‘We expect our rolled stock output to reach about 10 million tons by the end of the year. This is going to be 20% more than a year earlier. What’s more, the company intends to go back to its ante-recession annual output of 12 million tons as soon as next year. This means another 20% increase in production is to be expected,’ BOD Chairman of Magnitogorsk Iron & Steel Works (MMK) Viktor Rashnikov said in his interview to Kommersant. The executive explained MMK would fully recover after the recession thanks to the growing domestic demand and the enterprise’s carrying on with its

OAO Uralgipromez incurred 2.73 million RUR worth of losses in the third quarter of 2010, whereas just a quarter earlier, the company’s net profit reached 6.17 million RUR. Uralgipromez reports its losses result from the current situation on the design and development market.

Sverdlovsk Region is planning to get more consolidated budget revenues through taxing the specialized divisions of companies, enterprises, and contractors which are currently working on some investment projects in the region. This idea was the main issue on the agenda of a recent government meeting on support of local business chaired by the region’s Minister for Energy and Communal Housing Services Yuri Shevelev. For one, about forty sub-contractors are now involved in the construction of the fourth power generating unit at Beloyarskaya nuclear power plant. The town council of Zarechniy only

‘Yekaterinburg automobile market players tend to have their shares re-shaped and re-distributed these days. Some more changes are yet to come, so it’s a bit early to make any forecasts at the moment,’ Avtoplus Group’s PR & Internet Communications Director Tatiana Meshkoy said to UrBC. ‘In fact, the number of dealing centers our Group runs has doubled since the start of the recession: five new centers, including the ones in Omsk, Kamensk-Uralskiy, and Nizhniy Tagil, complemented the five already existing dealerships. In addition to companies specializing in Toyota, Lexus, and Audi, we now

A delegation of RENOVA-StroyGroup officials headed by President Veniamin Golubitskiy visited the chemical concern’s headquarters in Ludwigshafen upon the invitation of the company’s Board. The two enterprises actually signed a partnership intentions agreement on July 15, 2010; this was done within the framework of Saint Petersburg Dialogue intergovernmental counseling session in Yekaterinburg. Besides, the first building fitted with BASF’s Neopor thermal insulation panels has already been put up in Yekaterinburg’s Academic district. Now Neopor insulation is a sound economic and environmental

The enterprises of OOO NLMK-Sort (Novolipetsk Iron & Steel Works (NLMK) bar and profile division) sold 1.2 million tons of metal goods in January-September 2010, which was 3.8% less than in the nine months of 2009. NLMK-Sort sold 966,000 tons of metal goods on the domestic market; this figure exceeded that for a year earlier by 16%. These sales included 758,000 tons of reinforcing bars (which was 11% better than a year earlier), 41,000 tons of rolled wire (which was 25% better than a year earlier), and 142,000 tons of metalware (which was 19% better than a year earlier). All in all, the

META Group had Lindemann ЕС 1240 hydraulic shearing press installed at ChTPZ Group’s Pervouralsk New Pipe Plant recently; this was done in preparation for the launch of Iron Ozone 32, a major steel-smelting facility. The new machinery was installed at the scrap metal warehouse on the premises of Pervouralsk New Pipe Plant. The shearing press with the capacity to process 240,000 tons of scrap metal a year is currently META Corporation’s most productive piece of equipment among all of its counterparts. One advantage of the new machine is a ten-meter chamber that allows for processing

Yekaterinburg Municipal Duma decided at today’s meeting that the recently opened ComsoMALL shopping center should be classed as a building in the downtown price area. This means the mall proprietors will have to pay a higher unified tax on imputed income of individual entrepreneurs, the proportion being 1.0. The news was reported by Head of Yekaterinburg Finance& Budget Administration Andrei Koryukov. The new tax rates apply to the contracts signed since January 1, 2011. The project has already been considered by a bribe committee. However, the malls will only have to pay tax on the

OAO TransCreditBank is not yet ready to announce the exact sum it is willing to invest in an oil refinery based in Verkhoturye, Sverdlovsk Region. ‘The amount of money the bank is to contribute to the project will be specified later on,’ TransCreditBank’s press officer said to UrBC. OAO TransCreditBank and the oil refinery signed a cooperation agreement which provides for the construction of an oil-processing plant and extraction and processing of hydrocarbon materials in Ural Federal District. The parties involved estimate the total amount of investments at $2.4bn, TransCreditBank reports.

The opening date of Venskiy Dom and Summit business centers in Yekaterinburg has been postponed till the year 2011; the news was announced at a press conference on commercial estate, where the attendees observed that the supply on this particular market still exceeded the demand. The Marketing & Project Development Director of OOO Delovoy Dom na Arkhiyereiskoy Radik Nigmatullin reported the launch of Venskiy Dom had been put off till the beginning of the year; Head of Summit Business Center’s PR Service Oksana Arsentieva added that their building would probably start operating in March

Ural Airlines is to introduce a new international destination on November 22, 2010: this is going to be a scheduled Yekaterinburg-Istanbul-Yekaterinburg flight, operated every Monday and Thursday on Airbus A320 planes. Prices start from ?269 plus fees for a return ticket.

