UrBC, Yekaterinburg, June 1, 2015. Some 50,000 m2 worth of new office space got commissioned in Yekaterinburg in the first quarter of the year; however, there were very few tenants in the new buildings, Ural Chamber of Real Estate reports. The chamber’s analysts feel the commercial estate market is going through a deepening recession occasioned mostly by overall economic factors, just like in the past. Among these factors are shrinking investments, closing businesses, slowing-down wholesale turnover and dropping retail one. ‘These were at work as early as 2014, and the current state of events

UrBC, Moscow, June 1, 2015. 3,112 new cars were sold on Sverdlovsk Region market in April; 1,235 (39.7%) of them were bought on credit, Avtostat and National Bureau of Credit History report. In Russia overall, 110,479 cars were sold in April 2015, of which 35% were purchased with borrowed funds. The figure came to 20.1% in Q1’15 and to 40.5% in 2014. ‘New automobiles market was 49% smaller in April 2015 than in April 2014. However, more support from the banking sector gives hope that car sales might increase,’ says Avtostat Executive Director Sergey Udalov.

May 29, 2015. Sverdlovsk Region-based businesses’ consolidated overdue debt came to 40bn RUR, Interfax refers to head of Prodolg.RF Oleg Moskovsky as saying. In the neighboring Chelyabinsk Region, the companies’ past-due debts amounted to 35bn RUR. According to Moskovsky, these figures comprise 20 to 28bn RUR worth of unpaid taxes and levies, 20 to 30bn RUR worth of overdue loan payments, 4 to 8bn RUR worth of electricity bills, and 4 to 8bn RUR worth of unpaid utility bills.

May 29, 2015. The Ural Bank for Reconstruction & Development brought the minimum interest rate on its consumer loans (Open and A Minute’s Wait) down to 17% a year and to 22% a year (Retirement), the bank’s press service reports. ‘We are trying to reach quickly to market changes, so we were some of the first to come up with more affordable loan terms for our customers. This is especially topical right now, since people tend to need more money as the summer comes, that is, to spend more on traveling, remodeling, and dacha investments. The family budget is often insufficient for the purpose,

May 29, 2015. Bank Koltso Urala’s profits stemming from POS transactions tripled in the last three quarters, the bank’s press service reports. ‘Thanks to introduction of a flat rate for our acquiring services, Bank Koltso Urala managed to increase its POS sales by six times. Starting from last April, both our acquiring service profits and our customers’ trade turnovers have been growing steadily,’ says the bank’s executive Kirill Sorokin. According to Sorokin, the average monthly turnover now comes to 90,000 RUR per POS terminal. ‘Offering our customers a flat rate proved the best scenario

May 29, 2015. Uralvagonzavod Corporation’s company magazine Technowars dedicated its latest issue to the first Russian Armata tank. Editor-in-Chief Alexei Basov says this is ‘the most extraordinary issue in the magazine’s entire history.’ The new issue dwells upon the possibilities of upgrading Abrams and Leopard tanks and upon the tank fleets in the Asian and Pacific Rim. There is also a detailed catalogue of the world’s major combat vehicles and articles on the future defense aids and anti-tank missiles. The magazine’s feature article is dedicated to the creation and future development of

May 29, 2015. Uralvagonzavod Corporation’s Volchansk Mechanical Plant is planning to produce a test sample of dump car 33-9985 with freight capacity of 105,000 kg. The design documentation was developed by the corporation’s Ural Railway-Building Design Office, their press service reports. ‘The dump car is meant for transportation of solid rocks and ore within industrial enterprises’ premises, from mines to crushing plants. This make is different from other freight carriages in that its body can unload substances in both directions. The body’s angle gets regulated by three air-operated

May 28, 2015. Uralvagonzavod Corporation (UVZ) is considering working with Egyptian companies on new rolling stock, road-building equipment, and oil and gas equipment, the Russian company’s DG Oleg Sienko said at Trade/Industrial Dialogue: Russia and Egypt in Cairo. According to the corporation’s press service, Sienko took part in bilateral meetings and talks, including the ones with Egypt’s defense and transport ministers. He also made a report at the plenary session on Russian-Egyptian business cooperation and new prospects and options in the field. In his report, Sienko said a new stage

May 28, 2015. The owners of three fast food restaurants operating as Subway franchisees are now offering their cafes for sale via Avito.ru advertisements. One of the places is located in downtown Yekaterinburg and is 115 m2 big. The restaurant is said to be ‘successfully operating’ for six months. ‘The restaurant is conveniently situated in the increased pedestrian traffic area, with no rival services in sight,’ the ad states. The owner does not quote the asking price for the business or its exact location. Another Subway outlet is in Uralmash District and is 125 m2 big. The owner’s starting

May 28, 2015. Some 35% of Yekaterinburg drivers with fines fail to pay them, the city’s road police report. According to the police data, 199,963 fines (totaling to 154,396,200 RUR) were issued to Yekaterinburg drivers in the four months of 2015. 99,562,700 RUR worth of fines, or 64.5%, were paid. 431 offenders had to face administrative liability for non-payment of fines, with charges based on Article 20.25 (Part 1) of the Russian Federation Administrative Offense Code. ‘Failure to pay a fine in time or in full is an offense that results in administrative liability. Besides, the Federal

May 28, 2015. Yekaterinburg urban development services are going to replace or renovate a number of road safety barriers in time for the summer season, the city council’s press service reports. Around 20km worth of crash barriers are to be washed and repainted. Additionally, over 1km worth of new barriers will be installed in the city’s Oktyabrsky District in order to prevent cars from parking onto the lawns and to ensure pedestrians’ safety.

