The revenues of VIZ-Stal dropped by 14% in the first quarter of 2011 compared with the first quarter of 2010 because of the dropping transformer steel sales, as the company’s export deliveries have not been accounted for yet. Another reason for the revenues to go down was the decrease in the average selling price, partially due to the improved ruble exchange rate, Novolipetsk Iron & Steel Works (NLMK) reports. The price of the semi-finished rolled stock NLMK delivers, combined with the factors above, determined the seasonal drop in profitability in terms of the gross profit from 26% down

Investbank admitted that there could have been some illegal meddling with its safety vaults recently. On May 4, 2011, the police reported that 13m RUR were allegedly stolen from one of the Moscow offices safety vaults during the early May recess. AKB Investbank admits that it did receive an application from its customers who rent a safety vault at the bank’s Moskovsky subsidiary at 32/2 Nakhimovsky Ave. in Moscow; the application concerns the fact that some illegal action was taken by some unidentified people against the customers’ property,’ RIA Novosti quotes the subsidiary’s director

The Bank of Russia’s PR Department reports that the financial recovery of Bank24.ru is now complete. Bank24.ru was confronted with a drastic cash outflow late in 2008 and was unable to sort out its liquidity problems on its own. The bank had to undergo financial recovery with Probusinessbank of Life Group as its new proprietor and the Deposit Insurance Agency as the cooperator in the process of helping this Yekaterinburg-based bank out of trouble.

Transaero, one of Russia’s leading air carriers, will have to raise the price of the tickets it offers to tour operators by an average of 8%, the airline’s press service reports. This has to be done because the jet fuel prices will be raised on June 1, 2011. When fuel prices change we act accordingly and either decrease or increase the price of the tickets, but the tour operators normally show a lot of understanding in this respect,’ the airline reports, adding that the increase in the ticket price only has to do with the growing jet fuel prices. Transaero also explained that the price

Russia’s Federal Financial Markets Service did not approve of Yekaterinburg Municipal Bank’s internal rules so as to counteract money laundering and financing of terrorist activity.