UrBC, Yekaterinburg, April 22, 2016. The telecommunications provider MegaFon now offers its business customers portable GSM base stations, the company press service reports. The new service will make it possible for the local businesses to set up a mobile connection and Internet access point anywhere within just a couple of hours. ‘The station was first presented at the international Innoprom 2011 Exhibition. This technical solution is one way to introduce connection during rescue operations, for example, or to reinforce the signal and improve coverage in crowded places, and it left

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, April 22, 2016. Ural Airlines added this year’s first purchase, Airbus A319 liner, to its fleet of vehicles, the air carrier’s press service reports. This is the seventh plane of this make the company has bought so far. Airbus A319 arrived in Yekaterinburg from Ireland; the aircraft has 126 economy class seats and 8 business class ones. The plane will be used for operating both international and domestic flights, with the first one, U6 274, to be operated from Yekaterinburg to Moscow today. Ural Airlines currently use thirty-six Airbus liners. The airline embarked on a

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, April 22, 2016. Ural Vagon Zavod Corporation is hosting the Bulat Okudzhava Theater Days Festival in Nizhniy Tagil in celebration of the company’s head plant’s upcoming 80th anniversary. The festival will feature a play called We, the Undersigned. The well-known Russian actors Andrei Kuzichev, Anna Bolshova, and Anatoly Kot and actors from Nizhniy Tagil Drama Theater are starring. The play is directed by the Russian actor and film/play director and Russia’s Honored Artist Vladimir Skvortsov. The play production team comprises winners of the Golden Mask Prize art director

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, April 22, 2016. Ural Vagon Zavod and its daughter enterprise UVZ Logistic presented their produce at the international logistics exhibition TransRussia in Moscow, the corporation’s press service reports. Over three hundred companies from twenty-seven different countries are coming to the exhibition this year; the exponents are the transportation and logistics sector’s major players such as rolling stock manufacturers, infrastructure businesses, and freight forwarders. Both the corporation and its daughter company are taking part in the event for the third time this year.

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, April 21, 2016. Children of Sinara Pipe Plant’s employees and kids from local schools organized a flash mob to celebrate the Pipe Metallurgical Company’s 15th anniversary, both companies being a part of one holding. ‘The event took place at the square in front of the plant. A banner with drawings from the Company Through Children’s Eyes Contest was placed next to the entrance, and the town brass band created quite a special atmosphere with its cheerful music. Activists from A.I. Brizhan Youth Council presented the locals with company souvenirs. A PA system was used to

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, April 21, 2016. The advertising agency Voskhod and HYPE Production produced, with MegaFon Ural’s support, a new social service announcement about We Are Together Charity Foundation, the telecommunications provider’s press service reports. ‘Our company has been supporting this charity for seven years now; the fund has proven a reliable, conscientious, well-targeted partner for people who are in keen need of support. We have implemented a number of projects for children together; for one, our special number 000777 where MegaFon Ural subscribers can always direct money meant

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, April 21, 2016. The Ural Bank for Reconstruction & Development (UBRD) opened a new branch for private customers in Krasnouralsk, Sverdlovsk Region, the bank’s press service reports. The office is to be managed by head of the bank’s Kushvinsky branch Olga Tregubova, who says Krasnouralsk locals really needed a bank outlet downtown. ‘Customers would often call the bank hotline asking about the possibility of introducing a branch in the town. The new sales point is now in care of deputy head of Krasnouralsky branch Natalya Nazarova,’ Tregubova says. Krasnouralsk-based

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, April 21, 2016. Seversky Pipe Plant (a member enterprise of Pipe Metallurgical Company/TMK) carried out performance tests for two new EMAG coupling sleeve machines, TMK press service reports. The machines were installed at the sleeve production department as part of the equipment upgrade and retooling program. These modern appliances are very precise and twice as productive as their earlier-generation counterparts. They also mean the plant can now produce more premium quality goods. The department workers are currently busy making and assembling the devices meant for

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, April 21, 2016. Kamensk-Uralsky Foundry Plant/KULZ (a member enterprise of Ural Vagon Zavod Corporation) coordinated the 5th research-to-practice conference where the plant’s workers presented the newly developed equipment and technologies they would like to see in their production departments, the company press service reports. Reports were both of technical and social nature: the presenters spoke about new quality control methods, equipment maintenance, and personnel motivation mechanisms, with very lively discussions at some points. ‘Reports were very different and

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, April 20, 2016. Ural Airlines introduced a new flight from Tomsk to Moscow at 6:30 AM on April 16, the air carrier’s press service reports. ‘Tomsk residents went to the Russian capital on a comfortable A320 liner (both business and economy class options available). The passengers were presented with nice gifts and company souvenirs, and there was a cake at the airport to celebrate the occasion,’ the press service says. The new scheduled flight will now be operated on a daily basis. Once in Moscow, passengers will be able to use connecting flights to other cities in Russia

