UrBC, Moscow, April 24, 2012. Nordea Bank’s assets rose by 46% in the first quarter of 2012 against the first quarter of 2011 and amounted to 266.78bn RUR. The bank’s consolidated lending portfolio reached 203.24bn RUR on April 1, 2012, which was 28% more than a year earlier. The bank’s business loans portfolio came to 176.11bn RUR on April 1, 2012, which exceeded the figures for the first quarter of 2011 by 25%. The retail loans portfolio was 15.41bn RUR, which was 32% better than a year earlier. The bank’s net profit came to 400m RUR on April 1, 2012. Nordea Bank explains this decrease in

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, April 24, 2012. Smeshariki GmbH intends to prosecute a sole trader for the violation of the company’s exclusive rights over the trademark. The claim is now processed by Sverdlovsk Region Arbitration Court. The defendant demands that a sole trader named Victoria A. Chumakova pay a 50,000-RUR fine for violating the defendant’s exclusive rights over Kar-Karych (Trademark 321868), the image of a character from Smeshariki cartoon series and the character’s name, all of which belongs to Smeshariki GmbH through a corresponding agreement. The court hearing has been set for May

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, April 23, 2012. The Russian National Association of Securities Market Participants (NAUFOR) announced the results of the regional stage of its Stock Market Elite 2011 contest. The nominees were selected by the jury on the basis of two main criteria: the company’s bond market turnover and the amount of bond investments. The Ural Bank for Reconstruction & Development’s Financial Institutions & Investment Services Director Vladimir Zotov was given the diploma of the contest’s laureate by head of Russia’s Federal Financial Markets Service’s Sverdlovsk Region division

UrBC, Moscow, April 23, 2012. Moscow Arbitration Court declared OOO Avianova Aviation Company bankrupt (streamlined proceedings were applied) and ruled that the company must undergo bankruptcy proceedings for six months, the Russian Agency for Legal & Court Information (RAPSI) reports. The court appointed Dmitri Scherban the company’s trustee in bankruptcy. A representatives of OOO Averon (the enterprise that placed the insolvency claim with the court) reported that Avianova never paid them the 2.34m RUR it owed them.

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, April 23, 2012. Ural Airlines is offering the Great Patriotic War veterans and disabled an opportunity to fly with one of the company’s scheduled flights to hero cities Moscow and Saint Petersburg and back – free of charge. The offer is valid between May 3 and May 13, 2012. ‘Helping our veterans to visit memorable places and to see their wartime friends and relatives on the day of this country’s most touching holiday is an honorable mission that the company keeps accomplishing for the seventh year in a row. Ural Airlines understands that such flights are special, and pays

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, April 23, 2012. The office of Perfect World Travel Company at 11 Pervomayskaya St in Yekaterinburg is now occupied by other tenants, while the phone number given at the company’s website now belongs to a different business, the new tenants told UrBC. Now seventy travelers coordinated by the Russian tour operator Perfect World were unable to fly to Israel from Moscow’s Domodedovo Airport on Sunday. At the airport, the holiday-makers were told that their tickets had not been paid for. Another group of Perfect World’s tourists (between 70 and 90 people) were supposed to have

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, April 20, 2012. Head of Sverdlovsk Region Government Vladimir Vlasov held a work meeting with the members of the interdepartmental committee on the use of foreign workers in the region. The meeting participants discussed the current labor market trends and the possibility of adjusting the quotas for this year. Deputy head of Sverdlovsk Region Division of the Federal Migration Service and head of the Immigration Control Department Yuri Bezborodov explained this year’s foreign workers quotas came to 27,930 people, with 6,050 work permits issued by April 19. This figure

UrBC, Moscow, April 20, 2012. Over thirty representatives of the Russian Government, big businesses, and NGOs held the first meeting of the coordination committee on promoting Yekaterinburg’s application for EXPO 2020 in Moscow. The meeting was chaired by Russia’s acting Industry & Trade Minister Denis Manturov. This in camera meeting was spent discussing the main stages of the process and the part the country’s key ministers could play in promoting the application. It was reported that in case Yekaterinburg’s application wins the future EXPO village would cover the area of more than 550

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, April 20, 2012. Koltsovo International Airport offered its services to 720,410 passengers in the first quarter of 2012, which was 23.6% more than in the first quarter of 2011. The number of international flyers went up by 31.7% and came to 237,200 people; that of domestic passengers rose by 12.8% (400,650 people), and that of passengers flying to CIS member states increased by 73.7% (82,560 people). The number of sorties went up by 12.2% against January-March 2011 and reached 4,670. The airport’s press service reports the number of passengers flying to Sharm El Sheikh,

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, April 20, 2012. Nezavisimost Group of Companies announced its dealer’s portfolio in Yekaterinburg had grown wider as the company signed an agreement with Peugeot Citroen Rus. The company is to start selling the automobiles produced under the brand at its sales center at 65 Metallurgov St very soon. The new center Nezavisimost Peugeot will offer customers the entire Peugeot product line (available in stock and to order) as well as maintenance services, including mechanical and body repairs. The company is currently furnishing the car mechanic’s area and training the

