UrBC, Moscow, September 1, 2010. OAO M.Video Company’s gross profit margins decreased from 26.2% in the first half of 2009 down to 25.8% in the first half of 2010, the company’s financial report (drawn up in accordance with the IAS) states. At the same time, M.Video’s net profit came to 518 million RUR in January-June 2010: this means the profits doubled over one year. This dramatic increase in net profits has to do with M.Video’s shrinking financial expenses in the first half of the year.

Sverdlovsk Region’s mortality rate was 41.8% lower in January-June 2010 compared with January-June 2009. The number of newborns went up by 2.9% in the first half of the year compared with a year earlier, whereas the number of the deceased dropped by 3.5%. These data are provided by Sverdlovsk Region’s division of the Federal State Statistics Service. The number of people who arrived in the region in January-June 2010 exceeded the number of those who left it by 1,579 individuals. The number of newcomers who got an officially registered residence in the region rose by 0.1% in the first half of

MOTIV Telecommunications Group stopped rendering its services to subscribers who use D-AMPS-based cellular transmission on September 1, 2010. The company also shut down all the machinery that enabled the mobile operator to work with the standard in question. The services were canceled as the company’s license 32812, issued on September 1, 2005, which allowed the operator to provide D-AMPS standard-based services, expired. Now MOTIV had been providing D-AMPS (AMPS)-based telecommunications services for fourteen years prior to the shut-down.

The Board of Uralvagonzavodskiy non-state retirement fund confirmed its decision to let OAO Uralvagonzavod Scientific & Production Association leave the fund. At the moment, Uralvagonzavod owns 50% of the fund’s shares and is one of its co-founders, Kommersant reports. Uralvagonzavod’s Deputy General Director for Personnel Svetlana Ivanilova told the newspaper that the decision was made within the framework of an earlier agreement which allowed a number of Uralvagonzavod workers to have their retirement savings transferred to Blagosostoyaniye non-state retirement fund. Ivanilova explained

Sverdlovsk Region Arbitration Court partially sustained the claim laid by Sberbank of Russia against Omega Group. The hearing regarding 800 million RUR the group owes the bank took place the day before. The defendants involved in the claim are several dozen wholesale and retail companies of the well-known strong drinks holding: OOO Omega Opt Trading, OOO Omega Spirits Group, OOO Agroplodimport, OOO Agrofirma Avgust, OOO Bogatyr Trading Firm, OOO RossAlliance, OOO Resta Management, OOO James, OOO Avtorskiye Restorany, Magnum strong drinks chain, and some others. Some of the defendants are