April 2, 2015. Heads of Omsk Region Inter-industrial Cooperation Center met with the management of Omsktransmash (a member enterprise of Uralvagonzavod Corporation) on the company’s premises. The two parties agreed to work together on fulfilling their Defense Procurement obligations, improving the plant’s infrastructure, and development of cadre potential, the corporation’s press service reports. The Inter-industrial Cooperation Center was set up in 2014 in order to promote cooperation between Omsk Region’s small and large enterprises. The Center also aims to help businesspeople in their

April 2, 2015. Sverdlovsk Region’s budget deficit came to 22bn RUR by the end of 2014, which is the largest figure among all of Ural Federal District’s constituencies. A comparative budget implementation table with data for 2014 was carried in Rossiyskaya Gazeta’s March issue (No.64). The Federal Treasury was quoted as the source of the data provided. Chelyabinsk Region’s budget deficit, for example, stood at 4bn RUR, while that of the usually depressed Kurgan Region at 3.9bn RUR. At the same time, Sverdlovsk Region Treasury’s spending and income figures (232.6bn RUR and 210bn RUR,

April 2, 2015. 44% of those running a small business are aware of the current state support programs, yet only 13% say they have applied for these: such are the findings of an all-Russian research coordinated by National Agency for Financial Studies (NAFI) among managers. 20% of applicants run companies that were set up over fifteen years ago. Around a third (31%) of small business owners/managers said they knew about this option but never used it. 28% of respondents are somewhat aware of the existing state programs; most of these respondents are employed with companies which were founded in

April 2, 2015. EVRAZ Group’s net loss (calculated in accordance with the IAS) rose by 2.3 times last year compared with the year 2013 and thus came to $1.278bn, the company’s report states. According to this report, losses were mainly related to devaluation of the company’s assets ($540m) and damage done by the changes in the ruble/dollar exchange rate ($1.005bn) The Group’s revenues shrank by 9% and stood at $13.061bn. Net debt dropped by 11%, down to $5.8m; as a result, the company’s net debt/EBITDA ratio came to 2.5.

April 2, 2015. Pervouralsk New Pipe Plant (PNTZ, a member enterprise of ChTPZ Group) delivered 104,700 kg of 139.7x10.54mm casing pipes with gas-proof, first-generation ChT-VC Premium threaded joints to Gazprom Dobycha Nadym. According to ChTPZ Group’s press service, based on the customer specifications the cold-resistant pipes were provided in two strength grades, E (90,000 kg) and P110 (14,700 kg). The first shipment of the pilot batch was sent to Gazprom’s natural gas deposits in 2014. After the trial runs were successfully completed, Gazprom placed an order for more; the pipes were made