First Power Generating Company on the Wholesale Energy Market (aka OGK-1) summed up the results of its activity in April 2007. The company’s power stations produced 3,853.11 million kilowatt/hours in terms of electricity and 86,480 gigacalories in terms of heat last month. Permskaya and Kashirskaya power stations produced 15.85 million and 87.05 million kilowatt-hours less electricity in April 2007 compared to a year earlier.

‘The court is processing quite a few insolvency claims at the moment; even though initiating bankruptcy proceedings is not that complicated, creditors must be aware of the fact that it is not always the best way out for them. The bankrupt company, for example, may not be able to cover the litigation costs, so creditors will have to provide for those themselves,’ acting Deputy Head of Sverdlovsk Region Court of Arbitration Svetlana Tsvetkova says. ‘90% of claims we get come from the Russian Federation Federal Tax Service that largely have to do with insolvency and collections of all types.

‘Academic construction project currently implemented in Yekaterinburg will be applying for state backing,’ President of RENOVA Stroy Group Veniamin Golubitskiy reports. ‘All the papers have already been filed to meet the competition requirements; the same is true of the rest of our projects; Chelyabinsk-based Sun Valley, for instance, is to be based on state-private partnership. We are planning to complete five to seven such projects throughout Russia,’ Mr. Golubitskiy says. The Russian Federation Government published decree 242 regarding distribution of federal subsidies meant for building

‘All the recent bans on meat import are largely meant to protect Russian consumers from low-quality produce and have nothing to do with politics or economic pressure,’ Head of Sverdlovsk Region Meat Union Sergey Emelyanov said to UrBC. Most of the bans were brought about by salmonella found in the meat shipments, so, according to Mr. Emelyanov, as soon as the foreign companies get rid of the problem, they will be able to supply their meat to Russia again. ‘The main challenge, though, is that Russia had to assume certain responsibilities related to providing foreign food producers with access

Federal Antimonopoly Service took part in the drafting of a creditor’s code targeted at protecting the bank borrowers, Head of Federal Antimonopoly Service in Sverdlovsk Region Tatiana Kolotova announced at a press conference on May 14, 2007. ‘There have been no banks with a lot of customers’ complaints over the last two years in this region, since our banks have to compete fiercely and thus play by the rules; however, there are some in the rest of Russia. These are Russian Standard Bank and Home Credit and Finance Bank Ltd.,’ Ms Kolotova said. She explained that Russian banks sometimes made

Deputy Minister for Industry, Power Engineering, and Science of Sverdlovsk Region Yuri Zibarev announced at a recent regional government meeting that local machine building industry was still having a hard time. Its share in the total volume of the region’s industrial production is slightly over 17%; investments are scarce, the companies’ own finances are limited, and there is acute shortage of skilled workers. What is more, equipment they use is worn out by 50% to 70%, Mr. Zibarev said. The government decided to respond with a set of measures that could support local machine-building

According to the Central Bank of Russia, volume of loans given by SberInvestBank to natural persons for a term of 91 to 180 days went down 82% (from 241,000 RUR to 41,000 RUR) in January-March 2007.

United Company RUSAL had its 10,000th ton of aluminum produced at Ural Alumina Plant, the company’s spokesperson for the Urals Roman Lukichev said to UrBC. The experimental 300-kiloampere electrolytic sections, employing the most advanced Russian equipment and high-tech know-hows, were launched on April 1, 2005; its peculiarity lies in that the complex is suitable for both producing aluminum and carrying out scientific experiments. The sections are meant for 300-kiloampere electric current, but the successful research and testing resulted in the management’s decision to raise the figure to

URSA Bank is going to be one of the major supporters of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development forum in Kazan scheduled for May 20-21, 2007. The agenda of the upcoming forum provides for a wide range of events, including the opening discussion session devoted to the region’s future developmental strategy and the bank’s activity and its importance to global economy. Then, the participating countries will make presentations on the newest investment opportunities within countries where the bank is operating and provide for top executive meetings. There should also be plentiful

Ural Airlines resumed performing Yekaterinburg-Tashkent weekly flight on May 13, 2007. According to the carrier’s press officer, the cheapest tickets are available at ?170 plus the duties and fees; there is no fuel fee, though, if you acquire a ticket online. Unlike last summer, all Tashkent-bound flights will be performed using the modern and comfortable Airbus 320. ‘The re-introduction of the flight will make it possible for our customers to do the best planning when going on business or traveling; it will also ensure more transit flights with our interline partners who fly from Tashkent to

SKB-Bank has recently reduced the interest rates on mortgages provided for those willing to invest in having a dwelling built for them rather than for those buying existing homes. The annual interest rate went down 3%, so the top rate can now only amount to 16%; moreover, if you are able to provide some housing as the loan collateral for the construction period, the interest rate will be reduced to 15% a year. ‘The three-percent difference will definitely make a whole lot of difference to our customers. If you borrow 1.5 to 2 million RUR and have to pay 19% a year, it will be several thousand

Tyumen customs transferred 252.2 million RUR to federal budget in April 2007, Ural Customs Administration reports. This is 78.6% ahead of the target figures; 33,100 RUR were obtained through selling confiscated produce (231% better than the target figures), fines amounted to 140,900 RUR (8.4% ahead of the target figures). The customs managed to transfer 855.7 million RUR to the federal budget since the beginning of the year, which exceeds the initial plan imposed by Ural Customs Administration by 14.9%.

