The annual general shareholder meeting of Ural-Volga Interregional Energy Network Company JSC is scheduled for June 20, 2006, reports the company’s spokesperson. The meetings in regional network members TyumenEnergo, ChuvashEnergo and OhrenburgEnergo will also take place on that day. The other companies supervised by Ural-Volga Interregional Energy Network Company JSC have planned the annual meeting as follows: SverdlovEnergo JSC it to hold a meeting on May 30, UdmurtEnergo JSC – on June 1, KirovEnergo JSC – on June 5, ChelyabEnergo JSC – on June 2, PermEnergo JSC and MariEnergo JSC – on June

Magnesite Industrial Complex JSC (part of) has recently introduced the new investment and capital development managing software based on mySAP Business Suite. As Magnesite Group spokesperson said to UrBC representative, the project was carried out by the Complex professionals alongside with the highly reliable IKT Company with 15 years’ experience in IT consulting. IKT proffered an original way to manage the corporate investments and capital development by enriching the company’s SAP R/3-based information system with new automated functions. According to the Deputy GD Evgeniy Nenashev, this

SukholozhskCement JSC, cement maker of Sukhoy Log, is going to start design work and construction of the new cement production line with the annual output of 1 million tons in 2006. ‘The company’s production capacity comes to 2.5 million tons at the moment, and the construction of the new line would be quite worth it as the cement shortage is already keenly felt,’ Building Industry Director of Sverdlovsk Region Ministry for Building and Housing and Communal Services Vasiliy Karneev said to UrBC representative. The German concern Dyckerhoff co-owner of SukholozhskCement JSC, is planning to

‘The Accounts Chamber has not found any capital tax violations performed by metallurgical companies of EvrazHolding Ltd.,’ the Accounts Chamber Auditor Vladimir Panskov reports. As for the rumors concerning the Chamber’s claims to EvrazHolding Ltd. members in terms of tax payments, Mr Panskov said that the companies’ accounting systems complied with the Russian legislation. Yet the recent inspection has proved that the existing tax legislation has to be improved. ‘The current wording of the clauses does not always clearly define certain terms and procedures,’ Mr Panskov said. It is

21 insurance companies lost their licenses in Ural Federal District in 2005, the spokesperson for the Regional Insurance Inspection said to UrBC representative. 8 companies lost their licenses in the first six months of 2005, namely, Protex, Santa, and Grand Policy of Sverdlovsk Region, ZlatoMax, Chelyabinsk Insurance JSC and Trekhgorniy Med of Chelyabinsk Region, Panacea and West Siberian Transport Insurance Company of Tyumen Region. 6 companies lost their licenses throughout July to September 2005, namely, Eurasian Insurance Company of Sverdlovsk Region, ZHASO-Medicine, Mega, and

The net wealth of ChelyabInvestBank JSC has gone down by 8.6% since the beginning of 2006; by February 1, 2006, it was estimated to be worth 8,927,082,000 RUR, according to the data presented at Severnaya Kazna JSC corporate website. The bank’s loan portfolio has also gone down by 1.7% and reached the point of 5,144,772,000 RUR; the investments coming from natural persons went up by .2% and came to 3,526,217,000 RUR. The bank’s internal funds comprised 1,131,236,000 RUR by February 1, 2006.

Sverdlovsk Railways (Sverdlovsk regional branch of Russian Railways JSC) brought legal action against Uralvagonzavod Federal State Unitary Enterprise to Sverdlovsk Region Court of Arbitration. The object of the action is the recovery of 825,600 RUR from Uralvagonzavod for car detention. On its part, the defendant considers the penalty sum to be excessive and claims it to be miscalculated. So far, the Court postponed hearing of the case until February 28.

‘Flight performed by Carat Airline was not delayed due to money issues,’ says Chelyabinsk Airport spokesperson Denis Luzin. ‘Chelyabinsk-Eravan flight was delayed due to a technical failure last Wednesday. The flight was not canceled; it was only put off from 10 AM to 4 PM. Carat’s second aircraft (passenger-free) appears to have faulty undercarriage, so the technicians prohibit its use. The third aircraft hasn’t even been examined yet. This is an incident not exclusive to Carat Airlines, and it could happen to any carrier. The checkup and repair is going to take some time, and the company

On February 17, 2006, the Bank of Russia Board of Directors made a decision to refund the depositors of the Granit joint-stock commercial bank CJSC that was earlier declared bankrupt. Bank of Russia is going to pay 122.4 million RUR in total to 2,405 depositors. The payments are to be arranged through the mediation of Impexbank that established the smallest broker’s fee and provided the biggest branch network for the payments arrangement, the Bank of Russia External and Public Relations Department reports.

