The value of net assets of Energy – Mixed Investments (the unit investment trust) managed by Eurogreen Management Company Ltd. went down by 3.2% between March 14, 2008 and March 17, 2008. According to Eurogreen’s website, the company’s net assets decreased from 2,964,941.13 RUR on March 14, 2008 to 2,870,044.53 RUR on March 17, 2008.

Central Bank of Russia reports volume of loans given by Khanty-Mansiyskiy Bank to state-run for-profit organizations despite overdraft went down by 81.25% (from 54.608 million RUR to 10.239 million RUR) between January 1, 2008 and February 1, 2008.

MegaFon Ural was the first of the Urals’ three leading mobile operators to decrease the cost of mobile Internet connection by 43%. In addition, the company launched a number of new offers like Internet 250 MB and Internet 1,500 MB for active users and 1,000 Text Messages for those who enjoy texting. If you buy big portions of traffic, it costs you much less. If you use Internet 1,500 MB, for example, you’ll only pay 1.3 RUR per megabyte (all taxes included). ‘Our flexible market policies and reacting promptly to the customers’ needs mean we can make voice communication, as well as data

Ural Airlines’ passengers traveling business class can now use a set of personal items consisting of earplugs, some warm slippers, a shoe horn, some wet wipes for leather shoes and products, and sleep goggles aboard the plane. ‘The airline keeps trying to create a cozy and homey atmosphere aboard its planes. This is particularly important for business people who have to go on trips all the time and often find themselves waking up in the sky. These are mainly the passengers who use our morning flights to Moscow that take off at 6.50 AM and 9.30 AM. We have made changes in these flights’

‘We have always preferred to settle down our conflicts peacefully, but we haven’t been able to reach any compromise with UralTransBank yet. This is why we have to go to court. We never contested our master agreement; we only said that the stop-loss proviso was a very important part of the agreement for us. Then, we declared the additional agreement on the changes in the insured event was invalid,’ says ROSNO’s Corporate Management Director Alexander Cheryarin. In the meantime, UralTransBank, having insured its financial risks related to bad debt on consumer loans with ROSNO, claims they

‘Atomstroycomplex hasn’t had to face a single threat of administrative liability since the beginning of the year, let alone liability related to a missing construction permit. We only had some minor fines last year, only one of which had to do with construction permits, and we fixed things promptly then,’ the builder’s PR Department reports. In the meantime, Ivan Rabtsevitch, head of Sverdlovsk Region’s division of the state construction authority, announced at a recent press conference that the construction of 110 buildings (including 50 buildings in Yekaterinburg) had to be halted. This

United Company RUSAL has by now stopped accepting applications for its One Hundred Sports Project and Green Watch Projects. The One Hundred Sports Project contest was held from January 22, 2008 to March 13, 2008, with more than 134 applicants from twenty-two different Russian and Ukrainian locations taking part in the event. Incidentally, fourteen applications came from Krasnoyarsk. The contest was targeted at developing amateur backyard sports and raising a healthy younger generation. Applicants offered projects on sports clubs, sports events and competitions, and competed for grants they

The bank’s official website informs the customers that since March 21 and March 24, 2008 are public holidays in Germany, Severnaya Kazna is not going to handle any outward euro payments on these days. All the euro payments and stock trading operations will be performed on Tuesday, March 25, 2008, though.

RusRating confirmed the rating of SKB-Bank’s 01 ruble bond issue at BB-, Stable Outlook. All in all, the agency rated the securities of nineteen Russian banks (including three Ural ones), SKB-Bank’s press officer said to UrBC. RusRating reports the rating given to the bank’s bond issue was based on SKB-Bank’s credit rating, the lack of factors that could either enhance or minimize the risks, and the relatively unfelt influence the bonds have on the bank’s general cash flow and financial activity. According to the agency’s top executives, the ruble bond market is likely to develop very

Governor of Sverdlovsk Region Eduard Rossel held talks with a group of METRO Cash & Carry representatives headed by the company’s Director for Russia and Ukraine Andrea Martinelli. The company already runs two stores in Yekaterinburg, so the Governor suggested considering other cities in the region such as Nizhniy Tagil and Kamensk-Uralskiy. Besides, Eduard Rossel came up with the idea of putting up a logistics terminal. In the end, the parties agreed that one more store in Yekaterinburg is needed. Mr. Martinelli said the company would think about launching stores in the region’s other