May 28, 2015. Home Credit Bank’s employee count went down by 34% in the first quarter of 2015, which means there are currently 20,600 people working for the bank against 31,300 people last year, Banki.ru reports. The bank explains the cuts have to do with the need to narrow the network as their business is shrinking. According to the bank’s accounting report, its retail loan book dropped by 10%, down to 217bn RUR, in Q1’15, and by another 3%, down to 210bn RUR, in April. Home Credit Bank also switched to using Taxi-Credit, a courier delivery service, to cut back on expenses and increase the

May 27, 2015. Uralcryomash (a member enterprise of Uralvagonzavod Corporation) manufactured and shipped equipment for the refueling station at Vostochny space launch site. According to the corporation’s press service, this state contract on the production of a launch set and other units for Soyuz 2 is backed up by the Russian Federation Government’s special provision. ‘Uralcryomash designers are currently doing all the assembly supervision jobs: these have to be completed by May 30. Their job is then to ensure start-up and commissioning through September 30. This stage will be followed by

May 27, 2015. Chelyabinsk Tube Rolling Plant/ChTPZ sanitary and environmental control lab is now on the federal Rosaccreditation list; every industrial lab must undergo such certification in order to operate. According to the plant’s press service, the new license with no expiration date allows the company to conduct environmental tests independently, whereas in the past, ChTPZ used to have to get temporary permits for every type of analysis, some of which had to be done with the help of external bodies. The lab experts are now fully independent in a wide range of measuring operations and

May 27, 2015. Private individuals’ overdue loan payments came to 7.8m RUR in Sverdlovsk Region recently, which was 18% more than at the start of the year, Central Bank reports. The figure came to 6.6m RUR in January, to 7.1m RUR in February, and to 7.6m RUR in March. As for overdue payments in foreign currency, this has been noticeably on the decrease and down from $62,900 in January to $24,700 in April.

May 27, 2015. The volume of motor freight transportation within Sverdlovsk Region dropped by 13.6% in January-April 2015, down to 9,400,000,000 kg, compared with the first four months of 2014, Sverdlovskstat reports. At the same time, the volume went up by 12.7% (969,600,000) in terms of ton-kilometers. ‘If the figures go down in terms of kilos yet go up in terms of ton-kilometers, this means less cargo gets transferred to more remote destinations. Figuratively speaking, we used to pick up our shipments in Moscow, now we pick them up in Belarus. The increase in the average traveling distance

May 27, 2015. 75 bank branches closed down in Sverdlovsk Region since the start of the year, Central Bank reports. There used to be 1,237 outlets in the area as recently as January, and only 1,162 still operated in April, offering a variety of banking services. For one, Svyasnoy-Bank and Baltiysky Bank closed their Yekaterinburg offices in January due to the need to get rid of ‘weak links’. It was later reported that Nordea Bank also decided to close down its branches outside Moscow and Saint Petersburg. In April, one of Uralprivatbank’s offices was closed. VTB and Sberbank announced they

May 26, 2015. The State Duma deputies met with members of Carriage-Builder’s Union, a non-profit partnership, to consider the current acute problems of Russian railway carriage-builders, Uralvagonzavod Corporation’s press service reports. The main factors behind the industry’s crisis are shrinking railway shipments and the fact that worn-out carriages are still used well past their write-off date. ‘It’s time this problem got government’s attention and proposals were drawn up for regulatory bodies and enterprises so that the carriage-building industry could both survive and keep on

May 26, 2015. Mashinostroitel, Uralvagonzavod Corporation’s newspaper, coordinated the 73d track-and-field relay race in Nizhniy Tagil. Prizes were provided by the corporation’s head plant. According to UVZ Corporation’s press service, this year’s race celebrated the 70th Victory Day, so war veterans and home front workers as well as sports veterans from Sputnik Club were invited to watch the event as guests of honor. ‘The plant’s management has been supporting and promoting sports and a healthy lifestyle among the workers and their families for many years now. This year, workers from

May 26, 2015. Trubnik.Lyudi.Sobytiya.Kommentarii, ChTPZ Group’s company newspaper, won in the Best In-Company Media 2015 Contest as the Best Printed Media/Company Newspaper, the Group’s press service reports. The newspaper is the successor of ChTPZ Group’s Chelyabinsky Trubnik, founded in 1951. This company newspaper is now distributed at all of the Group’s member enterprises on a weekly basis free of charge. The paper is available in both printed and electronic formats in Chelyabinsk, Pervouralsk, Moscow, Saint Petersburg, Samara, and ten other Russian cities. ‘Our newspaper keeps on