Chelyabenergosbyt JSC, the electricity supplier of Chelyabinsk, cut off the municipal hauler Chelyabgortrans due to electricity debts on February 15, 2006. Last week, most of the hauler’s buildings, warehouses and workshops in Sverdlovskiy highway, Kopeyskoye highway and Artilleriyskaya St. had no access to electricity whatsoever. On February 20, having failed to hear from Chelyabgortrans management, the electricity supplier proceeded with further cut-offs and introduced limited supplies from 10 AM to 4 PM daily at the traction substations №№ 46 and 23. As the company’s spokesperson said to

Optomechanical Works of Yekaterinburg Federal State Unitary Enterprise will be taking part in the Russian National Exhibition in Baku, Azerbaijan, throughout February 21 to February 24, 2006. The Works is going to exhibit a range of civil produce such as satellite systems, traffic lights and geodesic equipment. Besides, there is going to be a presentation on the plant’s medical equipment, namely, infant incubator, defibrillator, phytotherapy exciter, biochemical analyzer and a number of other appliances. The exhibition is targeted at promoting Russian export produce on the Azerbaijan market

VympelCom JSC, part of Beeline, is not going to buy businesses of mobile operators in Sverdlovsk Region, PR Manager Dmitry Chebykin said to UrBC representative. ‘We do not see any real opportunities for the regional operators to build up their share of the market and therefore for the so-called G3 (Megafon, Beeline, MTS) to lose theirs. The way we see it, it is easier to invest in a particular subsidiary working within a big company. The current operating mode allows us to customize our offers to the particular region’s needs,’ Mr Chebykin said.

South Ural Mortage Loan Agency JSC summed up its achievements in January 2006. According to the company’s spokesperson, over 250 people consulted the agency’s specialists in January 2006, 119 of whom passed the crediting committee audit successfully and were admitted as potential borrowers. The banks which cooperate with the agency provided 40 mortgage loans worth 20 million RUR (cf 26 loans worth 9,877,000 RUR a year earlier). The agency also issued 16 loans worth 6,350,000 RUR and bought 47 mortgage deeds worth 23,900,000 RUR from the banks (cf 20 deeds worth 7,690,000 RUR in January 2005).

Sverdlovskenergosbyt JSC, electricity supplier of Yekaterinburg, set consumption limits on Electrical Networks of Shabrov Ltd. and Foundry of Kamensk-Uralskiy JSC due to debts. The debt of Electrical Networks of Shabrov Ltd. has come to 92 million within the last two years, the debt of Foundry of Kamensk-Uralskiy comprised 2 million in January 2006. Still, Sverdlovskenergosbyt JSC is not violating the agreements and actually is meeting its supplying liabilities in full: it can only cover the production and delivery costs with the money the customers pay for it.

The repair of pipe furnace № 1 is currently carried out at the burning shop of Ufaleynickel JSC, regional nickel maker. As the company’s spokesperson said to UrBC representative, the repair will provide for the uninterrupted and efficient performance of the furnace and will also help prevent emergency shutdowns. The repair works will include replacement of lining, bunker, and fire-resistant segments. After the completion of these, the furnace will be immediately put into operation.

‘In 2005, the total of our insurance contributions exceeded 350 million RUR, whereas our premium payments came to 132 million RUR. The property and liability insurance have the biggest ratios to the insurance portfolio (80% and 10% respectively)’ the spokesperson for Express Garant stock life insurance company said to UrBC representative. ‘The insurance contributions for land transport comprised 50% of all the insurances, with the unprofitableness coming to 65%. The insurance unprofitableness of natural persons in this category comprises 52%, that of legal entities is 70%,’ the spokesperson

The annual general shareholder meeting of Ural-Volga Interregional Energy Network Company JSC is scheduled for June 20, 2006, reports the company’s spokesperson. The meetings in regional network members TyumenEnergo, ChuvashEnergo and OhrenburgEnergo will also take place on that day. The other companies supervised by Ural-Volga Interregional Energy Network Company JSC have planned the annual meeting as follows: SverdlovEnergo JSC it to hold a meeting on May 30, UdmurtEnergo JSC – on June 1, KirovEnergo JSC – on June 5, ChelyabEnergo JSC – on June 2, PermEnergo JSC and MariEnergo JSC – on June

Magnesite Industrial Complex JSC (part of) has recently introduced the new investment and capital development managing software based on mySAP Business Suite. As Magnesite Group spokesperson said to UrBC representative, the project was carried out by the Complex professionals alongside with the highly reliable IKT Company with 15 years’ experience in IT consulting. IKT proffered an original way to manage the corporate investments and capital development by enriching the company’s SAP R/3-based information system with new automated functions. According to the Deputy GD Evgeniy Nenashev, this

SukholozhskCement JSC, cement maker of Sukhoy Log, is going to start design work and construction of the new cement production line with the annual output of 1 million tons in 2006. ‘The company’s production capacity comes to 2.5 million tons at the moment, and the construction of the new line would be quite worth it as the cement shortage is already keenly felt,’ Building Industry Director of Sverdlovsk Region Ministry for Building and Housing and Communal Services Vasiliy Karneev said to UrBC representative. The German concern Dyckerhoff co-owner of SukholozhskCement JSC, is planning to

