Ural Customs Administration was able to transfer 4.6 billion RUR to the federal budget in February 2008, which is 19.1% better than the originally planned figures for the month, the Administration’s press officer reports. The Administration collected a total of 8.2 billion RUR for the state budget in the first two months of 2008, which means that the original target figures were exceeded by 24%.

Central Bank of Russia reports volume of loans given by SberInvestBank to non-profit NGOs for over 3 years went down by 8.75% (from 24 million RUR to 21.9 million RUR) in January-February 2008.

Central Bank of Russia reports volume of loans given by Bank Uralfinance to sole traders for 181 days to 1 year went down by 38.98% (from 6.269 million RUR to 3.825 million RUR) in January-February 2008.

RBC.Rating has recently come up with its newest research on Russia’s banking market that proves the country’s banks still have a lot of developmental potential despite the external markets’ crises. What is more, Russia’s largest banks managed to grow impressively in almost all the possible fields. The net assets of the Ural Bank for Reconstruction and Development, for instance, rose by 44.31% in 2007 and reached 37,817.5 million RUR on January 1, 2008. This is the 63d best result among all the Russian banks and the best result in Sverdlovsk Region. The bank’s quick assets increased by 85.17%.

The value of UralSib Management Company’s net assets went down by .17%, dropping from 957,423,671.41 RUR on March 4, 2008 to 955,805,135.1 RUR on March 5, 2008. This information was published in compliance with the demand that any issuer and/or a joint stock company must promptly reveal any data related to their activity that might influence the company’s stock price.

Central Bank of Russia reports volume of loans given by Perviy Respublikanskiy Bank to self-regulatory financial organizations for 31 to 90 days plummeted by 100% (from 3.077 million RUR to zero) in January-February 2008.

Sverdlovsk Region’s division of the Federal Antimonopoly Service made Koltsovo airport of Yekaterinburg pay a fine of 13,041,093 RUR for administrative offenses. The Service declared on December 4, 2007 that the airport, as well as RusAviaJet and Aviaprad, violated the federal law on the protection of competition (Article 11, Part 1, points 3 and 6). The offense consisted in the three parties’ collusion, so the Service insisted that this violation must be removed. The companies in question agreed that some mineral and oil products would be stored by them in July 2006-November 2007; as a

Evraz Group coordinated an IT international conference in Nizhniy Tagil, Sverdlovsk Region, on March 4-6, 2008. This was the first time for the conference to be held in this town, with more than 120 participants from thirty-four Russian, Ukrainian, Czech, American, and South African enterprises arriving to take part in the event. Apart from nearly all of Evraz Group’s members, the conference was attended by such global IT giants as Microsoft, IBM, Xerox, Oracle, Siemens, and some others, the spokesperson for Evraz Group said to UrBC. The agenda of the conference mainly covered presentations

Central Bank of Russia reports volume of loans given by VUZ Bank to for-profit self-regulatory organizations for up to 30 days dropped by 97.02% (from 20.15 million RUR to 600,000 RUR) in January-February 2008.

Central Bank of Russia reports volume of loans given by UIC Bank to for-profit self-regulatory organizations for up to 30 days plummeted by 100% (from 6.8 million RUR to zero) in January-February 2008.

Uralmash Machine-Building Corporation is expecting to double its excavator production this year compared with the year 2007, the company’s press officer said to UrBC. According to the press officer, the enterprise will mainly focus on supplying its ESH-40.100 walking excavator with a forty-cubic-meter shovel and a hundred-meters-long shovel boom for a Chinese customer. In addition, Uralmash will produce about forty EKG-5A excavators with five-cubic-meter shovels for Russian metallurgical and mining enterprises. So far, the company has launched ten excavators already.

The value of net assets of Energy – Mixed Investments (the unit investment trust) managed by Eurogreen Management Company Ltd. went down by 1.57% between February 29, 2008 and March 3, 2008. According to Eurogreen’s website, the company’s net assets decreased from 2,951,020.83 RUR on February 29, 2008 to 2,904,836.46 RUR on March 3, 2008.

Central Bank of Russia reports volume of loans given by Uralprivatbank to for-profit self-regulatory organizations for 31 to 90 days went down by 87% (from 7 million RUR to 910,000 RUR) in January-February 2008.

Central Bank of Russia reports volume of loans given by Uralfinprombank to for-profit self-regulatory organizations for 31 to 90 days went down by 63.06% (from 92.8 million RUR to 34.275 million RUR) in January-February 2008.

URSA Bank took a two-tranche loan worth $125m altogether from the International Finance Corporation. The first $50m tranche was provided by the IFC itself for four years, while the remaining $75m were offered to URSA Bank in a syndicated loan format by the IFC, Citigroup Global Markets, and ICICI with the interest rate determined at LIBOR + 120 basis points for two years. URSA Bank reports this transaction signifies that the bank is trusted despite the current difficulties on the market and is capable of attracting resources at low interest rates. URSA Bank will use the money for trade

Bank VTB’s net loss amounted to 169.756 million RUR in February 2008; figures were compiled based on Russian Accounting Standards). Last February, however, the bank’s net profit came to 894.94 million RUR, while VTB’s losses in January 2008 reached 6.423 billion RUR.

According to the Central Bank of Russia, volume of loans given by Tyumenenergobank to self-regulatory financial institutions for up to 30 days dropped by 100% (from 100,000 RUR to zero) in January-February 2008.

Central Bank of Russia reports volume of loans given by VUZ-Bank to for-profit self-regulatory organizations for up to 30 days went down by 97.02% (from 20.15 million RUR to 600,000 RUR) in January-February 2008.

The power stations and boiler houses belonging to TGK-9, the power generating company, supplied their customers with 4.9 million Gcal of heat last month, which is somewhat less than in February 2007, the company’s official report says. The enterprise’s Perm Territory subsidiaries, for instance, produced 1.9 Gcal of heat in February 2008, those based in Sverdlovsk Region produced 2.3 Gcal of heat, and those based in the Republic of Komi produced 699.3 Gcal of heat in February 2008. The company’s report contains no comments as to the reasons for producing less heating power, even though the

Ural Turbine Plant O&M Service and Ural Turbine Plant (members of RENOVA Group) signed a long-term mutually beneficial cooperation agreement with Belenergo, a state-run industrial enterprise that will now use the companies’ services to have their turbine-driven generators (based in Byelorussia) repaired and upgraded. 'This contract means we can now create a well-coordinated operating network on the CIS members’ energy markets, including the Byelorussian one,’ says Ural Turbine Plant’s O&M Service’s First Deputy GD Sergey Vasenin. The contract will be valid through the year 2012