The Ural division of Rostechnadzor (the state environmental, technological, and nuclear safety watchdog) completed its multi-faceted inspection of Evraz Holding’s Nizhniy Tagil Iron & Steel Works (NTMK), the spokesperson for the division reports. The inspecting committee detected and ordered to eliminate forty-two violations of industrial safety regulations at the plant. The inspectors compiled twenty-six administrative offense protocols involving the plant’s management and two protocols regarding the plant as a legal entity.

Ural Airlines’ customers can now book their tickets eighteen hours before the flight, rather than the previously required minimum of twenty-four hours. This service is only available if one pays via Yandex.dengi or Web-Money systems or by credit cards. Tickets can be booked at www.uralairlines.com. For any additional information, one is welcome to call the airline’s Passenger Support Service at 8 800 2000 262.

According to the financial report of NLMK’s Nizhneserginskiy metal goods plant (complied in accordance with the Russian Accounting Standards), the enterprise’s net profit plunged by 650.82% in 2009. The plant’s sales revenues decreased by 46.82% last year and reached 19.3 million RUR, whereas its gross profit came to 1.9 million RUR. ‘The decrease in revenues and gross profits in the fourth quarter of 2009 in particular in the year 2009 in general by 23% and 46%, respectively, was brought about by reduced sales volumes and decreasing selling prices. This, in its turn, was caused by the

According to the steel manufacturer’s financial report (complied in accordance with the Russian Accounting Standards), VIZ-Stal’s net profit plummeted by 73.59% last year compared with the year 2008. The company’s revenues decreased 51.8% in 2009. The enterprise’s gross profit amounted to 1.6 million RUR in the last quarter of 2009 and to 4.9 million RUR by the end of last year. ‘A little downfall in the company’s financial performance in the fourth quarter of 2009 had to do with the reduced average selling prices, even though the sales volumes did go up a bit. Also, our administrative

The trade union of OAO SUAL’s Ural smelter (UAZ) placed its disapproval of the new pay and bonuses plan for Kamensk-Uralskiy-based Rus-Engineering’s workers with the employer. According to their press service, the negotiations between the trade union and UAZ’s management did not end in a consensus, so the two parties signed a protocol of disagreement. The trade union believes the bonus-paying scheme must be very clear so that every employee could know exactly what kind of work performance will be awarded with a premium. For one, the current plan does not state that the monthly bonuses can

The date for appointing the new head of The Industrial Urals-The Polar Urals Corporation has not been set yet. At the moment, former Deputy GD Remir Mukumov is still the corporation’s acting General Director. ‘I don’t think the fact that the corporation does not have a GD at the moment is an issue. The company’s real problem is the need to launch its projects quite soon,’ Plenipotentiary Representative of Russian Federation President in Ural Federal District Nikolai Vinnichenko said at a press conference in Yekaterinburg. ‘Nevertheless, we can’t make mistakes in choosing the top executive. We

According to the cargo manifests processed by Nizhniy Tagil Customs in the first quarter of 2010, 111 local businesses dealt in foreign trade at that time. These companies produced 3,730 cargo manifests on goods subject to customs declaration. The city’s trade turnover with the countries of the CIS rose by 67.5%. On the other hand, the turnover of goods to and from the countries of the far abroad decreased as Nizhniy Tagil business community exported less to China, Germany, India, Iran, the Netherlands, and Thailand and imported fewer goods from Austria, the Czech Republic, Germany, and

‘Baldinini footwear belongs to the premium class and luxury market segments. Our customers are normally twenty-somethings, the so-called gilded youth, and people aged thirty to thirty five who run their own business. On average, a pair of shoes costs 11,000 to 15,000 RUR. Last year we noticed that our customers grew more thoughtful and careful in their shopping behavior. A lot of people, including our visitors, felt extremely unstable last year, but now everybody appears to be more relaxed,’ the manager of Baldinini shops in Yekaterinburg Nadezhda Luzyanina informed UrBC. ‘Our sales did go

The Ural division of Rostechnadzor (the state environmental, technological, and nuclear safety watchdog) completed its inspection of OAO Vysokogorskiy Ore Mining & Processing Enterprise (VGOK, member of Evraz Group). Sixty-seven violations of the existing industrial safety regulations were detected and eliminated at the plant in the course of the inspection. VGOK and fifteen of its executives had to face administrative liability and pay a total of 37,000 RUR in fines, the spokesperson for Rostechnadzor says. The inspecting committee reports the enterprise does organize and control the

OAO NII Uralelectrotyazhmash recently redistributed its shares among the current stockholders. The company reports Galina Pavlova’s shareholding was increased from 0.09% to 24.34%; that of Olga Pavlova was increased from 0.14% to 24.39%; that of Natalya Pavlova went up from 0.08% to 24.33%, and that of Anatoly Pavlov rose from 0.58% to 24.83%.

