UrBC, Yekaterinburg, June 15, 2017. Some 8,000 children of people working at EVRAZ Holding’s West-Siberian Integrated Metallurgical Works, Raspadskaya Coal Company, and Evrazruda will be able to go to sports camps and health resorts this summer, with their stay funded by the company. This year, the holding has allocated over 190m RUR for the purpose, the company press service reports. ‘Summer camp and resort stays are part of a large-scale social benefits scheme EVRAZ has been implementing in territories where its assets are based. Company workers and their children can go to camps and health

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, June 15, 2017. Chelyabinsk Tube Rolling Plant (ChTPZ) went through with its third 001P 04 bond issue (10bn RUR altogether), the company press service reports. The plant is one of Russia’s leading pipe manufacturers and a supplier of integrated solutions for the oil and gas companies. ChTPZ’s new bond issue attracted all kinds of investors: banks, private individuals, and management and investment companies. Because of this impressive demand, the coupon interest rate was set at 8.95% a year (9.15% by the redemption date, 131 points on the federal loan bond yield curve).

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, June 15, 2017. Ural Airlines keep expanding their operational network and now offer ever more flights operated from Zhukovsky International Airport in Moscow Region. The airline’s first flight departing from Simferopol arrived at Zhukovsky Airport at 7:15 PM on June 13, 2017, the air carrier’s press service reports. ‘Scheduled flights from Zhukovsky Airport to the Crimea’s capital will now be available twice a week: at 7:00 AM on Mondays and at 6:55 PM on Wednesdays; the return flights from Simferopol will be operated at 5:05 PM on Tuesdays and at 6:10 PM on Saturdays. It

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, June 15, 2017. Rosset’s Federal Grid Company United Energy Systems is celebrating its 15th anniversary in the Urals with company spring cleaning days, planting trees, and exhibitions of special-purpose vehicles at city streets, the company press service reports. ‘Over two hundred workers took part in spring cleaning days in Chelyabinsk, Perm, and Orenburg. They cleaned up the areas next to their buildings, removing last year’s rubbish and old leaves, painting the border stones, and planting some flowers,’ the press service says. A clean-up day is also scheduled at the

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, June 14, 2017. Governor of Sverdlovsk Region Evgeny Kuivashev will take part in presenting Yekaterinburg’s application to host EXPO 2025 on June 14. The presentation will take place within the framework of the Bureau International des Expositions’ General Assembly in Paris, Governor of Sverdlovsk Region’s Information Policy Department reports. The application was signed by Russian Prime Minister Dmitri Medvedev and submitted to the BIE at the end of May. Yekaterinburg is going to compete in this with Paris, Osaka, and Baku. The decision will be made at the General

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, June 14, 2017. EVRAZ Holding’s Kachkanar Ore Mining & Processing Enterprise (KGOK) is introducing an automated control system for its sintered ore production equipment, the holding’s press service reports. The new dispatcher control unit will cut back on downtimes, increase the plant’s productivity, and improve product quality. Switching to an automated control system has been divided into three different stages, with the first one already complete. The company invested some 10m RUR into the project. ‘The plant now has up-to-date software and controllers that allow an

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, June 14, 2017. Pipe Metallurgical Company (TMK) reports a Board of Directors meeting took place on June 8, 2017. Dmitri Pumpyanski was re-elected as the Board’s Chair, Alexander Shiryaev was reassigned as the company’s Director-General, the company press service reports.

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, June 14, 2017. The telecommunications provider MegaFon now offers 4G network options in nineteen Sverdlovsk Region-based towns, the company press service reports. The 4G network is now available in 90% of territories of Alapayevsk, Artemovskiy, Ivdel, Kamyshlov, Karpinsk, Kachkanar, Krasnoturyinsk, Kransnouralsk, Krasnoufimsk, Kushva, Nevyansk, Nizhnyaya Salda, Nizhnyaya Tura, Novaya Lyalya, Severouralsk, Tarda, Turinsk, Verkhniy Tagil and Volchansk. There are currently over sixty base LTE stations in the area altogether. The network makes it possible to use the Internet

UrBC, Moscow, June 14, 2017. Customers based in Ural Federal District spent 433 RUR per supermarket trip on average in May 2017, which was 3.1% less than one month earlier, Romir Holding reports. According to Romir's findings, the average supermarket receipt amount kept declining by 2 to 3 RUR every month throughout the country since the start of the year. The trend grew even more pronounced in May, with the average spending figure down by as much as 12 RUR against April (512 RUR, down 2.3% on April 2017 and up 5% on May 2016, when the amount stood at 497 RUR). The average supermarket

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, June 13, 2017. Sverdlovsk Region Government will allocate 17bn RUR to the constituency’s road-building fund this year, Governor of Sverdlovsk Region’s Information Policy Department reports. For one, extra finances will be directed to construction, reconstruction, and repair of local roads in Nizhniy Tagil (360m RUR), Pervouralsk (over 57m RUR), Krasnoufimsk (38m RUR), Asbest (over 35m RUR), Artemovsky (close to 31m RUR), Polevskoy (20m RUR), Novaya Lyalya (15m RUR), and Tugulym (over 13m RUR). Another 490m RUR will be given to Nizhniy Tagil to put up a new road network in

