March 25, 2015. The share of Class A offices in Yekaterinburg that have no tenants at the moment came to 23% at the end of 2014; besides, 11% of Class B+ offices and 14% of Class B ones remained unused as well, Ural Chamber of Real Estate reports. The Chamber’s analyst Konstantin Oktayev explains the downward trend hit the office space market as early as one year ago, when both supply and demand shrank noticeably. ‘Should the Central Bank’s key interest rate remain so high for a long time, the office space market risks losing up to 30% of actual and potential customers,’ Oktayev says. 68,000

March 25, 2015. Omsktransmash (a member enterprise of Uralvagonzavod Corporation) obtained 76% more proceeds from sales of goods and services in 2014 compared with 2013; the figure came to 12.3bn RUR (VAT excluded); the company’s net profit rose to 129.4m RUR, the corporation’s press service reports. ‘The number of Omsktransmash employees went up by 14%: there were 4,168 people working for the plant at the end of 2014; in March 2015, the number came to over 5,000 people. The average monthly pay was 10.9% better than in 2013 and came to 28,095 RUR,’ the press service says. This year,

March 25, 2015. Starting from May 2015, no more flights will be operated from Yekaterinburg to Thailand as this destination is no longer profitable, director of Natalie Tours Yekaterinburg branch Oleg Higer informed UrBC. ‘These flights used to be operated all the year round for the last three years. However, this is no longer the case. Flights for March and April have already been scheduled, yet beginning in May, all of them will be cancelled. This means the only way to get to Thailand will be from Moscow,’ Higer explained. He says the demand for trips to Thailand has been plummeting, since

March 25, 2015. Unilever, household cleaning goods manufacturer and the owner of the Urals-based Concern Kalina, announced its prices would rise by up to 114% in April 2015, RBC reports. Unilever RUS reports all of its ex-works prices would go up on April 1, 2015. According to the distributor’s website, the price increase has to do with the dramatic weakening of the Russian ruble over the last few months. For one, the distributor says the prices of 100 Rezeptov Krasoty products will increase by 2% to 114%, those of Chistaya Liniya products will go up by 2% to 56%. The enterprise also makes a

March 25, 2015. First Freight Company makes its public offers 5% to 20% less expensive to customers depending on the type of rolling stock used; this is part of the company’s customer-oriented technologies program, the freight forwarder reports. The company has been running public tender offers since 2011; the offer is targeted at small and medium enterprises which need to use the company’s rolling stock for relatively small shipments. Under the terms of the offer, First Freight Company provides its railway carriages to the customer for a ten-day period after the payment has been made in the

March 24, 2015. Ural Airlines and their partner Wheely are offering chauffeur services at reduced price, the airline’s press service reports. Wings Club members will be able to get 1,000-ruble promo codes for the purpose. Besides, every new member will be given a 500-ruble promo code as a welcome; the code can also be used for the chauffeur service. Respectable-looking cars with no taxi signs and professional drivers in suits are provided; payments can be made by credit card via an app. You can join Wings Club by submitting an application on the company’s website.

March 24, 2015. Sverdlovsk Region-based industrial enterprises shipped 269.5bn worth of goods (in current prices) to their customers in January and September 2015, which was 132.9% better than in the first two months of 2014, Governor of Sverdlovsk Region’s Information Policy Department reports. Most of the customer shipments (231.2bn RUR worth of goods) were made by enterprises in the processing sector. Metallurgical companies and metal goods manufacturers’ shipment output rose by 1.6 times, that of food, drink, and tobacco manufacturers went up by 24.8%, that of chemical companies increased

March 24, 2015. Moody’s confirmed Enel Russia’s corporate rating at Ba3 and its PDR at Ba3 PD, with Negative rating outlook. According to the agency’s press release, these ratings are reflexive of Moody’s expectations that Enel will be able to keep up with the financial performance necessary to retain its Ba3 status despite Russia’s macroeconomic straits.

March 24, 2015. Sinara Group is currently negotiating on supplying its freight locos and Lastochka electric trains to Azerbaijan, Sverdlovsk Region Government’s website states. A group of government officials went to Azerbaijan in March 2014; the projects that were discussed at the time have entered their implementation stage now. ‘This was a useful, multi-purpose visit; we took our relations with the Republic of Azerbaijan to a new level. Sinara is now successfully negotiating on supplying its locomotives to Azerbaijan,’ says Sinara Group BOD Chairman Dmitri Pumpyanski. The Group also

March 24, 2015. Ural Federal University will be allocated 750m RUR throughout the year 2015 to work on the Russian college competitiveness enhancement program, UFU’s press service reports. The decision to grant UFU the funds was taken by the board of the 5-100 Project, which coordinates the program. The press service did not specify where exactly the money will be directed.

