Governor of Chelyabinsk Region Petr Sumin spoke rather bitterly of Katav-Ivanovskiy mechanical plant at a board meeting today. According to the spokesperson for the Governor, Petr Sumin asked the district head Boris Molokov to be more active in controlling the trouble, while the Ministry for Industry and Natural Resources was requested to send their representative onto the plant’s premises in order to get a clearer view of things. ‘We can’t let the production process stop or the company be destroyed, and we need to put forth stricter demands as far as the business owners are concerned, as

Banc of America Securities - Merrill Lynch has recently resumed looking into Severstal, Magnitogorsk Iron & Steel Works (MMK), and Novolipetsk Iron & Steel Works (NLMK)’s performance, Interfax reports. According to the bank’s analysts Eduard Faritov, Stanislav Gorozhankin, and Jason Fairclough, MMK’s shares are most investor-attractive at the moment, so they suggest buying those. At the same time, Severstal’s shares had better be sold, and NLMK’s shares would be better off when put on a shelf for a while. ‘The loss of Severstal’s U.S.-based assets has affected the company’s overall

Concern Kalina (Russia’s major mass market cosmetics manufacturer) is currently going through significant shareholder structure changes. For one, Tarlot Holdings Limited no longer has a share in the company’s capital after its 24.98% shareholding has been sold. On the other hand, HSBC Bank Plc acquired 7.08% of the business’s shares and is now Kalina’s new shareholder. What is more, the shareholdings of Citigroup Global Markets Limited and GEMOF Russia Portfolio (Cyprus) Limited increased from 3.82% to 8.72% and from 2.75% to 5.07%, respectively.

Bank Petrokommerz’s Stock Market Operations Department came up with an analysis of LSR Group’s financial report for 2008. ‘One could say that the results of the business’s performance last year look plainly disastrous. The company sustained about 8 billion RUR worth of losses (compare this with the similar profit figures a year earlier), although its revenues rose by nearly 40% (up to 49 billion RUR) and its gross profits went up by 50% (up to over 18 billion RUR). However, the Group’s operating loss still amounted to 5.4 billion RUR,’ the department reports. ‘Nevertheless, the drop in

‘The claims made by Koltsovo Airport’s press officer Yulia Fedotova to Ura.ru are not true and can even be seen as slanderous,’ the spokesperson for Ural Airlines said to an UrBC reporter. Apparently, Koltsovo Airport of Yekaterinburg is currently dispersing the information about the poor quality of meals offered by the airline on board. ‘We are now cooperating with another airport in terms of some of the catering services. This new partner has got all the necessary certificates, and the goods are delivered on board in the vacuum-sealed factory packaging. We don’t offer our passengers any

URSA Bank made 150.33 million RUR worth of payments on its fifth bond issue coupon on April 21, 2009. According to the spokesperson for the bank, the annual coupon yield was determined at 10.05% so 50.11 RUR was paid per each bond. URSA Bank went through with the three-billion-ruble bond issue (file number 40500323 В) on October 24, 2006; the bonds are to be in circulation for five years. The issue was coordinated by Gazprombank and Citibank.

The Board of Directors of Pnevmostroymachina suggested that the company’s shareholders decide to pass the dividend for 2008 at the upcoming annual general meeting. The decision to this extent was taken unanimously.

Standard & Poor’s has recently demoted Concern Kalina’s national scale rating from ruА+ to ruВВВ+. ‘The decrease is reflexive of our concerns over the aggressive way in which the company’s liquidity is managed, the rise in debts, the weakening market opportunities, and the interest and currency risks the business is facing at the moment,’ says Standard & Poor’s analyst Anton Geise. The company’s liquidity troubles have to do with the prevalence of short-term debts in the company’s overall debt structure on the one hand and lack of liquidity reserves on the other. The creditor bank, in

The region’s public prosecution authorities for transport found out that, despite the Russian Federation Air Code regulations, Koltsovo Airport of Yekaterinburg did not employ any law-enforcement officers for passenger security checks in the VIP and business zones. What is more, the airport is believed to have violated the federal ant-terrorist bill requirements. The prosecutors’ investigation therefore resulted in elimination orders placed with the General Directors of Chelyabinsk Airport and Koltsovo Airport. The people responsible for the violations will have to face disciplinary liability.

Starting May 13, 2009, Malev Airlines will no longer be operating its Yekaterinburg-Budapest flight due to redistribution of airplanes. The carrier reports the management has decided to offer more flights within Europe instead. In fact, the flight was canceled a bit earlier, but the airline will keep operating it between April 29, 2009 and May 13, 2009 to meet its customer obligations. The company’s office in Yekaterinburg is to close down on May 13, 2009.

