UrBC, Yekaterinburg, July 5, 2018. Obuv Rossii Group, the Russian fashion retail giant, and the Ural Bank for Reconstruction & Development (UBRD) signed an agreement: the bank now opens a credit line (RUR 1bn) for the company for the next two years, the bank’s press service reports. The money will be directed to funding the Group’s current business operation, including its retail network expansion. ‘The UBRD and Obuv Rossii have been partners since 2012, and it is with pleasure that we keep on working with one of the country’s leading banks. The bank’s funding is an important factor for

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, July 5, 2018. The number of MegaFon.TV’s online movie theater users rose by 85% since the beginning of the year, MegaFon’s press service reports. According to the Cinema Foundation of Russia, viewers now tend to watch Russian movies more often: 34.8m people have watched new releases in the first half of the year, which is 50% more than one year previously. ISPs and mobile carriers report the same: MegaFon.TV’s mobile app now features Russian movies rather than international blockbusters in its user rating. In May and June, MegaFon.TV users (both mobile app and

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, July 5, 2018. The Ural Bank for Reconstruction & Development’s customers got more than RUR 25.2m back as insurance payments this year; this exceeds the figures for one year earlier by 100%. ‘These funds were used to handle the borrowers’ financial issues in case of insured events and let them keep making their loan repayments or redeem the entire amount,’ the bank’s press service reports. The main reason the insurance payments went up is that the borrowing parties grew more financially and legally literate and are now more proactive in applying for insurance money.

UrBC, Moscow, July 5, 2018. Nathalie Tours had to cancel all of the already booked and prepaid tours due to financial troubles, the tour operator’s Director-General Vladimir Vorobiev announced during a broadcast on Echo of Moscow. ‘There is this problem that the negative publicity has been affecting our ability to meet our contractual obligations, so our partners are all refusing their services to the company. We do not see any other way out but to have all our contracts annulled,’ he said. Vorobiev explained the publicity in question is ‘the information circulating on the market, including

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, July 5, 2018. The demand for hotel rooms rose by 28% in Yekaterinburg during the World Football Championship days compared with one year earlier, Sverdlovsk Region’s Information Policy Department refers to Hotel Advisors’ research findings as indicating. It is reported that the hotels were 73.7% full on average throughout the entire championship-hosting fortnight (no data are available for hostels or private apartments). The per-room revenue is estimated at RUR 4,050, which is RUR 2,061 more than one year earlier. According to Sverdlovsk Region Tourism Development Center,