UrBC, Yekaterinburg, March 15, 2017. The Ural Bank for Reconstruction & Development’s Visa Maximum holders got nearly 4m RUR in cashback in the first three months within the launch of the new card type (between October 28, 2016 and January 31, 2017, that is), the bank’s press service reports. The cardholders made 193,000 transactions (total amount: 240m RUR) in the given period altogether. Under the terms of the cardholders’ agreement, 1% off every purchase gets transferred back to the cardholder’s account (10% off every purchase in special categories such as Cafes & Restaurants,

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, March 15, 2017. Rusnickel’s Rezhnickel is planning to make 917 people redundant as the company is going in liquidation, Deputy Head of Sverdlovsk Region Labor & Employment Department Natalia Bordyugova said at a press conference in Yekaterinburg. The news of liquidation was first made public in January 2017. As UrBC reported earlier, the decision was made because of the falling nickel prices and London Metal Exchange. Rusnickel makes high quality nickel in Chelyabinsk and Sverdlovsk Region-based enterprises and is Russia’s second largest nickel producer and supplier.

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, March 15, 2017. Court officers from Sverdlovsk Region division of Russia’s Court Officers Service imposed a temporary ban on leaving the country for 44,414 locals, whose accumulated debts amount to some 30bn RUR, in the year 2016, the service’s press office reports. At the moment, 20,758 people based in Sverdlovsk Region are temporarily not allowed to leave Russia because of debts. ‘The temporary ban on leaving the country can be imposed if there is a court enforcement action to this effect and if one’s debt amounts to more than 10,000 RUR,’ the press office explains.

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, March 14, 2017. Ural Vagon Zavod Corporation’s Ural Railcar Design Office developed Russia’s first semiautomatic coupler that meets the Association of American Railroads’ requirements, the corporation’s head plant’s press service reports. This draw bar type gets used in railcars and locos in Southeast Asia (Vietnam and Thailand), Africa (the Congo), and Cuba. ‘It took the design office’s automatic coupling device and brakes department one year to design the semiautomatic coupler. The bar meets all the current requirements: this is a semi-automatic Janney coupler with a

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, March 14, 2017. Ural Vagon Zavod Corporation’s Chelyabinsk Tractor Plant (ChTZ) shipped a set of tractor spare parts to the Czech Republic, the company press service reports. The parts were packed up and sealed into photo-sanitary control-stamped boxes at the plant’s export division. These spare parts are filters, bearings, towing devices, pivots, replaceable dozer blades, and mechanical transmission gearboxes for the B10 and T170 bulldozers delivered to the European customers earlier. ‘Our caterpillar-tracked units are still being used in Eastern Europe, even though

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, March 14, 2017. TMK’s net profit amounted to $166m in 2016 against $368m in net loss a year earlier, the company press service reports. The pipe manufacturer’s revenue rose by 10% in the last quarter of the year compared with Q3’16 and reached $902m. The year’s revenue came to $3.338bn, which was 19% less than in the year 2015. TMK’s EBITDA rose by 11% in the last quarter of the year compared with the previous quarter, reaching $140m; the year’s EBITDA amounted to $530m, which was 19% less than in the year 2015. ‘We are happy to report an improvement in our performance

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, March 14, 2017. EVRAZ Holding’s Nizhniy Tagil Integrated Metallurgical Works (NTMK) started supplying its L5 UM Larssen sheet piles to Magadan in February; the piles will be used to reconstruct the town’s sea port, EVRAZ Holding Ural reports. NTMK is expected to deliver 3,000,000 kg of piles to the Far East by May. ‘Larssen sheet piles are NTMK’s unique development, as no other Russian company currently produces them. EVRAZ Holding started collaborating with the customer as early as at the design stage; our piles proved more competitive than other rolled products and were

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, March 14, 2017. The average asking price currently comes to 67,490 RUR per m2 on Yekaterinburg existing home market; the figure went down by 0.6% in the last four months and by 3.4% compared with one year earlier, Ural Real Estate Chamber reports. Prices have been declining in all locations: centrally located apartments grew 0.8% less expensive in the last four weeks and can now be had for 95,157 RUR per m2 on average. Near-downtown locations grew 0.6% less expensive, down to 72,298 RUR per m2. Prices in the city’s third and fourth most expensive districts dropped by

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, March 13, 2017. Six workers of Ural Vagon Zavod Corporation’s head plant won in the 17th All-Russian Engineer of The Year 2016 Contest dedicated to the Russian Technical Society’s 150th anniversary, the company press service reports. Alexander Ovechkin, designer from the plant’s Technological Institute, Yuri Samoilov, designer from the Mechanization and Automation Design Office, Sergey Shpirna, electronics engineer from the Senior Electronics Engineer’s Department, and Andrei Kostromitin, environmental protection engineer from Ural Vagon Zavod’s Environmental Protection

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, March 13, 2017. ChTPZ Group intends to raise its pumping and compression pipe output from 18,000,000 to 35,000,000 kg a year, the company press service reports. This is now possible due to a recent upgrades program implemented in Pervouralsk New Pipe Plant’s Finishing Center for oil country tubular goods. The upgrades involved introducing new spare parts on pipe-cutting units, coupling-fitting units, and hydro-testing units, and updating the equipment software. Pervouralsk New Pipe Plant makes external upset pumping and compression pipes (diameter: 60 mm, 73 mm, and 89