Governor of Chelyabinsk Region Petr Sumin is to take part in the Plenipotentiary Representative of Russian Federation President in Ural Federal District Nikolai Vinnichenko’s council meeting, the spokesperson for the Governor says. The meeting in Yekaterinburg is to be attended by the Russian Federation Minister of Justice Alexander Konovalov, First Deputy Minister of Internal Affairs Mikhail Sukhodolskiy, and head of Ural Federal District’s regions. The officials will discuss the way President Dmitriy Medvedev’s commissions are being implemented. These commissions are related to the

‘SUBRstroy, the company that is expected to receive a certain amount of investment was switched to a four-day working week on January 19, 2009. I have spoken to the company’s head recently and have been told that this four-day mode is to last for six months. However, even when the workers go back to the five-day week, their pay is not going to rise,’ says the leader of UC RUSAL’s Severouralsk Bauxite Mine (SUBR) independent trade union Valeriy Zolotarev says. ‘SUBR itself has been operating on a five-day basis, but the workers find themselves unable to meet the deadlines because of the lack

Sverdlovsk Region Arbitration Court is to handle the preliminary hearing of the claim laid by Regional Network Company (part of IES Holding) against Urals’ Interregional Distribution Network Company (part of MRSK Holding); the case has been filed under number А60-8628/2009-С3. According to the papers placed with the court, the former insists on the latter paying over 67.728 million RUR to the plaintiff.

The net profit of Uralvagonzavod-Finance went down by 164,000 RUR, or 93.71% in the first quarter of 2009, that is, from 175,000 RUR in October-December 2008 to 11,000 RUR in January-March 2009. The company reports this drop in net profits has to do with increased outgoings.

URSA Bank came up with more new offers on promissory notes-based lending for business customers. ‘Any solvent SME that can provide a loan guarantee and has contractors willing to accept the notes can now use the bank’s offer,’ URSA Bank’s PR Department reports. ‘Such loans look rather appealing to both the bank and the borrower, as they make it possible for the latter to use the promissory notes to pay for goods and services. This means the amount of a business’s floating assets rises and the settlement of financial matters with the contractors becomes easier. What is more, these loan types

The BOD of LSR Group (LSE: LSRG, MICEX, RTS: LSRG) confirmed the company’s consolidated financial report (drawn up in accordance with the IAS) for 2008, the spokesperson for the company reports. Following the investment assets reassessment, the Group’s net loss amounted to 8.007 RUR last year, with profits, however, going up by 39% and EBITDA by 67%. ‘The crisis did affect LSR Group’s financial performance in 2008, since the demand dropped in the second half of the year and our investment assets grew devaluated. At the same time, even though these losses do reduce our revenues, they do not

The international rating agency has recently demoted UralTransBank’s Rating Outlook from Stable to Negative. Fitch Ratings reports this outlook is reflective of the bank’s weakened asset quality and relatively low capacity to absorb losses (mainly due to the little share of basic stock).

Sverdlovsk Region Arbitration Court is to hear the claim laid by Evgeniy Salnikov and Vladimir Fraifeld against Bank24.ru and Energotechnologii-XXI vek. The plaintiffs demand that the transaction signed by the two companies be declared invalid. The agreement in question (No. 1/21.11.2008) involves the sale and purchase of some securities on November 21, 2008. In case the deal is deemed invalid, Bank24.ru is to pay Energotechnologii-XXI vek 16,260,191.68 RUR and the latter is to return 15,712 corporate bonds to the bank; each bond has a face value of 1,000 RUR (file number 4-01-55217-Е).

Severnaya Kazna Insurance Company’s profits reached 151.876 million RUR in the first quarter of 2009, including 101.006 million RUR coming from voluntary insurance types and 50.869 million RUR coming from the obligatory car insurance. The insurance payments amounted to 95.507 million RUR, including 63.118 million RUR worth of payments on voluntary insurance cases and 32.389 million RUR on the obligatory car insurance cases, the company reports. The business’s losses came to 62.89% in the first quarter of the year: the figures for the obligatory car insurance and for voluntary insurance came

Governor of Chelyabinsk Region Petr Sumin confirmed the interdepartmental coordination scheme designed for fighting fires in the region’s forests. According to the spokesperson for the Governor, the scheme is expected to enhance the efficiency of fighting forest fires. The Main Forestry Administration is now responsible for the forest fund, national parks and forest reserves are to monitor their areas, the Ministry for Agriculture is to be in control of the farm fields, and South Ural Railways and the Ministry of Construction keep track of the railroads and highways, respectively. The