The mine pulling units of Evrazruda JSC (ore maker) Kazskiy subsidiary are to go through an overhaul from February 19 to February 20, 2006. The guiding parts of the units will be relocated from 90-meter-below to 430-meter-above height. According to the company’s spokesperson, such overhauls are carried out every two years and serve to maintain the mining equipment. The other repair tasks include dismantling of the old guides and installation of the new ones. While the Glavniy shaft is going to be out of use, the whole production will be performed by Kletyevoy shaft, but the subsidiary is

‘More mobile phones will be sold,’ Director of Simphonia mobile chain stores Nikolai Trusov said to UrBC representative. ‘Mobile phones tend to be replaced frequently, especially in terms of switching to a more updated version. New segments of buyers emerge all the time, which is why I disagree with some experts claiming that the regional markets are saturated and no more increases in sales are to be expected. I believe the sales records will only be going up.’ ‘As for the retail prices, even if there is going to be an increase in 2006, it’s not going to be a huge one. Since the new models

Deputy Head of Sverdlovsk Region Government and Minister of Industry, Power Engineering and Science Vladimir Molchanov met Deputy GD of Russian Post Gennadiy Kotov and Director of Sverdlovsk Region subsidiary Dmitriy Varchak on February 17, 2006. The meeting was aimed at summing up the subsidiary’s achievements in 2005. According to Mr Varchak, the year proved to be quite a successful one. The year 2006 is going to be devoted to further improvement of the profitability and economic success of the regional post office, some new services will be offered, too. For instance, some more public

As the spokesperson for Sverdlovsk Region Tax and Duty Administration said to UrBC representative, Tagilvodka JSC is the only winery that has received the new format excise duty stamps so far. ‘The Administration has stamps for all types of drinks, including wine and vodka, yet only Tagilvodka obtained over 1 million stamps.’

‘Software sales cannot become an independent business right now’, GD of Uraltone chain stores Evgeniy Furashov said to UrBC interviewer. ‘We offer different kinds of e-translators and posting services, that is, the licensed versions that our customers can afford. These software items do not cost any more than a hundred dollars. We have tried selling 30 copies of Windows operational system for a year but and have not been able to do it. The retail price of the package is 7,500 RUR, which is not very cheap, given especially that a pirate copy can be bought at a mere 100 RUR. Even the big

Sverdlovenergosbyt JSC is going to become the Region’s guaranteeing electricity supplier, the company’s spokesperson said to UrBC representative. To acquire this status, the company must be economically stable and operate on the whole territory of the region. According to the company’s spokesperson, Sverdlovenergosbyt JSC cooperates witl all municipal units of Sverdlovsk Region and has been serving over 700,000 clients, including 20,000 legal entities, in February 2006.

All the orders for metal goods, building materials and machine-building produce coming from Chelyabinsk Region were fulfilled in 2005, and businesses provided for the regular regional metal-roll produce supplies (the total of 78,100 tons plus 206,400 tons of cement). 28 businesses took part in the order completion altogether. This year, the companies keep working on the regional orders; thus, the metal-roll supplies agreement is to be signed by the regional metallurgical enterprises and Governor of Chelyabinsk Region. According to the Governor’s decree on the cement supplies, Uralcement JSC

The first segment of Martinite aggregation production line designed for balancing and commissioning was launched after the tubular carrier chains and aspiration systems had been installed at Magnesite Industrial Complex. As Magnesite Group representative explains, the aggregation will be produced on a large scale starting April. The special production line will allow to increase the aggregation output from 3,600 to 12,000 tons annually, with 4.500 tons produced in 2006. The line construction is part of the Investment Program for 2005 and cost 80 million RUR. Additional equipment was installed

N.A. Semikhatov Scientific Production Association of Yekaterinburg will soon be exporting launchers to France, reports Rocket and Space Deputy GD Lev Belskiy. The equipment is to be used at the French Guiana space-vehicle launching site of European Space Agency, Mr Belskiy says. The Association (alongside with V.P. Makeev design office of Miass, Chelyabinsk Region) is also going to sign a contract with Brazil in February 2006. The agreement concerns modernization of Brazilian carrier rocket under the auspices of RosAviaCosmos, Mr Belskiy explained.

Billing Center Ltd. is to be wound up, and the site is to be used for KESK Multienergetika Ltd. and Kompleksniy Raschetniy (Complex Calculation) Center Ltd. subsidiaries, the spokesperson for KES Holding reports. All personnel members will be reemployed by the new enterprises, the first human resource shifts and changes are not to take place until after a few months. Billing Center Ltd. used to be part of KES Holding and dealt in production distribution as the middleman for energy suppliers and Sverdlovskenergosbyt, TGK-9, natural gas businesses and management companies.

Uralskaya Kusnitsa JSC, a smithy in Chelyabinsk Region, has been audited by AAR for meeting ААR М -1003 quality specification requirements, which is an indispensable proviso for companies willing to supply forged pieces of engine crew wrist pins onto the North American market. As the company’s spokesperson said to UrBC representative, on his first visit to the smithy (and Russia, coincidentally), AAR leading auditor Thomas Dedeck checked out the Technical Management, Technical Supervision Department, the corporate laboratory, the forge-and-press workshop and the disc cutting shop. He examined