Ural Car Factory (managed by GAZ Group) is undergoing the inspection audit procedure carried out by Intercertifica-TUF specialists on behalf of TUV CERT certificating authority. In January 2005, the factory managed to prove that its management system meets the ISO 9001:2000 international standard requirements. According to the leading expert Stanislav Mikhailov, Intercertifica-TUF representatives are hoping to find the management not only properly maintained but also improved. The procedure is to take four days, the company’s spokesperson said to UrBC representative.

The electricians of Ufaleynickel JSC have done the scheduled repair of SBS-1 furnace installed in the hydrometallurgical workshop of the nickel producer. The repair included full replacement of heating spirals, partial replacement of furnace lining and examination of electrical equipment. What is more, the feed and discharge units were also fixed, the company’s spokesperson said to UrBC representative.

Ural tube maker Uraltrubprom JSC sums up its success in January 2006. The company’s sales came to 10,333 tons of iron goods (increase of 10.1% compared to the same figures for the previous year). Most sales fell to the share of electric welded bent box sections (6,770 tons or 65.5% of total monthly sales). The company also sold 3,563 tons of oil pipeline tubes, reported PR-department of Uraltrubprom JSC.

The Board of Vanadium ore mining and processing enterprise of Kachkanar decided to hold an extraordinary general meeting in absentia. The agenda includes delegating individual executive authority to Evraz Holding Ltd.

According to the estimations of Koltsovo International Airport specialists, profitability of economy class service transportation of 1 passenger flying Ural Airlines from Koltsovo to Moscow and back is about 84%. The ticket price is 14,500 RUR, whereas the prime cost of 1 passenger transportation by TU-154 aircraft is 7897 RUR. PR-department of Koltsovo International Airport also announced that despite the claims of Ural Airlines top-management, the real share of fuel expenses in the overall ticket price is only 32% and not 50%. All this is the outcome of Ural Airlines GD Sergei Skuratov

Sevuralboxitruda JSC, bauxite ore maker of Severouralsk, Sverdlovsk Region, has successfully launched an energy saving program. Thus, the company’s electricity bills comprised 241 million RUR in 2002 but 227 million a year later and only 216 million in 2004, which meant the general decrease in electricity expenses from 13.4% to 7.2% within three years. According to the company’s chief power engineering specialist Vasiliy Molodtsov, the savings program still ran in 2005, for instance, in terms of wiser use of compressed air in the mines. Cheremukhovskaya mine compressor was equipped with a

Sverdlovsk Region Court of Arbitration is going to consider claims laid by Kalina JSC to Nefis Cosmetics JSC today. The case file number is А60-25094/04, the plaintiff being Kalina Concern, the defendants Alliance Trade Company Ltd. and Nefis Cosmetics –Vakhitov Chemical Industrial Complex of Kazan Ltd.

Trek Industrial Association of Miass, Chelyabinsk Region, has successfully produced and stocked a new lot of ball and socket joints for Daewoo and Opel car suspensions, the company’s spokesperson said to UrBC representative. The joints are meant for Daewoo Espero (05/95 – 09/99), Lanos (06/97-), Nexia (02/95-) and Opel Kadett E (09/84 – 07/91).

The power-engineering specialists are now replacing the obsolete high-voltage oil-blast circuit breakers used at the electric power stations of Ufaleynickel JSC, regional nickel producer, the company’s spokesperson said to UrBC representative. To ensure the uninterrupted power supply for the melting shop consumers, a new set of breakers has been bought to replace the old ones, and these breakers are currently under installation at № 2 substation.

440 improvement suggestions were applied in industry at Bogoslovskiy aluminum producer (part of SUAL JSC) in 2005, which brought the company the additional 6.8 million RUR in profits. The best part of suggestions came from the Technical Supervision Department, the central laboratory and Heat-and-Power Supply Department. The number of improvement suggestions coming from the shops involved in the company’s core activity, namely, aluminous and electrolysis workshops, was twice the estimate. 446 employees took part in the innovation process in 2005 altogether.

Hardware producers of Magnitogorsk that are members of MMK JSC Group produced a total of 30,000 tons of goods in January 2006. MMK-Metiz JSC produced 10,600 tons of hardware products (85% of the output for January 2005), the calibration works of Magnitogorsk produced 17,300 tons (92% of the output for January 2005). The plants are hoping to produce 33,700 tons of goods in February 2006, the spokesperson for MMK JSC Group said to UrBC representative.

