UrBC, Yekaterinburg, August 14, 2017. 943,343 people flew with Ural Airlines in July, which exceeded the figures for one year previously by 18%, the air carrier’s press service reports. The airline operated 5,904 flights last month, including 3,624 domestic flights, 870 flights to and from the CIS member states, and 1,410 international flights. This was 17% more than one year earlier. Ural Airlines have offered their services to 4,266,451 people this year so far, which is 23% more than in January-July 2016. The air carrier operated 30,082 flights between January 1 and July 31, 2017, including

UrBC, Chelyabinsk, August 14, 2017. Vice Governor of Chelyabinsk Region Vadim Evdokimov had a tour of Metallurg Sports Palace during his recent visit to Karabash. The arena, currently under construction, is Russian Copper Company and Russian Copper Company Group’s Karabashmed’s joint project, the company press service reports. Karabashmed’s First Deputy Director-General Alexander Yushkov, StroyMaximum’s Director-General Vladimir Paklin, and Mayor of Karabash Oleg Budanov all made their reports on how the construction was going. ‘The sports facility is growing by the hour. The fitness and

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, August 14, 2017. Kindergarten 32 in Korkino closed for capital repairs, Russian Copper Company’s press service reports. The building was put up in 1955 and has never been given a round of capital repairs since. Only some partial remodeling was done in 2004. Thanks to the funding supplied by Russian Copper Company, the overhaul could begin in August 2017. These were the children’s parents who asked the company management for support. ‘Kindergarten 32 is Korkino’s only creche, with some eighty children as young as 1.5 (and older). They had to switch to other pre-school

UrBC, Magnitogorsk, August 14, 2017. Workers from MMK Group’s Stroykompleks, a building company, are getting ready to celebrate Builder’s Day, MMK Information & PR Department reports. The company was set up over fifteen years ago at the Group’s management’s initiative and is now one of Magnitogorsk’s leading construction businesses, comprising a concrete goods plant, a glass-making plant, a ceramic materials-manufacturing plant, and a building and assembly depot. Stroykomplex is mainly active as a general contractor for construction project and does building and assembly jobs at

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, August 14, 2017. The average asking price currently comes to 66,167 RUR per m2 on Yekaterinburg existing home market. This is 0.4% less than four weeks previously and 13.7% less than in February 2015, Ural Real Estate Chamber’s analytical report indicates. Prices declined most noticeably for the centrally located apartments (-1.7% in the last four weeks), with the current asking price at 93,933 RUR per m2. Homes in the city’s remotest and least expensive areas are now 0.4% cheaper and can be had for 55,445 RUR per m2, whereas those in the city’s third and fourth priciest

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, August 11, 2017. EVRAZ Holding’s IAS-calculated net profit amounted to $86m in the first half of the year, which was 12 times more than one year earlier, the company’s report states. The mining and metallurgical holding’s consolidated revenues rose by 44.1% and reached $5.106bn. Its EBITDA increased by nearly two times and reached $1.152bn.

UrBC, Magnitogorsk, August 11, 2017. Magnitogorsk Iron & Steel Works (MMK) recently launched new Blast Heater 23 bis at its Blast Furnace Unit 7. This is part of a larger blast furnace upgrade program, with investments already exceeding 1bn RUR, MMK Information & PR Department reports. ‘The launch of the new Cowper, a regenerating blast air heater named after the English engineer Edward Alfred Cowper, will allow for consecutive replacement of the three remaining heaters at Blast Furnace Unit 7,’ the Department says. The inner-chamber blast heaters will get replaced with their

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, August 11, 2017. Special offer for young home buyers in Akademicheskiy will hold for five more days, RSG-Akademicheskoye’s press service reports. Customers in the 18-35 age group can get a 100,000-ruble or a 200,000-ruble discount on their new home in Akademicheskiy till August 14, 2017. ‘Akademicheskiy is a popular location with young customers: 80% of local residents are young families aged 21 to 40, with pre-school and school-age children. This is hardly surprising, as the area has a lot to offer this age group: affordable ready-to-move-in housing and special terms on

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, August 11, 2017. The number of micro-financing organizations (MFOs) operating in Ural Federal District shrank by 22% against 2014, Sequoia Credit Consolidation’s press service reports. There are currently 181 such organizations on the Central Bank’s register. The decrease in the number of MFOs was most noticeable in Tyumen Region, including Khanty-Mansiysky and Yamalo-Nenetsky Autonomous Regions (-50%, with 23 active organizations at the moment), followed by Chelyabinsk Region (-20%, 68 active MFOs), Sverdlovsk Region (-15.9%, 74 active MFOs), and Kurgan Region (-11%, 16

UrBC, Moscow, August 11, 2017. Russia’s net capital outflow amounted to $13.1bn in January-July 2017, which exceeded the figures for one year previously by $4.3bn, or 1.5 times, Central Bank states. The money mostly left the country through the banking sector. According to the regulatory authority, banks have to both keep handing their international debt burden (comparable with that for last year) and place their funds abroad. At the same time, in contrast to last year, other economic players proved net capital importers and switched from international asset expansion to attracting foreign

