As General Economist of Promavtomatika Works plc Tatiana Zhukova reports, the plant experienced an increase of 12.4% in goods output and an increase of 13% in shipments in 2005. The company’s profits exceed last year’s figures by 80%, its monthly efficiency by 14.3%, the payfund and the average wages by 13.6% and 15.5%, respectively.’ ‘The company’s output has been growing steadily throughout the year,’ Ms Zhukova said.

‘A year ago, retail trade turnover in Yekaterinburg was 108.5 billion RUR, with a dramatic increase in 2005 leading to 152 billion,’ Mayor Arkadiy Chernetskiy said at the press conference.

According to Rais Kashapov, Sales Manager of Gornospasatelnoye oborudovanie Works (Mining Rescue Equipment Works) plc, the company’s output has gone up by 20% throughout 2005, and so did mining equipment output. Compared to last year’s output, 30% more of respiratory devices were produced in 2005. The plant also certificated one new product, namely, gas squeezing compressor. ‘Our output has experienced a steady growth throughout 2005,’ Mr Kashapov commented.

‘Yekaterinburg had a great influx of investments in 2005: we’ve gone from 20.9 billion RUR of local stock investments in 2004 to 27.9 billion in the end of 2005,’ the Mayor announced at the press conference.

A new entertainment area has recently been introduced on Park House Trade Center premises; this Kinoplex is property of Investkinoproekt Business Company. At the moment, recreation area and some of the cinema halls are already awaiting the visitors, though the latter remark that Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, December’s hit, is absent from the repertoire, and prices are known to be higher then elsewhere. In retrospect, at the opening ceremony in Park House Trade Center on August 21, 2005 Investkinoproekt Business Company representatives claimed Kinoplex would be fully functioning by

‘Construction output has been on the increase in Yekaterinburg lately,’ Mayor Arkadiy Chernetskiy said at the press conference. ‘600,000 square meters of dwellings were built in 2005, which gives us a 20% annual increase in dwelling construction.’ ‘We also erected a number of nonresidential buildings with a total area of 534,000 square meters, Limpopo water park, Park House Trade Center, Hermes Plaza, Park Inn Hotel, Vis-à-vis Hotel and a new terminal in Koltsovo airport being our most significant achievements,’ the Mayor said.

An extraordinary general meeting of Nizhnetagilskiy Metallurgicheskiy Kombinat (Metallurgical Integrated Works of Nizhniy Tagil) plc shareholders on December 16, 2005 was adjourned with a decision to reduce the number of Board members from 11 to 9 and fix these changes in the Board of Directors Provision. The new Board members are: Alexander Abramov, Tatiana Alova, Viktor Akimov, Alexei Kushnarev, Pavel Tatianin, Maxim Rusakov, Valeriy Khoroshkovskiy, Alexander Frolov, Georgiy Lordkipanidse. The shareholders also decided to announce the dividend of 2.14 RUR per floated registered equity share

‘We are hoping to place our stock onto Russian equity market in 2006,’ Mr Rodin said at yesterday’s press-conference. According to Mr Rodin, a united stock of Sverdlovsk and Perm regional branches of TGK-9 will be issued in April 2006. Komi regional branch is to undergo similar operations later on. ‘We are planning to enter the international equity market as well. Supposedly, this will happen in 2007,’ Mr Rodin announced. ‘Perm is the most complicated region for the company’s business at the moment, and it is there that our main investments are directed’ Mr Rodin indicated. ‘We have already

Uralvagonzavod (Ural Carriage Engineering Works) Federal State Unitary Enterprise based in Nizhniy Tagil is looking to employ Russia’s best engineering design solutions to enhance consumer-attractive features of the company’s produce. The plant has announced a contest for the best-looking machine design. According to their spokesperson, the idea behind the project is to make the plant’s road-building machines, street pneumo-cleaners, excavators, and RTM-160 tractors distinctly recognizable. One of the contest conditions is to ensure extensive use of the company’s premises, equipment and

‘A new player in the field is potentially an advantageous factor,’ Deputy Real Estate Manager of Mayak Corporation plc Andrey Afanassiev said to the agency’s representative. ‘The major benefit lies in Aston Group (the new competitor) which has a good chance of becoming number one stimulating the other builders to follow suit. It is highly unlikely, however, that we may find ourselves in the midst of a fierce competition since our company has a developed network of clients, most of whom have been working with us for a number of years and are quite happy with the way we work,’ Mr Afanassiev

According to the data provided to the agency by Economic Analysis and Development Department of Sverdlovsk Region Ministry for Industry, Power Engineering and Science, the industrial development of the region in the months of January to November 2005 has experienced a growth in most economic spheres. The commercial productin index has made up 104.3% of last year’s figures for the corresponding period and 104.0% of national index. The total value of home produced shipments and services has reached a point of 488,6 billion RUR over the eleven months of 2005, which exceeds last year’s figures

