Turkish airlines will perform Yekaterinburg-Istanbul flights starting March 26, 2006. According to the spokesperson for Koltsovo airport of Yekaterinburg, Turk Hava Yollaru will perform two flights a week (Mondays and Thursdays) using A-320 aircrafts; the agreement is now being finalized. ‘The other companies who said they wanted to fly to Yekaterinburg haven’t yet applied for the slots; thus, we’re still waiting to hear from Finnish Airlines and Malev; we’ve also been negotiating with the Chinese Public Airlines that is considering flights to Yekaterinburg,’ the company’s spokesperson Yulia

Metallurgical Works of Zlatoust is going to introduce a competitive purchase system that will cover everything the plant buys, from raw materials to unique equipment and sophisticated technologies to respective services. The first competitive purchase auction is open to 15 suppliers dealing in working clothes. The samples have been tested by the plant committee consisting of safety, laboratory and other specialists. After looking at the prices, paying terms and delivery offers, the committee will make the final decision in the trading firm RusUglemer of Moscow. The order will comprise 56

Konstantin Panfilov, former First Deputy GD of Uglemetbank JSC, was appointed the company’s new GD. The decision was made by the company’s Board of Directors on March 1, 2006. Mr Panfilov succeeded Sergey Babenkov appointed in March 2001. The company’s Board of Directors also commissioned the former director of Uglemetbank Moscow branch to take up the vacant post of the company’s First Deputy GD.

Yuzhnouralsky armaturno-izolyatorny zavod JSC (Reinforcement and insulator works of Yuzhnouralsk) has held a dealer meeting. Among the organizations that took part in the meeting were Horda Ltd. (Moscow), TiT CJSC (St. Petersburg), Aizovets CJSC, Yuzhnouralskaya izolyatornaya kompaniya CJSC (Yuzhnouralsk), Investor-M Ltd. (Kazakhstan), Regionalnaya kompaniya Ltd., Locus-SIP (Yekaterinburg), Srednevolzhskaya elektrotekhnicheskaya kompaniya Ltd. (Samara), Vostokenergokomplekt CJSC (Irkutsk). The meeting was dedicated to the company’s achievements in 2005 and to objectives of the company and its

Within January and February 2006, the aircrafts of Utair JSC conveyed 260,485 passengers. The company’s passenger turnover for the same period came to 375,468,000 passenger-kilometers. The company’s aircrafts have flown 13,216 flight hours. Utair helicopters have flown 6,267 flight hours, the company’s spokesperson said.

The general shareholder meeting of State District Power Plant of Serov resulted in the upcoming merger with OGK-2 JSC. The merger is to be carried out under the conditions of the merger agreements dealing with State District Power Plants of Pskov, Stavropol, Surgut, Serov, and Troitsk, the company’s spokesperson reports. The meeting was also adjourned with the decision to increase the authorized capital to 53.28 million RUR via raising the face value of the company’s shares (it’ll comprise .65 RUR) using the extra profits.

Trubnaya Metallurgicheskaya Kompaniya JSC, Russian tube maker, shipped 217,000 tonnes of tubes in February 2006 (.8% more than a year earlier). The company also cast 155,000 tonnes of steel, including 35,000 tonnes of billets, reports the company’s spokesperson.

Simphonia, the mobile phone dealer, has bought a number of Tsifrograd chain stores in Yekaterinburg, Novouralsk, and Kamensk-Uralskiy lately, the company’s spokesperson said to UrBC representative. According to the company’s Commercial Director Andrey Starodubtsev, the amount of money involved in the transaction will not be revealed for the time being. ‘This acquisition has to do with the redistribution of the market shares among the core players. We are going to make the best of the stores we’ve bought,’ Mr Starodubtsev said.

ChelyabEnergoSbyt JSC put a Xerox billing system into operation. This was done to ensure the multi-faceted data processing of the company’s extended client database. The company has gradually been introducing the software programs that allow full automation of sales and purchases of electricity. First, the meterage is filed into the database; then, the billing system provides for the calculation, charging, drawing of bills and invoices, the delivery of the papers and receipts to the consumers, the payment record and customer communication. This will allow the company to become independent of

The Tyumen subsidiary of EnergoGinny, the independent energy distributor, has signed a service agreement with Passenger Vehicles CJSC, the company’s spokesperson reports. The two enterprises are to cooperate within the framework of Energy Supermarket Program and to deal mainly in heating, electricity and water supply contracts analysis. Even though it enjoys the status of the publicly significant enterprise, the passenger vehicle company does not possess any guarantee of rights and privileges in terms of heating and electricity supplies. The contract analysis performed by EnergoGinny has

