Ural Turbine Works Ltd. (part of Renova Group) received a long-term loan from TransCreditBank to finance their contract with Muller Machines SA of Switzerland. The loan comes to 2,125m Swiss francs given for a timespan of 5.5 years. The Works is going to buy some special equipment for production of steam and gas turbine blades. The contract has been signed within the framework of Financing Program for export of Swiss goods and services. The guarantors of the contract are Swiss Risk Export Guarantee (ERG) and Credit Suisse of Zurich

Metallurgical Works of Chelyabinsk JSC is now renovating its 300-2 hot-rolling mill with the capacity of 300,000 tons a year and meant for medium section production, the company’s spokesperson said to UrBC representative. The project is part of Mechel JSC (the works owner) strategic investment program, aimed at increasing the works’ production capacity for plain rebar and die-rolled section and widen the assortment of goods produced in compliance with the international standards such as DIN-EN, ASTM, BS. After the reconstruction, the output is predicted to rise to 400,000 tons annually. At

Dengi magazine has recently published the Russian top 100 (in terms of job prospects) colleges. Four Yekaterinburg colleges were on this list, with Ural State Technical University getting the 5th place, Ural State Academy of Mines getting the 25th place, Ural State University getting the 49th place, and Ural State University of Economics being on the 60th place. The rating was based on the survey carried out among 300 Russia’s largest companies, of whom 120 responded. The survey summed up the data available on 6,732 college graduates employed by these companies last year.

Starting mid-March, VSMPO-AVISMA Corporation has been reporting to Moscow tax inspectorate for largest metallurgical companies, said their PR and Legal Issues Director Artem Kislichenko. Mr Kislichenko says this change is not going to affect the tax-paying routine; it’s just that the payments will now go directly to the federal budget and then be distributed among regional and local budgets.

Federal Antimonopoly Service in Chelyabinsk Region rejected the application of Astra-Metal of Magnitogorsk to buy 98.45% of Yuzhniy Ural Medical Insurance Company today. The Service had conducted research on the state of competition in the field of obligatory medical insurance in Chelyabinsk Region and found out that Astra-Metal already possessed the 76.9% share of the regional market. The transaction would result in the merger of the two companies and together, they would have 81.8% percent of the market, which would highly concentrate it, made the two companies dominant and eliminate any

Agropromcredit Ltd. will set up a subsidiary in Yekaterinburg in April 2006. This subsidiary will provide the full range of banking services such as opening accounts, cash and credit cards, consumer lending, including express-lending and overdraft, and billing. Emphasis will be laid on automobile loans and express lending, the company’s spokesperson said to UrBC representative. Agropromcredit Ltd. takes part in the Federal Housing Program and is one of the five Russian banks that accepts housing certificates. The opening of Yekaterinburg subsidiary is performed within the regional expansion

Vanadium ore mining and processing enterprise of Kachkanar (part of Evraz Group) started assembling the new electrostatic cleaner as part of gas cleaning of agglomeration shop in March 2006. As the company’s spokesperson said to UrBC representative, the gas cleaning facilities have been being replaced since 2004. All six electrostatic cleaners will have been replaced by 2007, which will reduce dust exhaust by 930 tons a year. At the moment, three of the new cleaners have already been assembled, two more will have been installed by the end of 2006.

Metallurgical Works of Zlatoust JSC transferred 606,179,000 RUR to various budgets and off-budget funds in 2005, of which retirement payments comprised 104 million, with social welfare tax payments coming to 195 million (220 million if including the payments in January 2006). 35,518,000 RUR were transferred in the first two months of 2006, with the average of 16 million a month. The total of all tax payments came to 606,179,000 RUR in 2005.

‘Sverdlovsk Electricity Networks are thinking of ceasing hot water supplies to 114 blocks of flats on March 28, 2006,’ says the company’s spokesperson. The reason for this is debts of the managing companies whose total debt to the networks came to 240 million RUR. The warnings have already been sent to all the non-payers, including Verkh-Isetskiy, SUERZH, Leninskiy, Radomir and Ural-ST – managing companies from various areas of the city.

Troitsk State District Power Plant is still working on technical reequipment; thus, PROTAR microprocessor sliders are now being reinstalled to provide for the use of САР - АRCON software aimed at improving the quality of dynamic reloczation. The program allows to more precisely determine the tooling coefficients of four PROTAR-111 units assembled at the steam bypass regulator of block № 7. The new tooling is going to more efficiently and automatically keep the temperature coming out of the pot stable and provide for a quicker system response in different settings.

