UrBC, Moscow, August 11, 2016. Gazprom’s shareholder-related net profit (calculated in accordance with the International Accounting Standards) went down by 5.18% in the first quarter of 2016 against the last quarter of 2015 and reached 362.209bn RUR, Prime reports. The company’s sales revenues rose by 5.4%, up to 1.737 trillion RUR (compared with 1.648 trillion RUR one year earlier). Sales profit dropped by 34.16% and came to 301.973bn RUR.

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, August 10, 2016. United Energy Systems’ Federal Grid Company (FCG UES) gave a number of maintenance sessions and overhauls to its power facilities in Western Siberia in the first half of the year, the company press service reports. The goal was to make sure the upcoming fall/winter heating season is accident- and emergency-free, and to ensure a more reliable power supply to end users in the area. For one, the 220- to 500 -kilowatt electric mains in Khanty-Mansiysky Autonomous Region, Yamalo-Nenetsky Autonomous Region, and Tyumen Region got 207 new insulators and 53

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, August 10, 2016. Over six hundred children of ChTPZ Group’s employees are going to get gift certificates to buy school supplies this year; more than 1.5m RUR have been directed to the purpose, the company press service reports. ‘Helping these kids get ready for school is a regular thing to do for the company, as are the annual theatre festival, children’s entertainment projects, and summer job opportunities. We also support sports and promote a healthy lifestyle. These are our investments in the future, we want children to grow up happy and healthy and their parents to be

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, August 10, 2016. Oleg Moskalenko’s team from EVRAZ Holding’s Raspadskaya Coal Company’s Uskovskaya Mine have produced 1,000,000,000 kg of coal since the start of the year, EVRAZ Holding Siberia’s press office reports. Raspadskaya Coal Company Director-General Sergei Stepanov congratulated the miners on this great production achievement. ‘The valuable, great quality GZh coal that is produced at Uskovskaya Mine is very popular with Russian metallurgical companies. Quite a few mines in Kuzbass are now producing this coal type, so in order to stay competitive on this market,

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, August 10, 2016. The telecommunications provider MegaFon came up with a new service for its business customers: these customer companies’ employees can be offered the Internet access at work that only allows them to use the web for work purposes, MegaFon Ural’s press service reports. ‘Since Pokemon Go proved astoundingly popular all over the world, and players keep looking for rare virtual creatures in order to get the fullest collection and set a world record, companies are growing increasingly concerned about how rationally their staff are using the company’s mobile

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, August 10, 2016. A new double-point cold stamping press is currently being assembled at Ural Vagon Zavod Corporation’s head plant’s pressing/welding department, the company press service reports. The machine was made by one of Russia’s major forging and pressing equipment manufacturers. ‘The modern 1,600-ton-strong press will be used for performing various cold-stamping operations such as cutting, bending, forming, and so on needed to make bulky parts out of rolled steel sheets. The mill will also be used for making spare parts for Ural Vagon Zavod’s entire railcar

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, August 9, 2016. Ural Vagon Zavod Corporation’s Chelyabinsk Tractor Plant (ChTZ) took part in a job fair at Chelyabinsk Employment Center, the company press service reports. The plant welcomes qualified coremakers, molders, fettlers, pattern-makers, millers, flame cutting torch operators, and test drivers. ‘This increased demand for blue-collar workers has to do with our ambitious plans to increase production output. Our HR Department aims to take on the best skilled workers, who are offered good pay, a benefits package, and dormitory accommodation for single men,’ the

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, August 9, 2016. The telecommunications provider MegaFon is now offering its traveling customers the Neighboring Countries Package which will cut down on their mobile communication costs when roaming, the company press service reports. Neighboring Countries Package covers incoming and outgoing calls at 3 RUR per minute (ten times cheaper against the regular price) and text messages at 3 RUR per text. Mobile Internet access comes for 9.9RUR per Mb (the average non-roaming price). The package costs 33 RUR a day. ‘Belarus and Kazakhstan are the most popular destinations with

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, August 9, 2016. For the first time since February 2015, prices on Yekaterinburg existing home market stopped declining, N1.RU reports. ‘The price of a square meter came to 70,410 RUR on average in July; this is virtually the same as in June, when the price stood at 70,390 RUR. For the first time since February 2015, housing prices remained stable even if they did not rise. Prior to this, housing used to lose 0.2% to 1.3% of its value every month for one and a half years in a row. On the other hand, the market supply remained the same in July as one month earlier,’ the

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, August 9, 2016. Sverdlovsk Region proved the country’s third largest lending market in the second quarter of 2016, outstripped only by Moscow and Saint Petersburg, United Credit Bureau’s press service reports. 210,400 loans (26.78bn RUR in toto) were issued in the constituency between April and June. Sverdlovsk Region was also the country’s fourth largest cash loan market: nearly 138,000 such loans (15.3bn RUR in toto) were issued here, with the average loan amount at 110,900 RUR. Finally, the constituency proved the country’s fourth largest credit card-issuing market: on

UrBC, Moscow, August 9, 2016. Russia’s foreign trade turnover reached $210.4bn in January-June 2016, which is 22.3% less than one year earlier, banki.ru refers to Russia’s Federal Customs Service as stating. The country’s export surplus currently stands at $50.5bn, which is $44.7bn less than one year earlier. Export figures came to $130.4bn (-28.7%), imports came to $79.9bn (-8.9%). China was Russia’s primary partner in the first half the year, with trade turnover at $28.3bn (-7.4% against one year earlier). Other major partners are Italy (-45.8%), Turkey (-41.1%), and France (+6.2%).