Magnesite Group is going to invest 125 million RUR to renovate the rotary furnace at one of its works (Magnesite Industrial Complex JSC) within the framework of Investments Project for 2006. The Project is targeted at the increase in the production of ferrous magnesia flux and caustic powder needed for vitrified ware clinker making. At the moment, the foundation is being laid for the stock delivery unit by VOSTIO of Yekaterinburg, the general contractor. The furnace is to be put into operation in September 2006, the spokesperson for Magnesite Group said to UrBC representative.

TyumenEnergo JSC, the energy supplier, has been busy preparing for the spring flood that is predicted to begin in the end of March through giving the general examination to all its subsidiaries, lines and buildings, the company’s spokesperson said. TyumenEnergo JSC has already spent 30 million RUR to ensure there are enough emergency teams, materials and equipment needed for speed restoration projects; a special flood committee comprising the company’s technicians has been set up. The lines of Yuzhniy, Tyumen and Ishim are particularly accident-prone due to massive leakage of thawing snow

Kalina JSC, one of Russia’s most successful health and beauty product maker, has recently been reported to experience a 6.8% decrease in profits in 2005 against the year before and comprised 512.3 million RUR. According to the company’s report, the concern still managed to make 22% more in sales (6.3 billion against 5.2 billion RUR in 2004). Despite the decrease in net profits, Standard & Poor’s announced the increase in the national scale long-term credit rating for Kalina Concern JSC (from ruBBB+ to ruА-) owing to the company’s stable business dynamics and the fairly low financial

Metallurgical works of Asha held the traditional distributor meeting on Marc h13, 2006. Among the participants were executives of Moscow, Saint Petersburg, Pyatigorsk, Samara, Novosibirsk, Chelyabinsk and Asha dealing in consumer goods and gardening tools. The meeting resulted in summing up the achievements for 2005 and discussing cooperation projects. The other points on the agenda included the launch of new types of consumer goods by the works of Asha, namely, steel doors; the first set of doors is to be shipped in March. The new equipment could also be used for making gun- and other safes,

Mundybash subsidiary of Evraz ore maker is currently giving overhaul to its № 1 ball crusher, replacing the setting, the feeder, the driving gear, the classifier, and the load-unload gutters. The subsidiary has a total of five crushers, each one repaired once every 15 months to prolong its operation period and prevent breakdowns. The ball crushers grind the primary concentrates in order to extract as much iron from them as possible and minimize losses.

The court of Asha granted the petition of the municipal public prosecution authorities and chose preventive punishment for acting GD of metal products plant of Minyarsk Sergey Narudinov, the spokesperson for municipal public prosecution authorities said to UrBC representative. The criminal lawsuit concerning the arrears of wages for over two months was brought to action in December 2005 as the arrears had come to over 3 million RUR, there were delays in the payments of taxes and duties, and, to make matters worse, the management tried to hide the fact of receiving money from profits and

CreditUralBank JSC has paid equity and preference share dividends for 2005; the total amount of payments came to 208,840,000 RUR. The corresponding decision was made at the annual shareholder meeting on March 2, 2006. The total amount of dividends paid comprised 186,070,000 RUR for equities and 22,770,000 RUR for preference shares. The dividend per share came to .23 RUR.

‘We are hoping to make 30 billion RUR in sales in 2006 due to more road-building equipment, tractors and special machines being sold this year,’ GD of Uralvagonzavod Federal State Unitary Enterprise Nikolay Malykh announced at the press conference. Mr Malykh believes this increase will allow the plant to keep up with its converting and reconstruction projects and launch new types of competitive products as well as invest in social welfare (for example, by finishing the construction of Malachite health resort on the coast of the Black Sea and scheming houses for the company employees). ‘More

AgroPromTechnika JSC of Chelyabinsk is to hold general meeting on April 12, 2006. The points on the agenda include summing up the company’s financial success in 2005, the issue of profits and loss distribution, amendments to the company’s Charter. The shareholders will also have to elect the Board of Directors, the inspection committee and the auditor for 2006.

Ural Chemical Company JSC allotted 500,000 bonds with a par value of 1,000 RUR each on the stock market; the total value of bonds comprised 500 million RUR. Bonds are offered publicly; the serial number is 4-02-31401-D of December 8, 2006.