Metallurgical Works of Chelyabinsk and Ural Smithy JSC (part of MEchel JSC) took part in the International exhibition PromStroyIndustriya – Astana 2006. The total number of the participants amounted to 250 companies from 12 countries of the world. The spokesperson for Metallurgical Works of Chelyabinsk reports that Mechel stand exhibited samples of most items the works produces, from fittings to steel samples to packs and rolls of stainless steel, as well as samples of stamped blanks for oil and gas industry and machine building produced by Ural Smithy JSC. The two companies view their

Ural India Limited, joint venture by Ural car factory and Motidjag Agency Ltd. of India, started operating in Haldia today, says the spokesperson for Ural Car Factory. The contract provides for the delivery of 150 cars and car parts worth $4 million. The first seaway shipment comprises 30 car sets of Ural 555717-40 back dumping dump-trucks with 6x6 axle arrangement. Ural Car Factory specialists are providing technical and methodological assistance to their Indian colleagues.

Video International Ural CJSC launched its new product, Business Center, on March 27, 2006. This is a service allowing the advertisers to quickly place a text ad, a static or dynamic image on various TV channels. The information will be aired the next day. ‘We’ve lowered the prices to let the firms on a tight advertising budget or large enterprises use the advantage of the federal channels to spread the news of, say, job vacancies or sales. Besides, the ad will be accompanied by some viewer-handy information such as loan and deposit options, rate of exchange or playbills. We want our clients

Nizhnetagilsky Metallurgichesky Kombinat JSC (NTMK, Metallurgical Industrial Complex of Nizhny Tagil), member of Evraz Group, began the thorough overhaul at one of the company’s major rolling shops. All the soaking pits of the NTMK blooming mill department will be repaired within a year. According to the NTMK PR-department, the company has 6 functioning rolling shops. The bloomer was set into operation in 1947, among the first NTMK rolling shops. Soaking pits form a part of primary equipment of the blooming mill department. They are meant for preparing for the rolling process, through an

‘Due to the increase of kerosene cost at the Koltsovo airport and destination airports, Ural Airlines increases fuel tax starting March 1, 2006. The increase of fuel tax by $5 is scheduled for all of the company’s regular international flights to come into effect on April 1, 2006,’ the Deputy Commercial Sales Manager of Ural Airlines Alexey Sadovsky said to UrBC representative. For domestic flights, the fuel tax rates are to remain the same.

The Board of Directors of Pervouralsky Novotrubny Zavod JSC came up with the decision to hold the annual stockholders’ meeting on April, 21, 2006. The list of people entitled to present in the meeting was compiled according to the roll of those eligible to take part as of March 6, 2006. The agenda contains the confirmation of the company’s annual report, and the company’s annual accounts including the P&L account, as well as the distribution of annual profits and losses among members of the JSC. The stockholders will also elect the members of the company’s Board of Directors and of the

The first edition of Who Is Who in Russian PR Business came out via the editors of Sovetnik magazine, Sovetnik.ru web portal, and Russian Managers Association. The printed version is based on the digital source available at Sovetnik.ru for the last two years; it provides information on both market operators and employees of PR-Departments of various private businesses, public organizations and state bodies. According to the editors, the book is aimed at highlighting the personal aspects of Russian PR business and to build up the knowledge different specialists have of each other. One copy of

Ufaleynickel JSC has been trying to prevent the potential flood damage to its mines in the coming spring. As the company’s spokesperson said to UrBC representative, an extra ditch and dibholes have been dug to divert the flood water and a special unwatering borehole put into operation to lessen the subsoil waters influx. The road-ditches are being cleaned and macadam stocked for road repairs. № 15 unwatering borehole is being reinstalled to operate on the underlying level. Everything is being performed timely, and the human and technical resources are fully prepared to meet the elements.

The Board of Directors of Svechel JSC has scheduled the annual shareholder meeting for April 25, 2006. The points on the agenda include approving of the company’s financial activity in 2005, distribution of profits and some amendments to the company’s Charter. The shareholders will also have to elect the company’s General Director, the Board of Directors, the members of the inspection committee, and the company’s auditor.

‘The state defense industry orders make up about 3% of all the orders we receive; besides, we’ve been cooperating with the companies performing the state orders on commercial basis,’ GD of Ural Mechano-Optical Works Production Association Sergei Maxin announced at today’s press conference. Mr Maxin said the special equipment and civil goods made up 60% and 40% of the works’ produce, respectively.