The year 2005 brought significant changes for Uralskaya folga JSC, foil maker and part of SUAL Group. According to the company’s GD Sergei Borovik, the firm was able to launch the production of finer and more expensive kinds of foil due to the introduction of new technologies. There appeared some new customers as well: the firm’s major customers used to be air and car industries as well as cable works, now most orders come from pharmaceutical, food, and building industries. Uralskaya folga JSC hopes to start using the plant’s full capacity throughout 2006, producing 15,200 tons of goods (a

Bank of Yekaterinburg JSC summed up the results of its operations with natural persons in 2005. Last year, more than 109,000 people placed over 1 billion RUR with the bank. Bank of Yekaterinburg JSC has issued nearly 100,000 Union Card cash cards so far, and 250 trading companies and services are accepting it. The bank installed 22 ATMs in 2005 as well as signed the zero percent interest ATM operation agreement with Uralvneshtorgbank JSC.

Ore miner Evrazruda JSC (part of Evraz Group) has been trying to implement the new grinders meant for foreign crown bits. According to the company’s spokesperson, three Sandvik grinders are currently used in Sheregeshskaya and Kazskaya mines. The iron ore in the deposits the company is mining is particularly hard, so having properly sharpened tools always at hand is a big issue. Evrazruda JSC decided to use foreign crown bits and rods as early as 2004, so the produce of Sandvik, a Swedish company, was chosen after various types of equipment had been tested. Sandvik supplied about 5,000 pintle

Severnaya Kazna, insurance company of Yekaterinburg, attracted 591,178 million RUR of investments in 2005, of which 185,644 million RUR were collected in the last three months, the company’s spokesperson reports. According to Marketing and Advertising Director Marina Medvedeva, the amount of money invested throughout October to December 2005 was 16% percent greater than that invested in July to September. Yet the company had to pay 399,043,000 RUR, or up 46.5% of insurance money in 2005 (compared to 272,346,000 RUR a year earlier). Thus, the total unprofitableness of the company comprised

Uralvagonzavod Federal State Unitary Enterprise, carriage maker of Nizhniy Tagil, presented its new RTM-160 tractor at the event organized by Sverdlovsk Region Ministry of Agriculture and Food Industry along with the Bolshoy Ural Association; representatives of agricultural enterprises form Sverdlovsk, Kurgan, Chelyabinsk, Ohrenburg, Tyumen and Omsk Regions took part in the meeting. The tractor has been included in the Russian Federation Ministry of Agriculture roll for 2006, and it is subject to the state agricultural leasing program, the company’s spokesperson reports.

Director of Transglobal Airlines Mikhail Turkanov was arrested last Saturday. According to the spokesperson for Sverdlovsk Region Municipal Internal Affairs Administration, Mr Churkanov is now kept in detention and has been charged with large-scale fraud (Clause 159 of Russian Federation Criminal Code). ‘Mr Churkanov has been charged with the same offense and tried before, it happened in 2005 but the court only made him give a written undertaking not to leave a place,’ the spokesperson said.

‘We had to limit our gas supplies in January because of the cold weather and thus switched to coal, which was not good financially; besides, the boilers that use coal are more complicated technically than the regular ones and require more maintenance expenses,’ TGK-10 GD Andrey Shishkin said at the press conference on Friday. Yet, according to Mr Shishkin, the amount of coal bought from Chelyabinsk Coal Company in 2006 will remain the same as last year. ‘As for the additional coal expenses, they have already been included into the tariffs,’ Mr Shishkin said.

Yekaterinburgnefteprodukt JSC and Sverdlovsknefteprodukt JSC (Ural District oil dealers of Sibneft JSC) summed up their achievements in 2005. The total turnover of retail trade in Sibneft filling stations grew by 19.6% (over 60,000 tons) given that the general growth of Sverdlovsk Region oil market increased by 1.3% (11,000 tons). The two companies launched multifuel filling stations last year, and Sibneft is going to invest about 200 million RUR into regional development in 2006.

The major shareholders of Mechel JSC, metallurgical company of Chelyabinsk, decided to allow Chair of the Board Igor Zyuzin to buy a 42.2% share holding from GD Vladimir Iorikh within the next 12 months, the company’s spokesperson said to UrBC representative. Mr Zyuzin has been considering different options to cover these expenses, for example, stock exchange operations and strategic partnership. Regardless of the source of his purchase money, he is to keep at least 51% holding in Mechel joint stock. Meanwhile, Mr Iorikh will be gradually delegating his liabilities to the current Executive