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, June 13, 2017. The Ural Bank for Reconstruction & Development (UBRD) purchased 2,213,4017 BO 05 bonds at 100% of their face value on a buy-back offer on June 8, the bank’s press service reports. The bondholders also received their accumulated coupon yield; the bank now holds 99% of the entire issue. The buy-back offer was initiated in order to cut down on the cost of administering the bank’s liabilities. The BO 05 Series is currently the bank’s only bond issue still in circulation, and no new issues are expected to come out any time soon. ‘Given the Central Bank’s

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, June 13, 2017. Sinara Group’s and Siemens’s joint venture Ural Locomotives underwent an audit meant to check the plant’s business management system’s compliance with the IRIS 2.1 (International Railway Industry Standard), Sinara Group’s PR Center reports. ‘The plant has been introducing some elements of the IRIS standard since 2011 and was first certified for compliance in 2013. We’ve had audits on a yearly basis since then. According to Quality Austria, an independent expert body, the plant proved very efficient this year, with an improved level of business management

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, June 13, 2017. According to telecom analysts, Urals-based Russians tend to watch movies online now that they are in the countryside in the summertime. MegaFon Ural’s Internet traffic registered outside of big cities rose by 25% last month, the company’s press service reports. ‘According to Deloitte findings, Russians’ TV viewing is now down eight minutes on average, while smartphone-based Internet surfing is up eighteen minutes a day. The national Internet audience increased by 1.72m people last year alone,’ the press service says. It is explained that MegaFon.TV serves

UrBC, Moscow, June 13, 2017. Russians based in Ural Federal District spent 11.9% less money last year compared with one year previously, Romir reports. In monthly terms, the decrease amounted to 9.2%. According to Romir, Russians’ overall daily spending went up a bit in May 2017 as usual (+1.3% on April 2017), which is three times more than the official inflation rate of 0.4%. The decrease in the average amount people spent per supermarket trip this May could have to do with the fact that they go shopping more often or, more likely, that they go to more different locations to shop. Most of

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, June 9, 2017. Sverdlovsk Region’s Finance Ministry came up with the first draft of the constituency’s next year’s budget, Governor of Sverdlovsk Region’s Information Policy Department reports. ‘The latest amendments to the Sverdlovsk Region Budget 2018 Act that cover for 8.9bn RUR in subsidies to social welfare projects and municipal programs were adopted at Sverdlovsk Region Government meeting on June 8; the meeting was chaired by Governor Evgeny Kuivashev,’ the Department says. Budget revenues are expected to go up 8.9bn RUR so as to reach 204bn RUR altogether. Mostly,

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, June 9, 2017. KORTROS President Veniamin Golubitsky supported Governor of Sverdlovsk Region Evgeny Kuivashev’s proposal to make Yekaterinburg’s Akademicheskiy District a separate town, Governor of Sverdlovsk Region’s Information Policy Department reports. The Governor put forth the proposal at the end of May. ‘The place already has a multi-layered infrastructure network and will keep on growing further. For one, there is going to be a new tram link connecting the district to Yekaterinburg’s Yugo-Zapadny District, which will make the growing Akademicheskiy much more easily

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, June 9, 2017. Albert Yamaliyev’s team at Alardinskaya Mine’s Section 1 has produced 1,000,000,000 kg of coal since the start of the year, EVRAZ Holding Siberia’s Corporate Relations Center reports. Alardinskaya’s miners are EVRAZ Raspadskaya Coal Company’s second team to reach the important output figure this year. Vassily Pasichinsky’s team from Raspadskaya Mine was the first one to set this year’s production record. ‘As is our custom, the company’s top managers congratulated the miners on the ground. A symbolic piece of coal with an inscription ‘1,000,000,000’ on it was

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, June 9, 2017. Rosset’s Federal Grid Company United Energy Systems (FGC UES) completed its scheduled repairs of Chelyabinskaya-Kostanayskaya 500-kilowatt electric main, the company press service reports. The repairs ensured a more reliable electric power exchange between Russia and Kazakhstan. ‘The main got 120 new overhead ground-wire cable supports and new vibration absorbers. We also repaired the overhead ground-wire cables and cleared the area off obstructing trees and bushes (10.6 hectares all in all). The 131-kilometer-long section of Chelyabinskaya-Kostanayskaya

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, June 9, 2017. The Ural Bank for Reconstruction & Development (UBRD) started issuing the national payment system Mir cards on March 1, 2917, with over 28,000 cardholders by now, the bank’s press service reports. The UBRD was thus among the top three Mir card issuers in April 2017. According to the bank’s Banking Services Sales Director Sergei Zinoviev, some 120,000 Mir cards will have been issued for the bank’s existing customers/civil sector workers’ salary accounts by the end of the year. ‘Our new customers employed at the state-run enterprises will also get Mir

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, June 8, 2017. ChTPZ Group is opening Leadership Program in coordination with National University of Science and Technology (MISiS), the company press service reports. ‘This is a Master’s program in combination with internships at ChTPZ Group’s enterprises and work on innovative projects. Following a selection procedure, twenty candidates in the under-30 age group, with Bachelor’s degrees from Russian colleges will get enrolled on two programs: Rolling Technologies and Solid and Hollow Goods Innovative Technologies & Equipment. The students will have two years to learn