March 21, 2015. Kamensk Uralsky Foundry Plant (KULZ, a member enterprise of Uralvagonzavod Corporation) is getting a new compressed air supply system. The corporation’s press service reports the first out of three screw compressors has already been launched. The three compressors will eventually create a local network. This modern system will come to replace the current energy-consuming reciprocating compressor plant that was made in the seventies. ‘This upgrade of the compressed air supply system is expected to reduce our energy spending considerably,’ says KULZ Chief Energy Technician

March 21, 2015. Yekaterinburg advertising market dropped by 7% to 10% last year compared with 2013, Deltaplan Ad Group’s PR Director Lyudmila Chernykh told UrBC. ‘On average, advertising budgets in the three measurable mass media (television, radio, and outdoor advertising) shrank by 16% in 2014 against a year earlier. These figures do not give a picture of Internet ads, whose amount definitely increased, or that of the printed press ads, whose amount definitely decreased. Based on Deltaplan’s estimates, Yekaterinburg market, with all the non-measurable segments considered, sagged by 7% to

March 21, 2015. 645,000,000 kg of grains and crops and 733,000,000 kg of potatoes are expected to be harvested in Sverdlovsk Region this year, Governor of Sverdlovsk Region’s Information Policy Department reports. According to the Agriculture Ministry, local agribusinesses are fully provided with the necessary seed grains. ‘This year, our farms and agricultural businesses will need 45,000,000 kg of seed potatoes, and they already have this amount in stock,’ the Ministry says. As a matter of fact, 3% to 4% of last year’s yield couldn’t get collected because of early snowfalls in Sverdlovsk

March 21, 2015. Ural Airlines’ own online store opens on March 20, 2015 at shop.u6.ru, the air carrier’s press service reports. Visitors to the website can buy the airline’s branded souvenirs as well as get their flight information, order extra meals on board, rent a car, and book a hotel there. Wings Club members can also get their loyalty bonuses exchanged or buy extra bonuses online. Besides, they get a new bonus (5% of the sum of every transaction) every time they buy something at the online shop, which makes the bonus-covered premium flight even more affordable. Payments can be made by

March 21, 2015. The majority of Russians (83%) are not thinking of moving abroad (outside the former USSR), RBC refers to Levada Center as saying. Only 12% would like to emigrate. Similar survey results were obtained by the center in April 2009, when 80% of Russians were not planning on leaving the country and 13% of respondents said they’d like to be able to emigrate. In 2011-2014, the percentage of those surveyed who intended to keep on living in Russia fluctuated between 69% and 77%. The number of potential emigrants was at its highest in May 2013, when 22% of respondents said they would

March 20, 2015. Changes in the ruble exchange rate make Yekaterinburg street artists switch from foreign paints to their Russian counterparts, Director of StreetArt Agency and Curator of Stenograffia Festival Evgeniy Fateyev told UrBC. ‘Paints, especially imported ones, grew two to two and half times more expensive. We retained our partnership with Montana and will work with Russian manufacturers. Most probably, we’ll be using noticeably more home-produced paints than foreign ones. Luckily, the quality of the former is already good enough,’ Fateyev says. StreetArt executive says the current

March 20, 2015. According to the Russian Labor Ministry, arrears of wages increased by 14% last month. This had to do with businesses lacking the money and with delayed transfers from all kinds of government budget funds, Gazeta.ru reports. Minister Alexander Topilin says the owed amount came to nearly 2.9bn RUR on March 1. According to Rosstat, the overall amount of delayed pay fluctuated between 1.9bn RUR (January 2014) and 2.7bn RUR (June 2014) over the last twelve months. The sum went down to 2bn RUR in January 2015 and then sky-rocketed to nearly 3bn RUR. Debts caused by delayed

March 20, 2015. Sverdlovsk Region Accounts Chamber determined that a total of 3,920,660,300 RUR worth of local budget funds got spent inefficiently last year; this was nearly four times worse than in 2012 and 2013, the chamber’s annual report states. According to the report (which UrBC has access to), the inefficient use of public property assets amounted to 3,442,232,800 RUR, while unsatisfactory claim-related work amounted to 181,400,400 RUR. The report also states that 87.8% (3,443,033,200 RUR) of these inefficiently used funds were spent by the Mid-Urals Development Corporation and Center

March 20, 2015. ChTZ Uraltrac (a member enterprise of Uralvagonzavod Corporation) is going to deliver a set of tractors to ALROSA. The corporation’s press service reports two B10M straight-blade bulldozers and one swamp tractor T10MB (to be used as a towing vehicle) are meant for Botuobinskaya geological survey expedition. Head of Local Sales Division Evgeniy Gerbut says all the machines have D180 engines that were manufactured on site. Based on the customer’s specifications, these engines are complemented with a number of customized options. Botoubinskaya expedition is based in Mirniy and is

March 20, 2015. A group of delegates from Omsktransmash (a member enterprise of Uralvagonzavod Corporation) took part in PromTechExpo/Siberian Industry & Innovations Forum. According to the corporation’s press service, the plant’s Director-General Igor Lobov joined a round table discussion on how large, medium, and small enterprises could cooperate inter-industrially within a hi tech components cluster and within Omsk Region’s petrochemical cluster. Cooperation between small and large enterprises, which becomes particularly relevant under current economic and political conditions, was the