The net profit of ChelyabInvestBank dropped by 37.7% (73.31m RUR) in the third quarter of 2011. The decrease in profit had to do with lowered revenues from stock transactions and the growing securities tax.

RIA-Analitica came up with a rating of Russian banks based on the private individuals’ deposits volume. The analysts observe that Russian citizens placed 4% more money with the banks in the third quarter of 2011 than earlier, and the sum reached 10.9 trillion RUR altogether. Three banks registered in Ural Federal District were featured on the Top 50 list. This included SKB-Bank that was given the 31st position country-wide. The bank’s private individuals’ deposits volume exceeded 39.8bn RUR on October 1, 2011. The Urals-based banks are usually the ones that do best in terms of deposits: the

A Russian-Kazakh uranium enrichment company will start operating in Novouralsk in 2012, head of Rosatom Sergey Kiriyenko announced. ‘We have reached a full understanding with our Kazakh partners. This is a state-run program, we are moving along in accordance with the scheduled, and I believe the joint venture should be operating in 2012,’ RIA Novosti quotes Kiriyenko as saying. According to Rosatom CEO, the Kazakh partners will be involved in the operation of Ural Electrochemical Plant and will be able to use the uranium enrichment opportunities it offers; in return, Russia will be able to

Sky Express Airlines will no longer be operating under this brand. The company’s fleet of vehicles and its personnel will be handed over to Kuban Airlines, while the brand known as Sky Express is expected to grace chartered flights with its presence, RBC daily reports. The airline will operate its two last flights from Kaliningrad to Saint Petersburg and Moscow. ‘We have completed the transfer of aircraft formerly operated by Sky Express to Kuban Airlines’ fleet of vehicles,’ says Kuban’s Director-General Alexander Stognushenko. He says the new carrier’s fleet will now number seven Boeing

Sverdlovsk Region-based entrepreneurs have just come back from a business trip to Europe organized for them by Sverdlovsk Region Infrastructure Hub. Their trip included visits to innovation centers, business incubators, and Britain’s Chambers of Commerce as well as receiving medals at the British Invention Show and Awards. The British Invention Show is one of Europe’s leading innovations expo, with ninety-two companies from different countries taking part this year. The jury, made up of well-known scientists and representatives of large enterprises, awarded two projects from the Urals:

Ural Airlines is about to launch a direct scheduled flight from Saint Petersburg to one of Azerbaijan’s most economically advanced cities Lenkoran, the airline’s press officer reports. Starting November 24, 2011, flights to Lenkoran will be operated from Saint Petersburg every Thursday. The cheapest one-way tickets can be bought for ?80. Lenkoran is a large seaport in Azerbaijan, located on the coast of the Caspian Sea, as well as a famous tourist attraction. This is why the flight is definitely going to be popular. This is actually the second flight from Saint Petersburg to Azerbaijan Ural

Three new Cyprus visa centers will soon be set up in Russian provinces, the Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Republic of Cyprus to Russia Petros Kestoras says. Until recently, Russian subjects could only obtain visas to enter Cyprus in the consulates in Moscow and Saint Petersburg. Now they will also be able to apply to visa centers in Yekaterinburg, Samara, and Krasnodar. ‘We have already obtained the permission of the Russian authorities to open these representations,’ the Association of Russian Tour Operators’ website quotes the ambassador as saying. Russia is actually

Nizhniy Tagil Iron & Steel Works (NTMK) accumulated 100,000 tons of Class II environmentally hazardous waste by the end of 2010, a public report on the state and protection of Sverdlovsk Region’s environment in 2010 states. The report was comprised on the bases of the data provided by the state statistical bodies and environmental surveillance agencies as well as by the state environmental protection authorities and by large organizations whose activity is related to use of natural resources and environmental protection.

The representatives of the Yekaterinburg-based Atrium Palace Hotel complain that large crowds of Christian worshippers in Belinsky St. and Rosa Luxemburg St. cause major traffic jams on the roads and thus prevent the guests of the hotel from entering the place. ‘We are not experiencing any critical problems because of the large numbers of worshippers trying to get into Holy Trinity Cathedral next to our building. The only trouble is the traffic jams that make it a bit difficult for our guests to get into the hotel,’ the hotel representatives told UrBC. Now Yekaterinburg’s Holy Trinity

Ural Airlines keeps renovating its fleet of vehicles: one more Airbus 321 in Ural Airlines’ corporate colors landed in Koltsovo Airport of Yekaterinburg today. The plane arrived from Dublin, Ireland. This means the airline now runs nineteen Airbus planes (thirteen A320 ones and six A321 ones), the company’s press officer reports. The airline is also planning to buy three more A321 planes before the end of the year. All in all, the company plans to have thirty Airbus planes in its fleet of vehicles.