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, April 20, 2012. First Deputy Mayor of Yekaterinburg Sergey Shvindt took part in a meeting dedicated to the FIFA delegation and the World Cup 2018 Russian coordination committee representatives’ visit to Yekaterinburg on May 14. The inspecting parties will take a look at the number of buildings and facilities that are crucial to hosting the championship as well as see a presentation on what the Urals’ capital will look like by 2018. As the event’s most important facility, Central Stadium, currently belongs to Sinara Group, the company will be directly involved in both

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, April 20, 2012. The public prosecution authorities of Yekaterinburg Zheleznodorozhny District looked into the data regarding a fire in Tagansky Ryad market in April 2012. The investigation revealed that the said shopping area belongs to ZAO Tagansky Ryad. The company still has not eliminated the violations of the fire safety regulations which Yekaterinburg Zheleznodorozhny District Surveillance Department of Sverdlovsk Region division of Russia’s Ministry of Emergencies detected in 2010. For one, the doors leading to stairways are not fully fitted with self-shutting

The owner of Metalloinvest Holding Alisher Usmanov was declared Russia’s richest man in 2012 in Forbes magazine’s Top 200 list. His fortune was estimated at $18.1bn. The proprietor of NLMK Vladimir Lisin, who topped the rating for the last two years, came second this time with his $15.9bn. He was followed by Severstal’s Alexei Mordashov, who is worth $15.3bn, Interfax reports. The other people in the Top 10 list are Vladimir Potanin (Norilsk Nickel, $14.bn), Vagit Alekperov (LUKoil, $13.5bn), Mikhail Fridman (Alfa-Group, $13.4bn), Mikhail Prokhorov (Onexim, $13.2bn), Viktor Vekselberg

First Freight Company’s Irkutsk subsidiary increased its claim against Uralvagonzavod Scientific & Production Corporation to 4.6m RUR. The claim has to do with a train crash. The sum initially came to 3.79m RUR, which was the compensation for the damage done to the plaintiff (deterioration of railway carriages caused by the crash). Uralvagonzavod disagrees with the claim, while third parties to the case such as the Russian Railways, Second Freight Company, ZHASO Insurance Company, and SOGAZ supported the plaintiff’s claim. Sverdlovsk Region Arbitration Court’s hearing of the case is

Head of Yekaterinburg Administration Alexander Yakob met the Minister and Counselor to the Australian Embassy in Russia Dan Tibbatt. Alexander Yakov told his guest about Yekaterinburg’s socioeconomic development and about the large-scale events that the city is expected to host in the next few years. The counselor explained he was aware of the city’s plans to host the World Cup 2018 and the international exhibition EXPO 2020; he spoke about a number of Australian companies that have a lot of experience in organizing grand sports and cultural events. Yakob and Tibbatt also announced they

Governor of Sverdlovsk Region Alexander Misharin is going to take part in the Golden Bridge 2012 award ceremony meant for organizations and people such as politicians, cultural experts, and entrepreneurs who make a special contribution to the improvement of Russo-Italian relations. The Governor is expected to receive the Golden Bridge figurine from the Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Italy to Russia Antonio Zanardi Landi at the Italian Embassy in Russia. The decision to give the award to Misharin was taken personally by Italy’s President Giorgio Napolitano. The Governor was

Governor Alexander Misharin presented Sverdlovsk Region’s key economic development projects with a great Russian-U.S. cooperation potential at the meeting organized to demonstrate the region’s economic and investment opportunities to member companies of the American Chamber of Commerce in Russia. The event took place at the Swissotel Krasnye Holmy Hotel in Moscow on April 18, 2012. The U.S. has for a long time been Sverdlovsk Region’s foreign economic partner. The two parties’ annual trade turnover comes to $1.6bn. President of the American Chamber of Commerce in Russia Andrew Somers said he

The stockholders of Yekaterinburg Non-Ferrous Metals Plant rejected the idea of increasing the company’s authorized capital in the course of an extraordinary meeting. The original decision to increase the capital through an additional share issue was made on October 20, 2011.

In 2011, Uralkhimmash incurred 129.11m RUR worth of net losses (calculated in accordance with the Russian Accounting Standards), which was 3.9 times more than in 2010, the enterprise’s report states. The company’s revenues for 2011 increased by 36% and came to 4.37bn RUR. The company’s BOD set the date for the annual general meeting on May 31, 2012.

Integra Group of Companies came up with a consolidated financial report (drawn up in accordance with the IAS) for 2011. ‘Our increased investments in the oil development segment resulted in increased demand for well-boring services throughout the year 2011. This year, our energy and fuel spending kept rising; so did the consolidated social tax payments and (to a certain extent) prices; therefore the company’s corrected EBITDA figures were lower than a year earlier. Integra Group of Companies made some net profit from its ongoing activity,’ the company reports. The company’s main financial