March 27, 2015. Increasingly more Russians are opting for a used car rather than a new one: their number went up from 29% to 40%, Interfax refers to Russian Public Opinion Research Centre’s survey findings as stating. About 14% of respondents would like to purchase a new Russian automobile, while 13% of those surveyed are considering buying a used Russian car. 78% of respondents are not planning on getting a car, while 20% are thinking about this. 1% of those who intend to buy a car hope to do so within the next six months, 4% will probably make the purchase within a year, and 12% will do so

March 27, 2015. It has preliminarily been calculated that there were 1,362 enterprises responsible for atmospheric discharge with 57 stationary emission sources in Sverdlovsk Region last year. According to Sverdlovskstat, overall emissions amounted to 9,322,000,000 kg (compared with 10,073,000,000 kg in 2013). 8,300,000,000 kg (89%) of emissions were filtered and neutralized and 1,021,000,000 kg were discharged in the air; this was, in fact, 76,000,000 kg less than in 2013. At the same time, Nizhniy Tagil’s air emissions went up by 14% last year; the emission rates in the rest of Sverdlovsk

March 26, 2015. Business training on risk management and internal control took off at Uralvagonazov Corporation’s head plant. The seminar aims to train managers in detection, evaluation, and management of risks and in making risk-oriented decisions, the corporation’s press service reports. ‘The training is given by Moscow-based experts in risk management, who will also help the company create a risk management and internal control system, identify critical risk factors, and prepare reports for the top management and the Board of Directors,’ the press service says. Based on these outside

March 26, 2015. Middle Ural Development Corp (run by Sverdlovsk Region Ministry for Public Property Management) incurred 1,514,716,000 RUR worth of net loss in 2014, whereas twelve months earlier, the company finished the year 2013 off with 4.159m RUR worth of net profit, the issuer’s annual accounting report states. According to this report, the company set up bad debt reserves (520,634,930 RUR all in all) last year to back up such projects as Low-Rise Construction Center, High Speed Railway Network 2, and Ural Exhibition Center. The corporation paid 28,292,256 RUR worth of bonuses to its

March 26, 2015. VSMPO Avisma’s net profit declined by 46%, from 7.451bn RUR to 4.018bn RUR, in 2014, the company reports. ‘The unfavorable differences in the rate of exchange caused by the weakening of the ruble in late 2014 were the main negative factor affecting this result. It was also for this reason that our EBITDA dropped by 33.4% and came to 8.302bn RUR last year,’ the corporation explains. Additionally, the number of employees within the company decreased by290 people and thus came to 20,200 workers, whereas per-worker output actually went up by 20.4% and amounted to 2.7m RUR. The

March 26, 2015. SKB Bank remains a proactive contributor to the government agricultural sector support program: this week, a loan was issued to Alapayevsk Dairy Plant. The money was directed to a number of agribusinesses as part of Sverdlovsk Region Government seed time 2015 campaign, the bank’s press service reports. In March, SKB-Bank already issued a loan to Irbit Dairy Plant, one of Sverdlovsk Region’s largest agricultural enterprises. The bank won the 151m-ruble loan tender under the terms which were listed on the government purchases website; the plant received the loan on March 16,

March 26, 2015. Sverdlovsk Region public prosecution authorities completed its indictment of a 53-year-old shareholder of Group Linkor involved in a criminal lawsuit. According to the authorities’ press service, the man is charged with large-scale fraud (Article 159 (part 4) of the Russian Federation Criminal Code), premeditated bankruptcy (Article 196 of the Russian Federation Criminal Code), and fraudulent evasion of loans payable (Article 177 of the Russian Federation Criminal Code). According to the inquiry team, Group Linkor shareholder falsely purchased the right to over 244,000

March 25, 2015. The share of Class A offices in Yekaterinburg that have no tenants at the moment came to 23% at the end of 2014; besides, 11% of Class B+ offices and 14% of Class B ones remained unused as well, Ural Chamber of Real Estate reports. The Chamber’s analyst Konstantin Oktayev explains the downward trend hit the office space market as early as one year ago, when both supply and demand shrank noticeably. ‘Should the Central Bank’s key interest rate remain so high for a long time, the office space market risks losing up to 30% of actual and potential customers,’ Oktayev says. 68,000