Sverdlovsk Region’s division of the Federal Antimonopoly Service is going to resume the hearing of the case featuring OOO Alcor-C (L’Etoile cosmetics chain store) on April 7, 2010. The company is accused of violating Article 18 (part 1) of the Federal Advertising Act through sending out text messages without the subscribers’ written consent to the action. The FAS’s regional division has earlier informed UrBC that Moscow-based OOO Alcor & Co that comprises OOO Alcor-C, the defendant, used the services of Moscow-based OAO Rapporto to have the text messages sent out to customers. These

The net loss of Gazprombank (one of Russia’s Top 5 banks) amounted to 966.9 million RUR in the first quarter of 2010 (in accordance with the Russian Accounting Standards). According to the bank’s report, its net profit reached 16.7 billion RUR in the first quarter of 2009 and 8.55 billion RUR in the last quarter of the year (in accordance with the Russian Accounting Standards), RIA Novosti says. The bank’s net profit declined by 2.3 times down to 9 billion RUR at the end of 2009. Gazprombank reports the profits dropped because the bank had to pay significantly more in terms of profit tax in

Rostechnadzor, the state technological, environmental, and nuclear safety watchdog completed its investigation of the recent accident at Yuzhnaya mine (Evraz Group’s Vysokogorskiy Ore Mining and Processing Enterprise). On February 18, 2010, the company’s boring apparatus operator was killed while drilling a drain hole in Spot 16 because of the faulty machinery and failing to comply with the safety requirements. Rostechnadzor reports the accident was caused by the use of a faulty boring apparatus, by poor organization of the work process, by the victim’s being drunk, and by lack of control

The net profit of OAO Nordea Bank went down by 11.31%, or 138.681 million RUR in the first quarter of 2010; the figures decreased from 1,226,101,000 RUR in the fourth quarter of 2009 to 1,087,420,000 RUR in the first quarter of 2010. The bank explains the decrease in the net profit has to do with the growing security and foreign currency transactions expenses; this kind of spending went up because of the changing exchange rates.

The net profit of Novolipetsk Iron & Steel Works (NLMK) declined by 91% in 2009: the figure went down to $215m against $2.279bn in the year 2008, the company’s report states. ‘Troubles on the global market and having to take a share in the losses of our JV Steel Invest and Finance S.A. (with most of their losses sustained in the first half of 2009) were the main causes of dropping profits last year,’ the company explains. NLMK’s revenues decreased by 48% in 2009; the figures reached $6.14bn compared with $11.699bn in 2008. The enterprise’s gross profit shrank by 63% and amounted to

‘This year, our chain store is planning to improve the interior and design of our outlets and to open some new shops that will meet the unified corporate standards. Sverdlovsk Region is one of our top priority development locations,’ Eldorado electronic goods store’s PR Director Sergey Pavlov informed UrBC. However, the executive was unable to speak of any specific projects or the number of stores to be set up in the area. ‘Our company is now considering all the available options and negotiating with the shopping area owners. Eldorado’s new outlets have to meet our standards, that is, the

‘It’s true that we’ve got a problem with confirming the availability of resources in some of the deposits involved in the project. Some ten deposits still need to be explored further, and the only deposits we are 100% sure of are those of brown coal and chromite ore. Also, the deposits of polymetals, manganese, barites, and rare-earth metals still need some further exploration as well,’ Plenipotentiary Representative of Russian Federation President in Ural Federal District Nikolai Vinnichenko said in his interview to Vedomosti regarding The Industrial Urals-The Polar Urals program. ‘We cannot

Emirates, the United Arab Emirates’ international airline signed an electronic interline agreement with Ural Airlines, one of Russia’s major carriers. The agreement means that the passengers from the Urals and Volga Regions can now buy a single e-ticket for both companies’ connecting flights and travel from Yekaterinburg or Samara to Dubai and over 100 other destinations offered by Emirates. What is more, this interline agreement provides for the bargain prices on Emirates and Ural Airlines’ flights. The two carriers have been cooperating since 2002, and now the latter operates one

‘Uralvagonzavod Scientific & Production Corporation is planning to make 500 managers, experts, and lower-level employees redundant. This is done within the framework of our personnel optimization program. The workers will be offered the positions of machine-tool operators, crane drivers, press operators, core makers, electrical/gas welders, and so on, with the training provided by our employee training department on the plant’s premises,’ the company’s official press release says. ‘In order to protect our younger workers and to ease the socioeconomic tension at the plant and in town, we

‘Our chain store used to focus on premium and middle class footwear, but now we can also offer our customers some less expensive items. For instance, a pair of premium class summer shoes now costs about 7,000 to 10,000 RUR; a pair of shoes within the middle class price segment comes to 4,000 RUR, and people on a tight budget can find some shoes for as little as 2,000 RUR a pair,’ the manager of K+C chain store Elena Saidulina informed UrBC. ‘The main change the store underwent during the recession was our discount policy. Prior to the year 2009, we’d only offer discounts during our