Uralfinprombank’s Board of Directors decided not to distribute the better part of the company’s profits for 2009 prior to the general shareholder meeting. These profits amount to 34.15 million RUR, with another 1.79 million already transferred to the bank’s reserve fund. The annual general meeting is to take place in Yekaterinburg on May 14, 2010, the bank says.

According to the European Business Association, the sales of light-duty vehicles rose by 6% in the first quarter of 2010 compared with the first quarter of 2009: 21,062 automobiles were sold in January-March 2010 against 19,962 cars sold in January-March 2009. Nevertheless, the sales of certain brands have gone down. For one, the sales of both Volkswagen NFZ and Nissan cars decreased by 40%, those of Ford cars dropped by 64%, those of Mercedes-Benz Vans automobiles declined by 85%, and those of Toyota cars plunged by 90% compared with the first quarter of 2009.

Rosalcohol (the federal strong drinks market watchdog) decided to cancel the licenses of some Sverdlovsk Region-based strong drinks producers and traders for the time being. Among these companies are OOO Omega Spirits Group, whose license was halted on January 14, 2010, OOO Lux-Alco Trade Company, whose license was halted on January 14, 2010, OOO Invina-Opt, whose license was halted on March 22, 2010, OOO Beauty Therapy Center, whose license was halted on February 3, 2010, OOO Prometheus, whose license was halted on March 22, 2010, OOO Prodtechsnab, whose license was halted on March 22, 2010,

‘Due to last year’s recession, our Pyshma logistics park’s occupancy rate dropped from 100% to 40%, or 80,000 sq m in 2009. We have only recently been able to raise this figure to 75%,’ Eurasia Logistic’s Commercial Director Sergey Vereschagin announced at this year’s Urals Logistics Conference. ‘As for our tenants, things have changed here as well. We used to let 50% of the available space to logistics operators in 2008; a year later, they only rented 35% of our space. In 2009, some of them had to reduce the amount of space rented, and some of them had to leave the market altogether.

The workers of Alexandrinskaya ore mining company (which is a member of Russian Copper Company Holding) organized an official picket aimed at protesting against their employer’s unfair trade union policies. The picket took place in front of Russian Copper Company’s office in Chelyabinsk on April 19, 2010, the Russian Federation Mining & Metallurgical Trade Union reports. ‘The company’s trade union has felt strong administrative pressure for many months now. When the management have to make somebody redundant, they mostly pick the trade union’s most active representatives. The trade