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, August 10, 2017. EVRAZ Nizhniy Tagil Integrated Metallurgical Works (NTMK) is getting ready for the upcoming heating season of 2017/2018, EVRAZ Holding Ural’s Corporate Relations Center reports. ‘The plant’s power station and other heating facilities underwent large-scale repairs throughout this summer. For one, an overhaul was given to Boiler 3, whereas Steam Generator 3 underwent a major reconstruction. This both ensured a more reliable power supply and increased our furnace gas recycle rate by 50%. Switching to furnace gas means we can save considerably on the costly

UrBC, Chelyabinsk, August 10, 2017. The Agency for Strategic Initiatives (ASI) sent a thank-you letter to Vice President of the South Urals Chamber of Commerce & Industry Igor Aristov to express its gratitude for the CCI’s contribution to improvements in the national business climate, the Chamber’s press service reports. The South Urals CCI has helped to estimate the current parameters of mechanisms aimed to make business procedures easier and to enhance the national constituencies’ investment appeal. The letter states that the Chamber’s experts’ reports and comments serve as supporting

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, August 10, 2017. Rosset’s Federal Grid Company Untied Energy Systems connected Salym Petroleum Development N.V.’s oil-extracting facilities to the national power network, the company’s West Siberian division’s press service reports. This means the company’s disposable power supply rose from 36 to 96 megawatts. FGC UES power engineers extended the 220-kilowatt Snezhnaya Substation’s outdoor switchgear to two 110-kilowatt sections, which means the end user can now enjoy the extra 60 megawatts worth of power. ‘Snezhnaya Substation was put up in 1973. The facility ensures

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, August 10, 2017. Seats for the new version of Ural Locomotives’ Lastochka, the electric train, were presented at Moscow’s Rizhsky Station this week. The new train is meant for Russian Railways’ Federal Passenger Company’s inter-constituency routes, Sinara Group’s press service reports. Both top mangers and middle-level employees of Federal Passenger Company as well as representatives of Russian Railways’ Technical Policy Department, Passenger Transit Administration, and High-Speed Transit Directorate and Ural Locomotives’ design engineers contributed to the discussion on

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, August 10, 2017. 28 alumni of ChTPZ Group’s Future of White Metallurgy Corporate Training Program took their military oaths recently, the company press service reports. The solemn ceremony took place in the regiment based in Gorny Shchit, Sverdlovsk Region. ‘ChTPZ Group has been cooperating with this military regiment for five years now. Some two hundred Pervouralsk Metallurgical School’s alumni served their army terms there and came back to work at the plant’s various departments. Once this year’s corporate training program alumni have served their terms, they are

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, August 9, 2017. TMK CHERMET invested over 50m RUR in production upgrades in the first half of the year, the company press service reports. These investments were part of the company’s development strategy aimed at recycling more scrap ferrous metal from TMK Group’s own member enterprises so that it can be used at Pipe Metallurgical Company’s plants. Most of the investment amount was directed to purchasing new vehicles for the company’s production sites and new automobiles, to introducing equipment upgrades, and to improving working conditions at the scrap-processing

UrBC, Chelyabinsk, August 9, 2017. Chelyabinsk Pipe Rolling Plant (ChTPZ), Russia’s leading pipe manufacturer and integrated oilfield solutions supplier, was given ruA+ credit rating by RAEX (Expert RA), with Stable rating outlook, the company press service reports. The rating reflects the great degree of trust the investor community has in the plant. According to the rating agency, the company’s strong market position, its comfortable debt burden, and enhanced liquidity all had a positive impact on the current rating. RAEX analysts also commented on the great corporate governance, strong

UrBC, Magnitogorsk, August 9, 2017. Magnitogorsk Iron & Steel Works (MMK) held a special firefighting contest to distinguish the company’s best volunteer firefighting team, MMK Information & PR Administration reports. The annual contest was held in accordance with the company’s action plan for civil defense, emergency management, and fire safety for 2017. The goal is to check how well the volunteer teams are prepared for fire threats and to make sure they prove a useful part of the firefighting activities. ‘Fifty-seven teams from MMK Group’s various divisions competed in the contest.

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, August 9, 2017. Ural Federal District’s residents’ everyday expenses increased by 2.5% in July 2017, Romir Holding’s press service reports. In Russia on the whole, people’s spending rose by 0.6% against June 2017 and by 8.1% against last July, which is twice as much as the official inflation rate of 3.9%. This increased spending, combined with the dropping average store receipt amount, indicates that Russians keep on looking for best price offers and have to both spend more and go shopping more often. Expenses were up last month for people based in almost every part of

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, August 9, 2017. An ad hoc committee to coordinate the actions of Sverdlovsk Region’s and local cities’ authorities and those of other related organizations was recently set up by Governor of Sverdlovsk Region Evgeny Kuivashev’s decree. The goal is to protect the rights of local housing fraud victims. The entire process is to be supervised by First Deputy Governor of Sverdlovsk Region Vladimir Tungusov. There are currently over ten housing construction projects in Sverdlovsk Region that are facing financial trouble. These are: Scherbakova, Berezki, Koltsovsky Dvorik,