UrBC, Moscow, April 20, 2016. The overall amount of money Russian employers owed to their workers in wages and salaries rose by 35.4% last month compared with the beginning of March and came to 4.47bn RUR altogether, Rosstat reports. 98.5% of the sum (3.72bn RUR) were arrears in wages occasioned by businesses lacking their own funds. 58m RUR were left unpaid as government funds failed to get transferred on time. According to Rosstat, 35% of the debt amount rest with the processing enterprises, 23% with the construction businesses, 25% with the transport sector, 5% with the fossil development

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, April 20, 2016. ChTPZ Group is taking part in the 16th International Oil & Gas Equipment & Technologies Exhibition, the company press service reports. The Group is presenting its White Well Project (currently unique to the Russian oil and gas industry) and the latest equipment meant for artificial oil lift. White Well, a joint project of the Group’s pipe-manufacturing and O&G member enterprises, is targeted at increasing oil production output at the more difficult wells through ensuring longer time between repair; this can be done through careful selection of

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, April 20, 2016. Turners from Omsktransmash (a member enterprise of Ural Vagon Zavod Corporation) won the first and second prizes in the local round of the national professional skills contest, the company press service reports. The contest comprised two stages, that is, theory and practice. For the second part, contestants were to create or improve a computer program for an NC mill. This task gave the judges a chance to assess the participants’ skills and qualifications, their compliance with production technologies and labor protection requirements, and their knowledge

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, April 20, 2016. Ural Vagon Zavod Corporation’s head plant’s management met all of its Collective Agreement and social responsibility obligations in full last year, the company press service reports. The enterprise worked towards both meeting the target production and sales figures while enhancing labor productivity and employee retention as well as avoiding large-scale layoffs. A multi-faceted action plan was adopted to cut production and selling costs and thus make the company more economically and financially stable. In 2015, the company’s staff numbered slightly over

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, April 19, 2016. 84% of Sverdlovsk Region Union of Industrialists & Entrepreneurs member enterprises did not use any state support mechanisms in 2015. This was announced at the Union’s 25th Convention in Yekaterinburg. Also, 80.36% of local enterprises surveyed pointed to extremely heavy taxation of their businesses.

«UrBC, Yekaterinburg, April 19, 2016. Metcombank and MSP Bank signed a framework agreement to provide SMEs’ investment projects with the bank guarantees they need, the bank’s press service reports. ‘The main idea behind this guaranty mechanism is to make financial resources more affordable for small and medium enterprises. The agreement means a business can get a ten-year guarantee on very good terms,’ says Metcombank Chair of the Board Dmitri Torbenko. The guarantees in question are connected to banks which issue loans meant to finance small and medium enterprises’ investment projects, with

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, April 19, 2016. Ural Airlines are offering plane tickets at special prices to Great Patriotic War veterans and people accompanying them in celebration of this year’s Victory Day, the air carrier’s press service reports. The war veterans can get their tickets at a 100% discount, while people accompanying them on board will only have to pay 10% of an economy class ticket’s cost. Tickets can be booked at the local booking offices starting from April 16; discounts are offered on flights to be operated on May 3-13. The special offer holds for flights from Barnaul, Chelyabinsk,

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, April 19, 2016. Chelyabinsk Tube Rolling Plant/ChTPZ carried its annual IAS-based financial report for 2015, the company press service reports. The company’s revenues rose by 16% compared with the year 2014 and reached148.367bn RUR; its gross profits went up by 18%, its EBITDA by 27% (up to 28.901bn RUR), its EBITDA margin by 2% (up to 19.5%). ’The Russian pipe manufacturers’ performance got affected by the unstable global economy, high metal prices, and the foreign currency market’s great volatility last year. However, as the plant started selling more high-profit-margin

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, April 19, 2016. Ural Vagon Zavod Corporation is taking part in the 15th International Asian DSA 2016 Exhibition in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, on April 18-21. The corporation’s stand featured its promising developments for the military, including the fire support vehicle Terminator, the tanks T90 C and (upgraded) T72, the maintenance/recovery vehicle BREM 1M, the combat mobility vehicle IMR 3M, and the bridge-laying device MTU 72. The Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Russia to Malaysia Valeriy Yermolov and other important officials visited the stand on the

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, April 18, 2016. Head of Ural Vagon Zavod Corporation’s Rubtsovsky subsidiary Sergei Kurkin won in the annual Director of the Year 2015/Altai Territory Contest in the Industrial Production category, the corporation’s press service reports. ‘Under the terms of the contest, a successful manager is the one who ensures their enterprise’s sustainable development and economic and social growth and thus contributes to the development of the area and the country on the whole. Ural Vagon Zavod’s Rubtsovsky subsidiary is currently one of Altai Territory’s most stable businesses