‘Our company’s pricing policy is normally determined by the market, namely, things like increases in oil and mineral oil prices that stimulate the export of these products from Russia and affect the home market opportunities; seasonal variations in demand (in the summer, oil consumption goes up by 15% on average, with demand for high-octane gasoline rising by 25%) is another influential factor. Given that Russian oil production output remains the same despite the increased seasonal demand, some shortage is usually felt and domestic wholesale markets start selling oil at higher prices,’ the

Governor of Sverdlovsk Region Eduard Rossel took part in Russian-Turkmen negotiations along with the other members of a delegation headed by Russian President Vladimir Putin on May 11, 2007. Mr. Rossel was able to present his report on Sverdlovsk Region’s socio-economic development, its major industries, and innovational potential, all of which makes the area a promising field for Russian-Turkmen cooperation. ‘Sverdlovsk Region could supply Turkmenistan with rolled metal, tubes and pipes, medical, construction, and housing maintenance equipment, pumps and machines of all kinds,’ the Governor

Academic construction project currently implemented in Yekaterinburg by RENOVA Stroy Group has been getting a lot of attention both at home and abroad (namely, in Western Europe). Following the presentation at the international exhibition MIPIM 2007 held in Cannes, the project was praised by Europe’s major newspapers. ‘Academic construction project is Europe’s largest at the moment. The future district of Yekaterinburg is to be very ‘green’ since it will be located between two 600-hectare woodlands and next to a great park beside a river. Each part of the district will be situated near some

The participants of the annual meeting of Sverdlovsk Region Union of Metallurgical Enterprises looked at their industry’s success in 2006. The share of this branch in the region’s foreign trade turnover came to 25% last year, with the share of export reaching 27% and the share of import amounting to 17%, the spokesperson for the Governor of Sverdlovsk Region reports. The export of (primarily) ferrous metals went down against a year earlier, whereas the average contractual prices increased, which led to a general rise in export revenues. The growth of prices as well as of the actual volume of

The 22nd meeting of the Association of Regional Banks of Russia (Association ‘Russia’) is going to take place at President Hotel in Moscow on May 22, 2007. Among the points on the agenda are the association’s main business activities in 2005-2008, ways of enhancing the efficiency and competitiveness of Russian banks on the threshold of Russia’s entrance to the World Trade Organization, and creating the best possible conditions for protecting the creditors’ and consumers’ interests. Besides, the attendees are planning to discuss issues related to improvements in the current banking legislation

Ural Turbine Plant (part of Renova Group) intends to spend nearly 11 million RUR on improvements in the employees’ working conditions and enhancing safety this year. This is twice the amount spent a year earlier; the sum has been agreed upon through some recent changes in the company’s collective agreement, the plant’s press officer says. ‘If you want the plant to develop, you need to upgrade the equipment and improve people’s working environment. We have only been able to deal with the primary challenges so far, but as soon as we have done this, we’ll move on to introduce more innovations,’

‘Bad world news has been affecting Russian stock market quite negatively,’ Alexander Sterkhov of SKB-Bank says. ‘Throughout last week, our stock market kept waiting to hear from the U.S. monetary authorities, which resulted in relatively small trading activity and RTS index fluctuations between 1,910 and 1,940 points. The index amounted to 1,892.3 points at the close of business on May 10, 2007 (which was 1.75% lower than a week earlier); MICEX index went down 1.86% and reached 3,299.6 points,’ he reports. May 10, 2007 was the last day for applying for VTB’s IPO; the number of applications is

Ural Airlines came up with a special offer for Children’s Day (June 1), available for passengers flying to Moscow or Saint Petersburg from Yekaterinburg or Chelyabinsk on June1-5, 2007. Any adult passenger can take along a child aged 2 to 18 for free. If the passenger is accompanied by three or more children, each child’s ticket will only cost 1,000 RUR (plus the fuel fee if you fly from Yekaterinburg-based Koltsovo airport). The offer is part of the carrier’s Affordable Tickets program aimed at making air travel affordable to people with different incomes, the airline’s press officer says.