Sverdlovsk Region Duma agreed to sell the share Sverdlovsk Region has in Evropa Shopping Mall. Twenty-two deputies voted in favor of the decision, the region’s Public Property Management Administration reports. The region currently owns one-seventh of the mall, estimated by the independent Lair Consulting Group at 186.1m RUR. This share was estimated to cost 153m RUR in 2010. The rest of the mall belongs to Uralstroy-1. The date of the auction will be set very soon.

Sverdlovsk Region-based Sredneuralsky Copper-Smelting Plant accumulated 213,900 tons of Class I environmentally hazardous waste by the end of 2010, a public report on the state and protection of Sverdlovsk Region’s environment in 2010 states. The report was comprised on the bases of the data provided by the state statistical bodies and environmental surveillance agencies as well as by the state environmental protection authorities and by large organizations whose activity is related to use of natural resources and environmental protection.

IES Holding and Evraz group S.A. signed an agreement on the sale of Sverdlovsk Region-based Kachkanar power station (a member of TGK-9). The station will be sold to EVRAZ Kachkanarsky Ore Mining & Processing Plant (EVRAZ KGOK). The transaction is expected to be completed by the end of December 2011, after all the formalities have been fully processed.

Sverdlovsk Region Arbitration Court accepted the application placed with it by Bioproject: the company insists that Uralmashzavod be declared bankrupt, a court representative told Russian Agency for Legal & Court Information (RAPSI). The date of hearing the case has not been set yet. The enterprise’s Director-General Oleg Danchenko said at a briefing in July that Uralmashzavod’s revenues were expected to nearly double in 2011 against 2010 and reach 10bn RUR. He said the plant’s revenues amounted to 5.3bn RUR in the year 2010.

The details of an emergency landing performed by Lufthansa plane flying from Yekaterinburg to Frankfurt have recently been announced. According to Senior Assistant to Head of Ural Investigative Administration for Transportation’s PR Division Irina Sarkisyan, the emergency landing of Lufthansa aircraft had to be performed because of a fire in the kitchen. The flight attendants noticed the smoke and told the pilots about it, so the captain decided to land in Perm Airport. The investigative committee did not confirm the rumor that two people on board had carbon monoxide poisoning.

Ural Airlines will launch its first scheduled international flight from Mineralnye Vody to Dubai on October 25, 2011. Now the people living in the Northern Caucasus can get to the East’s most luxurious city directly from their home towns, the company’s press officer reports. The flight will be operated every Tuesday. The cheapest round trip tickets are available for ?399 (plus the airport charge). Tickets can be booked via the airline’s website www.uralairlines.com or УральскиеАвиалинии.рф as well as in the company’s booking offices.

The international rating agency Moody’s demoted its forecast for the Russian banking system’s development from Stable to Negative, the agency reports. ‘Downgrading our forecast to Negative reflects our concerns that the global economic conditions and the financial markets’ volatility might weaken Russia’s operating environment and affect the banks through a general drop in liquidity, a slowdown in the lending activity, and a pressure on the assets quality,’ Moody’s says. The Negative forecast means the agency expects these changes to occur over the next twelve to eighteen months.

The recent meeting of Sverdlovsk Region Enterprises Support Committee was dedicated to the local defense enterprises Ural Mechano-Electrical Plant, Ural Transport Machine-Building Plant (UralTransMash), and Ural Civil Aviation Plant. Deputy Head of Sverdlovsk Region Government Alexander Petrov explained that all those enterprises depended on state orders and on the terms of payment for the produce. Still, the committee was interested in the companies making all the necessary payments to the treasury, especially corporate income tax. It turns out most plants have an opportunity to make more

Another recent emergency landing performed by UTair Airlines plane in Tyumen is now being investigated. The incident occurred at 6:30 AM local time (4:30 AM Moscow time) on October 22, 2011. The captain of ATR 75 flying from Tyumen to Nizhnevartovsk asked for an emergency landing due to generator failure. There were thirty-six passengers and four crew members on board, Ural Investigative Administration for Transportation reports to Russia’s Investigative Committee. The landing was performed successfully, and no one was hurt. According to the investigative committee chairman, the emergency

The stockholders of Concern Kalina are going to consider the early termination of BOD members’ powers in the course of an extraordinary general meeting. In addition, they plan to elect the new BOD members and approve of the company’s newly edited charter. The EGM has been scheduled for January 16, 2011. Now it was announced on October 14, 2011 that Unilever and Kalina signed an agreement; the former is to buy 82% of the Yekaterinburg-based cosmetics manufacturer’s shares for approximately 16.7bn RUR (?390m).