UrBC,Yekaterinburg, August 8, 2016. Ural Vagon Zavod Corporation’s Volchansk subsidiary launched a new NC mill, the company press service reports. The new equipment was assembled by the supplier company’s representatives. The hi tech mill is expected to improve the produce quality and expand product range considerably. This highly productive, multifunctional, numerically controlled turning machine is meant for making parts of special-purpose vehicles through turning, boring, milling, screw cutting, and drilling. The new machine differs from its counterpart already employed at the plant in

UrBC,Yekaterinburg, August 8, 2016. The Ural Bank for Reconstruction & Development (UBRD) worked with Meta Model to introduce a new ATM cash control system and thus improve its performance, the bank’s press service reports. The new software computer-models cash spending processes throughout the bank’s ATM network and assesses amount of cash needed per machine given the customer traffic. This allows for a more efficient and better planned cash supply and withdrawal and cuts down on the number of cases when a customer finds there is no more cash in the machine. Additionally, thanks to the

UrBC,Yekaterinburg, August 8, 2016. Magnitogorsk Iron & Steel Works (MMK) made $486m in net profit in the first half of the year, which exceeded the figures for one year earlier ($468m) by 3.8%, Prime refers to the company as stating. The company’s EBITDA dropped by 12%, down to $847m, its revenues by 17.6%, down to $2.602bn. MMK is one of the world’s largest steel manufacturers and the leader of the Russian ferrous metallurgy market. The company runs a major full-production-cycle metallurgical facility and makes a wide range of metal goods, most of which are high value-added ones. MMK

UrBC,Yekaterinburg, August 8, 2016. The number of foreign workers arriving in Sverdlovsk Region declined by 24% in January-June 2016 compared with the first half of 2015, Head of Migration Department at the Internal Affairs Ministry’s Sverdlovsk Region division Olga Petrova said at a press conference. According to Petrova, 86% of work migrants came from the CIS member states, primarily Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, and Uzbekistan. ‘The number of people arriving from elsewhere dropped by 29%, down to 9,000 people, in the last six months. 63% of these newcomers fly in from China. The number of

UrBC,Yekaterinburg, August 8, 2016. The amount of unpaid wages and salaries went up by 6.5% in Russia in the first half of 2016, Russia’s Accounts Chamber reports. The overall amount of wage arrears reached 3.8bn RUR on July 1, 2016. People’s actual disposable income dropped by 5%, while their actual monthly pay remained the same as one year earlier.

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, August 5, 2016. Sverdlovsk Region’s consumer price index for July 2016 exceeded that for a year earlier by 7.5%, Sverdlovskstat reports. Against July 215, food items grew 8.1% more expensive, non-food items grew 9% more expensive, and the price of alcohol drinks and services rose by 6.5% and 4.9%, respectively. Against January 2016, food items, non-food items, alcohol drinks, and services grew 3.2%, 4.5%, 5%, and 4% more expensive, respectively. Inflation rate in July rose by 0.6% against June 2016.

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, August 5, 2016. The Ural Bank for Reconstruction & Development (UBRD) issued over 2,500 loans (amounting to more than 600m RUR all in all) in July; this was a record-setting figure since September 2014 for online loan-issuing. According to the bank’s press service, the average loan amount came to 238,350 RUR. UBRD’s new customers prefer to apply for A Minute’s Work, Open, and Retirement loan offers, while existing ones apply for loans offered as part of the bank’s loyalty schemes. ‘The share of loans issued on the basis of an online application came to 40% of all the

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, August 5, 2016. Interfax Center for Economic Analysis carried its ranking Interfax 100 Russian Banks in late July listing the Russian banks with largest undistributed profits, assets, and own funds in the first half of the year. Metcombank was among the country’s top hundred banks in all three respects. The bank’s press service reports Metcombank was also the most successful Urals-based bank among the five Ural banks that made it to the ranking. For one, the bank rose from the 96th position as of December 31, 2015 to the 90th positions as of June 30, 2016 since its assets

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, August 5, 2016. Tank Biathlon took off at Alabino Range in Moscow Region; Ural Vagon Zavod Corporation is acting as the event’s partner this year. According to the corporation’s press service, the company supplied seventy T 72B3 and forty BMP 2 combat vehicles for these games; the plant is also in charge of technical assistance: more than thirty experts from the corporation’s eleven member enterprises are responsible for vehicle maintenance and crew training. Eighteen teams from Russia and other countries such as, for example, Kuwait, Serbia, and Zimbabwe are going to