‘The Accounts Chamber has not found any capital tax violations performed by metallurgical companies of EvrazHolding Ltd.,’ the Accounts Chamber Auditor Vladimir Panskov reports. As for the rumors concerning the Chamber’s claims to EvrazHolding Ltd. members in terms of tax payments, Mr Panskov said that the companies’ accounting systems complied with the Russian legislation. Yet the recent inspection has proved that the existing tax legislation has to be improved. ‘The current wording of the clauses does not always clearly define certain terms and procedures,’ Mr Panskov said. It is

21 insurance companies lost their licenses in Ural Federal District in 2005, the spokesperson for the Regional Insurance Inspection said to UrBC representative. 8 companies lost their licenses in the first six months of 2005, namely, Protex, Santa, and Grand Policy of Sverdlovsk Region, ZlatoMax, Chelyabinsk Insurance JSC and Trekhgorniy Med of Chelyabinsk Region, Panacea and West Siberian Transport Insurance Company of Tyumen Region. 6 companies lost their licenses throughout July to September 2005, namely, Eurasian Insurance Company of Sverdlovsk Region, ZHASO-Medicine, Mega, and

The net wealth of ChelyabInvestBank JSC has gone down by 8.6% since the beginning of 2006; by February 1, 2006, it was estimated to be worth 8,927,082,000 RUR, according to the data presented at Severnaya Kazna JSC corporate website. The bank’s loan portfolio has also gone down by 1.7% and reached the point of 5,144,772,000 RUR; the investments coming from natural persons went up by .2% and came to 3,526,217,000 RUR. The bank’s internal funds comprised 1,131,236,000 RUR by February 1, 2006.

Sverdlovsk Railways (Sverdlovsk regional branch of Russian Railways JSC) brought legal action against Uralvagonzavod Federal State Unitary Enterprise to Sverdlovsk Region Court of Arbitration. The object of the action is the recovery of 825,600 RUR from Uralvagonzavod for car detention. On its part, the defendant considers the penalty sum to be excessive and claims it to be miscalculated. So far, the Court postponed hearing of the case until February 28.

‘Flight performed by Carat Airline was not delayed due to money issues,’ says Chelyabinsk Airport spokesperson Denis Luzin. ‘Chelyabinsk-Eravan flight was delayed due to a technical failure last Wednesday. The flight was not canceled; it was only put off from 10 AM to 4 PM. Carat’s second aircraft (passenger-free) appears to have faulty undercarriage, so the technicians prohibit its use. The third aircraft hasn’t even been examined yet. This is an incident not exclusive to Carat Airlines, and it could happen to any carrier. The checkup and repair is going to take some time, and the company

On February 17, 2006, the Bank of Russia Board of Directors made a decision to refund the depositors of the Granit joint-stock commercial bank CJSC that was earlier declared bankrupt. Bank of Russia is going to pay 122.4 million RUR in total to 2,405 depositors. The payments are to be arranged through the mediation of Impexbank that established the smallest broker’s fee and provided the biggest branch network for the payments arrangement, the Bank of Russia External and Public Relations Department reports.

The mine pulling units of Evrazruda JSC (ore maker) Kazskiy subsidiary are to go through an overhaul from February 19 to February 20, 2006. The guiding parts of the units will be relocated from 90-meter-below to 430-meter-above height. According to the company’s spokesperson, such overhauls are carried out every two years and serve to maintain the mining equipment. The other repair tasks include dismantling of the old guides and installation of the new ones. While the Glavniy shaft is going to be out of use, the whole production will be performed by Kletyevoy shaft, but the subsidiary is

‘More mobile phones will be sold,’ Director of Simphonia mobile chain stores Nikolai Trusov said to UrBC representative. ‘Mobile phones tend to be replaced frequently, especially in terms of switching to a more updated version. New segments of buyers emerge all the time, which is why I disagree with some experts claiming that the regional markets are saturated and no more increases in sales are to be expected. I believe the sales records will only be going up.’ ‘As for the retail prices, even if there is going to be an increase in 2006, it’s not going to be a huge one. Since the new models

Deputy Head of Sverdlovsk Region Government and Minister of Industry, Power Engineering and Science Vladimir Molchanov met Deputy GD of Russian Post Gennadiy Kotov and Director of Sverdlovsk Region subsidiary Dmitriy Varchak on February 17, 2006. The meeting was aimed at summing up the subsidiary’s achievements in 2005. According to Mr Varchak, the year proved to be quite a successful one. The year 2006 is going to be devoted to further improvement of the profitability and economic success of the regional post office, some new services will be offered, too. For instance, some more public

As the spokesperson for Sverdlovsk Region Tax and Duty Administration said to UrBC representative, Tagilvodka JSC is the only winery that has received the new format excise duty stamps so far. ‘The Administration has stamps for all types of drinks, including wine and vodka, yet only Tagilvodka obtained over 1 million stamps.’