‘Koltsovo airport is bound to decrease the jet fuel prices after LUKoil sets up another filling station there. It’s hard to say, however, just when this is going to happen. It will take the company between eighteen and twenty-four months at best to get all the papers ready, and about twelve months to complete the construction,’ says Aviaport Agency’s Analytics Director Oleg Panteleev. Mr. Panteleev reports LUKoil-AERO’s products can boast good quality and meet all the demands, but the prices that are great enough already will probably grow a bit higher at first for the company to get a return

SKB-Bank’s equity capital reached 5.123 billion RUR, which is over 1 billion RUR better than the figures reached by any other Sverdlovsk Region-based bank. This also makes SKB-Bank Ural Federal District’s third largest bank. Besides, this impressive result means the bank can significantly expand its business. ‘Plentiful funds guarantee a bank’s financial stability, so, having set the 5-billion-ruble record, SKB-Bank can do much more on Russia’s financial market. We are now capable of offering even more loans to both businesses and private individuals while retaining the relatively low

‘Everything Mayak Corporation says is untrue. The apartments the company was obliged to allocate to militia only concerned two newly put up buildings,’ Mayor of Yekaterinburg Arkadiy Chernetskiy claimed in the course of a monthly meeting on the local construction projects chaired by Governor of Sverdlovsk Region Eduard Rossel. The Mayor referred to the apartment blocks in Bazoviy Lane, Yekaterinburg. Mayak Corporation’s President Marina Konkova, who made a report at the meeting as well, said the buildings couldn’t get commissioned because of the municipal authorities’ counterwork. ‘We suggest

Sverdlovsk Region has for a long time remained Ural Federal District’s leading area in terms of the number of operating banks: there are currently twenty-five of them in the region, according to the Central Bank’s report as of March 1, 2008. Tyumen Region, with its twenty-three banks, and Khanty-Mansiyskiy Autonomous Region, with its twelve banks, are the district’s second and third most developed regions in terms of banks’ presence. Sverdlovsk Region is only outstripped by Moscow, with its 554 banks, Saint Petersburg, with its forty-one banks, Dagestan, with its thirty-three banks, and

BrokerCreditService keeps using ads that fail to explain to customers that a unit investment trust’s share price can go both up and down. In the meantime, the lack of such information could mislead the customers into underestimating the risks related to investing in unit investment trusts.

Central Bank of Russia reports volume of loans given by Bank24.ru to sole traders for up to 30 days went down by 100% (from 50 million RUR to zero) in January-February 2008.

Ural Airlines is to start operating the carrier’s first scheduled flight to Italy on April 27, 2008 using A-320 aircraft’s business class. It will take the passengers 5 hours and 20 minutes to get from Yekaterinburg to the destination point. ‘The local business community has a lot of important ties with the Italian companies. There are five representations of foreign companies and more than ten joint ventures with Italians’ investments operating in Mid-Urals at the moment. Moreover, two Italian giants, Duferco and Stoppani, have shareholdings in Sverdlovsk Region’s major enterprises, while

Governor of Sverdlovsk Region Eduard Rossel announced in the course of a monthly meeting on the local construction projects that he decided to solve the problem of jet fuel in Koltsovo airport once and for all. ‘Ours is Russia’s most expensive jet fuel, so Ural Airlines’ aircraft get filled in Moscow now because it’s cheaper,’ the Governor said. Mr. Rossel believes an additional filling station is needed to create competition, which is expected to help the fuel price go down. The Governor said they might use LUKoil to set up the airport’s second station.

The Academic construction project manager Stanislav Pridvizhkin reported in the course of a monthly meeting on the local construction projects that their project met the schedule just fine. The construction process began in October 2007. The first part of the project to be completed will be block 2.3 - a block of 1,075 apartments and underground parking lots fit for 700 cars with all the necessary engineering, housing maintenance, public services, and commercial infrastructure. Yekaterinburg’s future district was designed so as to meet the predicted 30% increase in the number of cars used by

Magnitogorsk Iron & Steel Works (MMK) is currently implementing a new technique known as the Balanced ScoreCard System It took the company’s experts, assisted by CIFT and Deloitte Touche representatives, two years to develop this innovation that is still widely underused by Russian industrial enterprises. Launching BSC means MMK and the country’s metallurgical industry in general are improving on their management and approaching the international standards. MMK’s PR Department reports BSC makes it possible to set a company’s strategic goals in very clear figures, so every employee’s