Hardware producers of Magnitogorsk that are members of MMK JSC Group produced a total of 30,000 tons of goods in January 2006. MMK-Metiz JSC produced 10,600 tons of hardware products (85% of the output for January 2005), the calibration works of Magnitogorsk produced 17,300 tons (92% of the output for January 2005). The plants are hoping to produce 33,700 tons of goods in February 2006, the spokesperson for MMK JSC Group said to UrBC representative.

The year 2005 brought significant changes for Uralskaya folga JSC, foil maker and part of SUAL Group. According to the company’s GD Sergei Borovik, the firm was able to launch the production of finer and more expensive kinds of foil due to the introduction of new technologies. There appeared some new customers as well: the firm’s major customers used to be air and car industries as well as cable works, now most orders come from pharmaceutical, food, and building industries. Uralskaya folga JSC hopes to start using the plant’s full capacity throughout 2006, producing 15,200 tons of goods (a

Bank of Yekaterinburg JSC summed up the results of its operations with natural persons in 2005. Last year, more than 109,000 people placed over 1 billion RUR with the bank. Bank of Yekaterinburg JSC has issued nearly 100,000 Union Card cash cards so far, and 250 trading companies and services are accepting it. The bank installed 22 ATMs in 2005 as well as signed the zero percent interest ATM operation agreement with Uralvneshtorgbank JSC.

Ore miner Evrazruda JSC (part of Evraz Group) has been trying to implement the new grinders meant for foreign crown bits. According to the company’s spokesperson, three Sandvik grinders are currently used in Sheregeshskaya and Kazskaya mines. The iron ore in the deposits the company is mining is particularly hard, so having properly sharpened tools always at hand is a big issue. Evrazruda JSC decided to use foreign crown bits and rods as early as 2004, so the produce of Sandvik, a Swedish company, was chosen after various types of equipment had been tested. Sandvik supplied about 5,000 pintle

Severnaya Kazna, insurance company of Yekaterinburg, attracted 591,178 million RUR of investments in 2005, of which 185,644 million RUR were collected in the last three months, the company’s spokesperson reports. According to Marketing and Advertising Director Marina Medvedeva, the amount of money invested throughout October to December 2005 was 16% percent greater than that invested in July to September. Yet the company had to pay 399,043,000 RUR, or up 46.5% of insurance money in 2005 (compared to 272,346,000 RUR a year earlier). Thus, the total unprofitableness of the company comprised

Uralvagonzavod Federal State Unitary Enterprise, carriage maker of Nizhniy Tagil, presented its new RTM-160 tractor at the event organized by Sverdlovsk Region Ministry of Agriculture and Food Industry along with the Bolshoy Ural Association; representatives of agricultural enterprises form Sverdlovsk, Kurgan, Chelyabinsk, Ohrenburg, Tyumen and Omsk Regions took part in the meeting. The tractor has been included in the Russian Federation Ministry of Agriculture roll for 2006, and it is subject to the state agricultural leasing program, the company’s spokesperson reports.

Director of Transglobal Airlines Mikhail Turkanov was arrested last Saturday. According to the spokesperson for Sverdlovsk Region Municipal Internal Affairs Administration, Mr Churkanov is now kept in detention and has been charged with large-scale fraud (Clause 159 of Russian Federation Criminal Code). ‘Mr Churkanov has been charged with the same offense and tried before, it happened in 2005 but the court only made him give a written undertaking not to leave a place,’ the spokesperson said.

‘We had to limit our gas supplies in January because of the cold weather and thus switched to coal, which was not good financially; besides, the boilers that use coal are more complicated technically than the regular ones and require more maintenance expenses,’ TGK-10 GD Andrey Shishkin said at the press conference on Friday. Yet, according to Mr Shishkin, the amount of coal bought from Chelyabinsk Coal Company in 2006 will remain the same as last year. ‘As for the additional coal expenses, they have already been included into the tariffs,’ Mr Shishkin said.

Yekaterinburgnefteprodukt JSC and Sverdlovsknefteprodukt JSC (Ural District oil dealers of Sibneft JSC) summed up their achievements in 2005. The total turnover of retail trade in Sibneft filling stations grew by 19.6% (over 60,000 tons) given that the general growth of Sverdlovsk Region oil market increased by 1.3% (11,000 tons). The two companies launched multifuel filling stations last year, and Sibneft is going to invest about 200 million RUR into regional development in 2006.

