UrBC, Magnitogorsk, Chelyabinsk Region, February 07, 2011. Magnitogorsk Iron & Steel Works (MMK) managed to reduce its energy spending by 3.9% in 2010 compared with a year earlier. All in all, the company saved 224,016,200 RUR (0.7%), while MMK Group saved 252,236,660 RUR (0.76%). ‘Due to our Mill 500, CC machine 6 and cutting-to-length unit 3 at our sheet rolling department 4 mastering new kinds of products, more raw materials were used but the general energy outgoings actually went down against the year 2009, making our goods more profitable,’ MMK reports. In order to reduce its

The General Director of Electrozinc (the asset of UMMC Holding) Pavel Avdeev is going to resign before the end of his term. The decision to this extent was taken by the company’s Board of Directors at a meeting on February 3, 2011. The reason given for this resignation is that Pavel Avdeev is transferred to another post. Ruslan Barashev is to become the plant’s new General Director. Pavel Avdeev was appointed the company’s GD in June 2010. Electrozinc’s performance has seemed increasingly dubious to the law-enforcement agencies lately. Russia’s Civic Chamber called the company the absolute

Brand Finance carried its annual rating of the world’s 500 largest banking brands for the year 2010 recently. The rating was compiled in cooperation with The Banker and featured eight Russian banks, whereas a year earlier, there were actually nine Russia-based banks on the list, Kommersant reports. These Russian banks’ total value rose by $514m compared with the year 2009 and reached $15.9bn. Sberbank, one of the Top20 banks in 2009, was given the 15th position back then but only the 19th position in 2010. On the other hand, its brand value exceeded $12bn, which was 6.5% better than a year

Russia’s Federal Financial Markets Service decided to halt the issue of ordinary registered uncertified shares by Mid-Urals Development Corporation; state serial number of the additional share issue is 1-01-33480-D-001D as of December 9, 2010.

Academic district of Yekaterinburg, one of Sverdlovsk Region’s top priority investment projects that is implemented with the support of Governor Alexander Misharin and the region’s government, has been visited by Caroline Wilson, Minister Counsellor (Economic and Trade Investment) of British Embassy, and the UK Consul-General in Yekaterinburg James McGuire The visitors had a look at the new apartment buildings in Quarter 2 and at the new security system and the public services infrastructure in the area. The diplomats also went to see the construction site of Quarter 5 that is to be

I’d like to point out the performance of Ural Airlines. This company’s management is extra-careful about ensuring the passengers’ safety, and there is a reason this carrier was called Russia’s best airline in terms of aviation fleet maintenance in 2009 by the European Commission,’ Urals’ public prosecutor for transportation Pavel Kukushkin said at a recent press conference in Yekaterinburg. The prosecution authorities inspected a number of airlines recently, finding a great number of passenger safety violations in many of them as a result. ‘Ural Airlines employs true professionals, who look