kompaniya CJSC (Yuzhnouralsk), Investor-M Ltd. (Kazakhstan), Regionalnaya kompaniya Ltd., Locus-SIP (Yekaterinburg), Srednevolzhskaya elektrotekhnicheskaya kompaniya Ltd. (Samara), Vostokenergokomplekt CJSC (Irkutsk). The meeting was dedicated to the company’s achievements in 2005 and to objectives of the company and its

Within January and February 2006, the aircrafts of Utair JSC conveyed 260,485 passengers. The company’s passenger turnover for the same period came to 375,468,000 passenger-kilometers. The company’s aircrafts have flown 13,216 flight hours. Utair helicopters have flown 6,267 flight hours, the company’s spokesperson said.

The general shareholder meeting of State District Power Plant of Serov resulted in the upcoming merger with OGK-2 JSC. The merger is to be carried out under the conditions of the merger agreements dealing with State District Power Plants of Pskov, Stavropol, Surgut, Serov, and Troitsk, the company’s spokesperson reports. The meeting was also adjourned with the decision to increase the authorized capital to 53.28 million RUR via raising the face value of the company’s shares (it’ll comprise .65 RUR) using the extra profits.

Trubnaya Metallurgicheskaya Kompaniya JSC, Russian tube maker, shipped 217,000 tonnes of tubes in February 2006 (.8% more than a year earlier). The company also cast 155,000 tonnes of steel, including 35,000 tonnes of billets, reports the company’s spokesperson.

Simphonia, the mobile phone dealer, has bought a number of Tsifrograd chain stores in Yekaterinburg, Novouralsk, and Kamensk-Uralskiy lately, the company’s spokesperson said to UrBC representative. According to the company’s Commercial Director Andrey Starodubtsev, the amount of money involved in the transaction will not be revealed for the time being. ‘This acquisition has to do with the redistribution of the market shares among the core players. We are going to make the best of the stores we’ve bought,’ Mr Starodubtsev said.

ChelyabEnergoSbyt JSC put a Xerox billing system into operation. This was done to ensure the multi-faceted data processing of the company’s extended client database. The company has gradually been introducing the software programs that allow full automation of sales and purchases of electricity. First, the meterage is filed into the database; then, the billing system provides for the calculation, charging, drawing of bills and invoices, the delivery of the papers and receipts to the consumers, the payment record and customer communication. This will allow the company to become independent of