The major shareholders of Mechel JSC, metallurgical company of Chelyabinsk, decided to allow Chair of the Board Igor Zyuzin to buy a 42.2% share holding from GD Vladimir Iorikh within the next 12 months, the company’s spokesperson said to UrBC representative. Mr Zyuzin has been considering different options to cover these expenses, for example, stock exchange operations and strategic partnership. Regardless of the source of his purchase money, he is to keep at least 51% holding in Mechel joint stock. Meanwhile, Mr Iorikh will be gradually delegating his liabilities to the current Executive

‘The year 2005 brought some new players into the banking field and witnessed a wider range of mortgage programs. Since the terms of the payments were prolonged to 25 to 30 years compared to 10 to 15 years in the past, mortgage programs became more available,’ Johann Jonah, Chairman of RaiffeisenBank Austria CJSC, said to UrBC representative. ‘Mortgage loans are only starting to develop regionally, but we think the amount of loans and the money given to clients will increase at least ten times in 2006,’ Mr Jonah said. ‘Regionally, mortgage loans in Russian currency are most demanded, so some

Fireproof Works of Kyshtym (part of Magnesite Group) summed up its success in January 2006. According to Magnesite Group spokesperson, during January 2006 production output and sales of commercial powders at Fireproof Works of Kyshtym grew by 155,6% compared to the same figures for the previous year and came to 182.8 tons. Delivery of the company’s production under the contract with Rosatomstroy Federal State Unitary Enterprise (which the company carries out according to an agreement of storing, destruction and non-proliferation of nuclear arms between Russia and USA signed in 1992)

Ural Railway Machine Building Works (part of Sinara Group) produced 5,600 tons of goods in 2005, which exceeds the figures for 2004 by 84%. More metallurgical and building hardware orders were placed, too, the company’s spokesperson said to UrBC representative. The company also set to work on Electrovoz project last year. The major units and some elements of 2ES4K dc freight locomotive assembling process started as well. Two experimental samples of modernized bogie frames, currently tested at a research institute in Kolomna, were produced. Moreover, the plant also managed to upgrade three

Within two days after the control over the 75%-share holding of United Machine Building Works JSC was consolidated by a group of investors, one of them being Gazprombank, two Members of the company’s Board resigned. Sergei Skatershikov and Alan Kazbekov explained this by being concerned about the company’s possible delisting on the Russian and international stock exchanges and the likely transformation of the works from the open joint stock company to a close one, the company’s spokesperson reported.

The negotiations between Koltsovo Airport and Siberia Airlines are still in progress. ‘The airport wasn’t able to provide the slots Siberia had asked for as the time they want is overloaded enough as it is, so we just cannot go beyond our capacity. Yet we are willing to offer the carrier another time or, better still, another direction,’ the company’s spokesperson Yulia Fedotova said to UrBC representative.

‘The regional subsidiary of ROSGOSSTRAKH Ltd., Russian State Insurance Company, has been working on the offset of debt for the last six years. Our net profits have already allowed us to cover 34 million RUR, and we’re still improving,’ Director of ROSGOSSTRAKH Ltd. Ural subsidiary Evgeniy Ostapenko announced at the press conference.

‘We have already performed the first stage of the power engineering reform that had to do with departmentalizing AO-Energo according to types of tasks done, that is, energy production, distribution and sales. Besides, after the interregional integration took place on December 1, 2005, TGK-10 became the exclusive executive setting for Generating Companies of Chelyabinsk and Tyumen,’ TGK-10 GD Andrey Shishkin said at the press conference devoted to heat supply issues in Chelyabinsk. According to Mr Shishkin, the second stage presupposes the unification of the two companies’ shares and

In the second half of 2005, Chelyabinsk Region Subsoil Resources Agency annulled some of the entrails use licenses due to their expiry. Thus, the licenses issued to Yuzniy Rudnik Mine (given to promote exploration and extraction of vein quartz in Tashtybutakskiy deposit), to Miasszoloto JSC (given for alluvial gold mining in Iremelskaya placers), to UralTechnoPlus 2000 Ltd. (given for geological research of barium ore in Khutorskiy lot), to SouyzNefteEcologiya Ltd. (given for geological research of mining and precious metals processing wastes in Soymanovskaya Valley) were canceled.

Chelyabinsk Region is going to be visited by the Trade and Economic Mission of Austria on February 13 and February 14, 2006. The Mission will be headed by the Director of Eastern Countries Department of Austrian Chamber of Economics Guido Stock and Johann Kausl, Austrian Trade Commissioner for Russia in Moscow, the spokesperson for Regional Ministry of Economic Development said to UrBC representative. 28 Austrian companies are going to send along their representatives, VAMED Engineering GmbH & Co KG (dealing in all-inclusive hospital building, medical equipment, hospital modernization and

KESK Multienergetika Ltd. has been suffering continous losses due to regular electricity thefts, the company’s spokesperson said to UrBC representative. 1,038 cases bringing the company the damage of 6,630,816 RUR were registered in the eight months of 2005 alone, and only 1,678,200 RUR ahs so far been paid back after 477 bills of theft had been drawb up. The total electricity loss amounts to 4,176,745 kilowatts per hour, and only 1,218,251 kilowatts per hour have been paid for. The company is going to track all the incidents of theft due to the introduction of the multilayered prevention