BOD Chairman of Magnitogorsk Iron & Steel Works (MMK) Viktor Rashnikov and Director of Belgorod-based Centrogiproruda Viktor Ten signed a contract regarding the designing of Prioskolskiy Ore Mining and Processing Enterprise on January 24, 2008. Magnitogorsk Iron & Steel Works will be developing Prioskolskiy iron ore deposit with its 45.2 million tons of valuable ore and more than 2 billion tons of unoxidized carbonate-facies iron formation. MMK’s new subsidiary was registered in Stariy Oskol, Belgorod Region, on January 11, 2008. Sergey Shergin was appointed the subsidiary’s director.

Central Bank of Russia reports volume of loans given by UralTransBank to natural persons for 31 to 90 days went down by 31.96% (from 1.796 million RUR to 1.222 million RUR) in January-December 2007.

According to the rating of unit investment trusts as of January 22, 2008, the profitability of Zvezdniy Bulvar (Bank of Moscow Management Company) has dropped by 16.55% since the beginning of the year.

According to the rating of unit investment trusts as of January 22, 2008, the profitability of LUKoil Fund First (Uralsib Management Company) has gone down by 15.59% since the beginning of the year.

'It’s actually true that the Liner Hotel no longer belongs to Koltsovo airport. On January 1, 2008, the hotel became an independent legal entity. The decision was taken by the airport’s management in 2007,’ the new company’s Deputy GD Viktor Zhukov said to UrBC. At the same time, Koltsovo airport’s General Director Kirill Shubin announced on January 22, 2008 that a brand new business/hotel facility would have been completed by the spring of 2009.

The Ural Bank for Reconstruction and Development managed to triple the volume of its securities market transactions last year compared to the year 2006. The figure thus reached 521.319 billion RUR. For one, the bank’s trading activity at Moscow Interbank Currency Exchange and RTS (FORTS) rose by 61% and 6.5 times, respectively, and resulted in 194.992 billion RUR and 112.841 billion RUR worth of trading deals, respectively. The volume of the bank’s securities transactions at MICEX amounted to 213.288 billion RUR in 2007, which is nine times better than the year before. At the same time, the

The value of net assets of Energy - Mixed Investments (the unit investment trust) managed by Eurogreen Management Company Ltd. went down by 2.56% between January 21, 2008 and January 22, 2008. According to Eurogreen’s website, the company’s net assets decreased from 3,026,193.28 RUR on January 21, 2008 to 2,948,598.61RUR on January 22, 2008.

Central Bank of Russia reports volume of loans given by UniCreditBank to nongovernmental financial organizations for up to 30 days dropped by 15.04% (from 50 million RUR to 480,000 RUR) in January-December 2007.

According to the rating of unit investment trusts as of January 21, 2008, the profitability of Blue Chip Fund (BrokerCreditService Management Company) went down by 5.24% between January 20, 2008 and January 21, 2008.

Karabashmed, the ore-making company, has recently launched the second stage of upgrading its production facilities with the help of Ausmelt technologies and equipment, the spokesperson for Russian Copper Company said to UrBC. This second modernization stage covers projects like putting up the second Lurgi vitriolic shop using the Finnish Outotec Oy's technology and expertise, construction of the second Linde AG oxygen plant, fitting the company’s Ausmelt furnace with another stockyard and a raw stuff delivery unit, installation of four 160-ton Kumera Corporation converters, and

'Most complaints we receive come from the customers of Autoland and Okami Motors car centers, with a little portion of claims laid against some other motor shows. Quite often, car centers will sell low quality automobiles with certain drawbacks claiming that these cars are brand new. This is the most frequent complaint we here of,’ Chairman of Yekaterinburg Consumer Rights Committee Andrei Artemiev said to UrBC. ‘On the whole I believe the current inspections of car centers carried out by local customs and law-enforcement officers are both necessary and justified,’ he noted. In the

A number of law-enforcement and customs officers finished inspecting the papers of Krasnolesye car center at 3 PM on January 23, 2008. The spokesperson for the center reports the officers withdrew copies of the company’s accounting documents, even though the company believes there is no ground for suspecting them of anything illegitimate. In the meantime, most Yekaterinburg car centers are to undergo inspections related to tax evasion, undeclared wages, and violations of customs regulations as well as to the numerous complaints made by the customers who are unhappy with the sales procedures.

SKB-Bank proved to be Sverdlovsk Region’s most profitable bank in 2007. The company’s profit amounted to 665,780,000 RUR on January 1, 2008, which is the best result in the region and the third best result in Ural Federal District. According to RBC.Rating as of October 1, 2007, SKB-Bank was one of Russia’s Top 100 most profitable banks and was given the 83d position. Thanks to the rapid profit growth, SKB-Bank is highly likely to improve its position in last year’s rating.

According to the rating of unit investment trusts as of January 21, 2008, the profitability of Alfa Capital Shares (Alfa Capital Management Company) went down by 5.42% between January 20, 2008 and January 21, 2008.

Central Bank of Russia reports volume of loans given by SberInvestBank to for-profit self-regulatory organizations for 181 days to 1 year went down by 16.18% (from 102.062 million RUR to 85.55 million RUR) in January-December 2007.

According to the rating of unit investment trusts as of January 21, 2008, the profitability of Stock Index MICEX (Bank of Moscow Management Company) went down by 5.66% between January 20, 2008 and January 21, 2008.

United Confectioneries B.V. demanded that it should be allowed to buy a shareholding of Sladko. The company is interested in acquiring a number of registered ordinary shares with face value of 1 RUR each and repurchase price of 27.21 RUR. Sladko’s Board of Directors let the shareholders know of this demand.

According to the Central Bank of Russia, volume of loans given by Universal Bank to for-profit self-regulatory organizations dropped by 47.17% (from 33.743 million RUR to 17.308 million RUR) in January-December 2007.

The value of net assets of Energy - Mixed Investments (the unit investment trust) managed by Eurogreen Management Company Ltd. went down by 3.95% between January 18, 2008 and January 21, 2008. According to Eurogreen’s website, the company’s net assets decreased from 3,150,544.7 RUR on January 18, 2008 to 3,026,193.28 RUR on January 21, 2008.

According to the Central Bank of Russia, volume of loans given by Pervouralsk Joint Stock Commercial Bank to natural persons for 181 days to 1 year plummeted by 48.7% (from 33.743 million RUR to 17.308 million RUR) in January-December 2007.