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, March 13, 2017. A new overhead crane was installed at Russian Copper Company’s Kyshtym Copper Electrolysis Plant, the company press service reports. The crane arrived at the blister copper unloading site early this year. The idea was to replace the obsolete equipment from the year 1962. ‘It took us only a week to assemble and launch the 5,000-kg-strong electric crane made at Volgo-Vyatsky Mechanical Plant in Kirov. In slightly over one month, the powerful crane proved durable, easy to use, and reliable. The equipment is now used for unloading blister copper, scrap copper,

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, March 13, 2017. The number of MegaFon Ural’s 4G-supporting access points rose by 40% in the last twelve months, the company press service reports. ‘Our users are now two times happier with the mobile connection quality than one year ago. They report on improved data transfer speed and quality when using their smartphone Internet connection. The feedback comes from the queries they place with MegaFon contact center and retail outlets,’ the press service says. ‘We keep working on network quality to make sure users can open a webpage/download a video or a music clip

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, March 13, 2017. Yulia Sultanova, a high school student from School 135 in Snezhinsk, won the Green Technology by the Young Prize, Russian Copper Company’s press service reports. Sultanova’s research focused on Russian Copper Company’s Karabashmed in Karabash. She described the state of the enterprise (founded in 1910) thirteen years ago and what Russian Copper Company, which assumed control over the business in 2004, did to upgrade the production facilities. ‘Sultanova writes that the large-scale upgrades resulted in reduced harmful emissions and improved environmental

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, March 10, 2017. The share of online payments came to 40% of all transactions the Ural Bank for Reconstruction & Development’s customers carried out in January 2017, reaching an all-time high, the bank’s press service reports. All in all, 68% of transactions get carried out remotely via e-banking options, ATMs, and payment terminals. The increase in online payments has to do with an expanding range of the bank’s partner companies that offer online card payment options. The list keeps getting longer, with 120 new companies joining the system last year alone. These are

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, March 10, 2017. EVRAZ Holding’s Raspadskaya Mine is getting ready to introduce its new flotation technology to process the complicated K and KS coals with under-15-mm grade. The company intends to direct more than 300m RUR for the purpose, EVRAZ Holding’s press office reports. The fine K and KS coals didn’t use to get processed at the mine at all and were only partially added to the concentrate mixture instead. The flotation technology will mean the two coal types’ ash content and humidity parameters can get improved considerably so that more of them can get added to the

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, March 10, 2017. TMK’s Seversky Pipe Plant launched a heat recycling unit for its steel-smelting arc furnace recently. According to TMK press service, the goal is to recycle the heat the furnace gives off when cooling. The recycling unit allows the plant to use this heating power (some 5 gigacalories/hour) to provide less expensive heating for the plant. Besides, this is a very environmentally friendly energy source, as no natural gas needs to be burned in the process. The heat recycling unit cost 25m RUR to launch. Provided the unit works smoothly, the entire project will

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, March 10, 2017. Ural Vagon Zavod Corporation’s Director-General Alexander Potapov signed a decree for the plant’s female workers to get a bonus on International Women’s Day; this is an acknowledgement of the women’s considerable contribution to handling production challenges, the company press service reports. Additionally, special ceremonies were held at the head plant’s department, where managers congratulated their women workers on the event. ‘The plant employs over 28,500 people at the moment, 45.6% of whom are women. We have female employees performing at every

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, March 10, 2017. Heads of Ural Vagon Zavod Corporation’s Corporate Governance Center and directors of the corporation’s member enterprises met on March 7 to talk over the recent changes. The meeting was run by BOD Chair Vladimir Artyakov. Artyakov said the management of Rostech Corporation, which owns 100% of Ural Vagon Zavod shares, decided to appoint Alexander Potapov the company Director-General. ‘Ural Vagon Zavod is facing formidable challenges and setting ambitious goals for itself. We need a scenario for how to handle current economic issues and how to assess and use

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, March 9, 2017. Ural Vagon Zavod Corporation’s head plant introduced some changes to its customer feedback research techniques. The changes were proposed by the auditing body Russian Register, the corporation’s press service reports. A new customer satisfaction survey is now available on the company website under the heading ‘Information for Customers & Supplies’. There are now eleven points to consider rather than just four. ‘A smooth customer satisfaction evaluation system is an important factor in making our produce more competitive, achieving better results, and

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, March 9, 2017. A large-scale family event called Our Big Sauna Day featuring dancing, games, and refreshments is held in Ananyevsky Spa in Yekaterinburg. ‘It’s springtime in Yekaterinburg now, so it’s time to wash off the winter’s loads and stresses. Our Big Sauna Day is an open-air event moderated by experienced entertainers. All visitors will enjoy our quests, games, dancing opportunities, goodies, and gifts,’ says the even organizer Oksana Sushinskikh. Our Big Sauna Day is advertised as a perfect family event on a Sunday. ‘Children will be taken care of by our