OAO Magnitogorsk Iron & Steel Works (MMK) and OOO Hatch Engineering & Consulting (Canada-based Hatch’s Russian branch) signed an exploratory design agreement that is intended to provide MMK with the best scheme for the development of Prioskolskoye iron ore deposit. Under this agreement, OOO Hatch Engineering & Consulting must design and transfer to MMK, the customer, the final report on their research findings. Hatch Engineering & Consulting is to do some comparative analysis in order to decide on the most efficient way to develop the deposit; their proposed method should

The top managers of RENOVA-StroyGroup State Corporation attended a press lunch with Russia’s leading media representative at the Ararat Park Hyatt Hotel in Moscow. The event was part of the company’s anniversary-celebrating program, so the reporters and the business executives had an opportunity to discuss RENOVA’s achievements at the end of its first five years in business. The reporters’ questions were answered by RENOVA-StroyGroup’s President Veniamin Golubitskiy and the company’s General Director Mikhail Semyonov. The corporation’s managers also spoke about the company’s recent

I-Fly flight RSY-9535 Yekaterinburg-Hurghada has been put off from 12:20 PM to 9:00 PM today because the airline’s return plane failed to arrive from Turkey on time. In addition, flight RSY-9536 Antalya-Yekaterinburg has also been delayed by over twenty-four hours; the latest arrival time was set at 4:00 PM on October 22, 2010, whereas according to the original schedule, its passengers were to have come back from Turkey as early as 3:45 AM on October 21, 2010. The company reports the take-off was postponed due to technical problems. I-Fly, a Russian carrier dealing in chartered flights,

‘All the tourists who have been inconvenienced by the flight delays were provided with meals and accommodation. The residents of Yekaterinburg went back to their homes, of course, while travelers from other towns were given rooms in hotels in the vicinity of Koltsovo Airport,’ the Sales Director of TEZ Tour Yekaterinburg office Larissa Larionova said to UrBC. Now I-Fly Airlines had two of its flights (RSY-9536 Antalya-Yekaterinburg and RSY-9539 Yekaterinburg-Sharm El Sheikh) delayed by more than twenty-four hours. The second flight in question has already taken off, while the plane from

‘When an airline is responsible for a flight delay, it is this airline that is in charge of providing passengers with meals and accommodation for the night. This is what the Aviation Code states. The travel agents, on their part, must notify the hotels of the delay and make sure the reservations don’t get canceled. They must also inform the hosting party of the arrival time so that transfer from the airport to the hotels could be provided,’ the Director of OOO Inna-tour Inna Averyanova explained to UrBC. Now I-Fly Airlines had two of its flights (RSY-9536 Antalya-Yekaterinburg and RSY-9539

OAO Bank of Moscow offered OAO Uralvagonzavod Scientific & Production Corporation a seven-billion-ruble loan, the bank reports. The organization hasn’t provided any comments as to the loan period or the interest rate. Prior to this latest loan, Uralvagonzavod had credit lines opened at Bank VTB and OAO Gazprombank.

Ural Airlines is planning to re-introduce direct flights from Yekaterinburg to the island of Sanya in the winter of 2010/2011. Starting November 3, 2010, the flight will become available every other Wednesday. ‘Hainan is a great alternative to the already familiar resorts of Thailand and India. Despite the place sounding a bit exotic, outstanding service is guaranteed, since Hainan is a favorite vacation place for the majority of Chinese top-echelon government officials. What is more, Hainan is famous for its health farms that are popular with both the customers who need good quality

The extraordinary general meeting of OAO Uralsvyazinform’s stockholders will take place on January 21, 2010. The telecommunications provider reports that the meeting has to be organized upon the request of OAO Svyazinvest which owns 16,608,946,183 ordinary shares of the company. OAO Uralsvyazinform is now being taken over by Rostelecom, which is why 1,740 people are supposed to be laid off at the end of 2010 and the first half of 2011.

The rating service declared that both the ratings and the rating outlook of OAO Alfa-Bank (Alfa-Bank; B+/Positive/B; national scale rating: ruA+) will not be in any way affected by the bank’s merging with its daughter enterprise OAO Bank Severnaya Kazna (no rating as of yet). ‘Our ratings kept accounting for OAO Alfa-Bank’s acquiring Bank Severnaya Kazna since the end of 2008 when the latter had actually been bought. For one, the ratings were based on Alfa-Bank’s consolidated data reports which covered Bank Severnaya Kazna. The assets of this Yekaterinburg-based bank operating in the Urals