OMZ-Kran (part of United Machine-Building Works plc) shipped a special 110-ton capacity overhead clip crane for slab transportation to Novolipetskiy metallurgical integrated works (NLMK) plc, with the 65.7 million RUR contract having been signed back in September 2004. The crane had been designed by VNIIPTMASH Research-and-Production Association (OMZ-KRAN’s subsidiary), the frameworks by Chekhov Gidrostal plant; the crane setup will be performed by OMZ-KRAN technicians. The crane is going to be used at NLMK’s slab depository under severe dustiness, high temperature and complicated working

The production of cold and hot rolled stock in Sverdlovsk Region has exceeded last year’s figures by 10.2% over the months of January to November 2005. Production of automobiles, trailers and semitrailers has exceeded last year’s figures by 95.1% over the same time period. Compared to 2004, 31% more electric machines and equipment have been produced so far, with corresponding figures for veneer, plywood and slabs being 12.4% and leather products and footwear exceeding last year’s figures by 40.9%. 16.3% more of other non-metallic goods and 15.5% more of fuel-energy supplies have been produced

‘Top Mart chain stores could definitely become our competitors,’ Deputy General Director of Ives Rocher chain stores Irina Klepikova says. ‘Fierce competition is an integral feature of the local market, so the arrival of a new chain dealing in analogous products is going to make it even worse. Whether Top Mart is going to hit Ives Rocher in particular depends on the brands and the target audience they choose. If their assortment happens to be different from ours, competition won’t get too bad,’ Ms Klepikova added. She also finds the idea of cooperation not improbable

Production of large-caliber electric machines in Sverdlovsk Region has grown by 8.5% over the months of January to November 2005 in comparison with last year’s corresponding months. More metallurgical produce is now being introduced locally, Sverdlovsk Region Ministry for Industry, Power Engineering and Science reports. For instance, cast iron, steel, rolled stock and steel pipe production has gone up by 4.4%, 5%, 12.8% and 7.2%, respectively. 8.5% more of large-caliber electric machines, 67.4% more of power transformers, 26.7% more of blast furnace and steel-smelting equipment, 49.7% more of

‘Tinkoff buy-out by Kommercheskaya Nedvizhimost Limited Unit Fund managed by Troika-Dialog Investment Company is to be regarded as real estate investment,’ Director of Troika-Dialog Investment Company’s local subsidiary Irakliy Kiriya told the agency’s representative. Our fund does not deal in trade, so the acquired restaurant is to be offered for long-lease,’ Mr Kiriya went on. ‘Tinkoff buy-out is part of a complex strategy: the first restaurant was bought in Moscow in September, and the future steps are currently under consideration,’ Mr Kiriya said.

The court of Oktyabrskiy district passed its sentence on Alexander Belikh, former Chair of Bank 24.ru plc in Yekaterinburg today. Mr Belikh is found guilty of use of restraint in order to make a deal or prevent its closure, as Article 179 of Russian Federation Criminal Code has it; he got a suspended sentence of one-year imprisonment and was fined 25,000 RUR. Only the allegations and the operative part of the sentence were made public during the sitting, and Mr Belikh is to be given the rest of the sentence document on December 30.

‘We have prospective broadcasters who ask for a new channel in Yekaterinburg calling Sverdlovsk Region broadcasting service all the time,’ Deputy Managing Director of RTRS Federal State Unitary Enterprise (local subsidiary of a federal broadcasting company) Tamara Ermakova said at the press conference. ‘Yet we have already used up the whole potential of the city’s frequency spectrum, and Moscow refuses to even consider applications made from Yekaterinburg as the introduction of a new channel does not appear feasible,’ Ms Ermakova went on. ‘Should we go digital, the channel capacity will boost

Rosselkhoznadzor, federal agricultural committee, is going to ban Norwegian cooled fish import starting January 1, 2006, which is caused by high concentration of heavy metals found in these fish stocks. Yet a number of local fish traders are reported to rate the quality of Norwegian fish supplies as very good. ‘Norwegian cooled fish is virtually the only option there is, so an import ban on this will lead to an increase in frozen fish imports, which is expected to prevent a dramatic soaring of the prices,’ a spokesperson for Aquatoria chain stores said to the agency’s representative.

‘Federal Estate Management Committee and RTRS Federal State Unitary Enterprise are going to announce an investment contest for those willing to complete the construction of the TV tower in Yekaterinburg at the beginning of 2006. I am positive that there are going to be plenty of prospective investors with serious intentions,’ Managing Director of RTRS Federal State Unitary Enterprise Konstantin Sokolov announced at the press conference. ‘Our next step is scheming out a new design since the old one is hopelessly obsolete. This will be followed by the final decision on the general contractor.’