March 25, 2015. Omsktransmash (a member enterprise of Uralvagonzavod Corporation) obtained 76% more proceeds from sales of goods and services in 2014 compared with 2013; the figure came to 12.3bn RUR (VAT excluded); the company’s net profit rose to 129.4m RUR, the corporation’s press service reports. ‘The number of Omsktransmash employees went up by 14%: there were 4,168 people working for the plant at the end of 2014; in March 2015, the number came to over 5,000 people. The average monthly pay was 10.9% better than in 2013 and came to 28,095 RUR,’ the press service says. This year,

March 25, 2015. Unilever, household cleaning goods manufacturer and the owner of the Urals-based Concern Kalina, announced its prices would rise by up to 114% in April 2015, RBC reports. Unilever RUS reports all of its ex-works prices would go up on April 1, 2015. According to the distributor’s website, the price increase has to do with the dramatic weakening of the Russian ruble over the last few months. For one, the distributor says the prices of 100 Rezeptov Krasoty products will increase by 2% to 114%, those of Chistaya Liniya products will go up by 2% to 56%. The enterprise also makes a

March 25, 2015. Starting from May 2015, no more flights will be operated from Yekaterinburg to Thailand as this destination is no longer profitable, director of Natalie Tours Yekaterinburg branch Oleg Higer informed UrBC. ‘These flights used to be operated all the year round for the last three years. However, this is no longer the case. Flights for March and April have already been scheduled, yet beginning in May, all of them will be cancelled. This means the only way to get to Thailand will be from Moscow,’ Higer explained. He says the demand for trips to Thailand has been plummeting, since

March 25, 2015. First Freight Company makes its public offers 5% to 20% less expensive to customers depending on the type of rolling stock used; this is part of the company’s customer-oriented technologies program, the freight forwarder reports. The company has been running public tender offers since 2011; the offer is targeted at small and medium enterprises which need to use the company’s rolling stock for relatively small shipments. Under the terms of the offer, First Freight Company provides its railway carriages to the customer for a ten-day period after the payment has been made in the

March 24, 2015. Ural Airlines and their partner Wheely are offering chauffeur services at reduced price, the airline’s press service reports. Wings Club members will be able to get 1,000-ruble promo codes for the purpose. Besides, every new member will be given a 500-ruble promo code as a welcome; the code can also be used for the chauffeur service. Respectable-looking cars with no taxi signs and professional drivers in suits are provided; payments can be made by credit card via an app. You can join Wings Club by submitting an application on the company’s website.

March 24, 2015. Sverdlovsk Region-based industrial enterprises shipped 269.5bn worth of goods (in current prices) to their customers in January and September 2015, which was 132.9% better than in the first two months of 2014, Governor of Sverdlovsk Region’s Information Policy Department reports. Most of the customer shipments (231.2bn RUR worth of goods) were made by enterprises in the processing sector. Metallurgical companies and metal goods manufacturers’ shipment output rose by 1.6 times, that of food, drink, and tobacco manufacturers went up by 24.8%, that of chemical companies increased

March 24, 2015. Moody’s confirmed Enel Russia’s corporate rating at Ba3 and its PDR at Ba3 PD, with Negative rating outlook. According to the agency’s press release, these ratings are reflexive of Moody’s expectations that Enel will be able to keep up with the financial performance necessary to retain its Ba3 status despite Russia’s macroeconomic straits.

March 24, 2015. Sinara Group is currently negotiating on supplying its freight locos and Lastochka electric trains to Azerbaijan, Sverdlovsk Region Government’s website states. A group of government officials went to Azerbaijan in March 2014; the projects that were discussed at the time have entered their implementation stage now. ‘This was a useful, multi-purpose visit; we took our relations with the Republic of Azerbaijan to a new level. Sinara is now successfully negotiating on supplying its locomotives to Azerbaijan,’ says Sinara Group BOD Chairman Dmitri Pumpyanski. The Group also

March 24, 2015. Ural Federal University will be allocated 750m RUR throughout the year 2015 to work on the Russian college competitiveness enhancement program, UFU’s press service reports. The decision to grant UFU the funds was taken by the board of the 5-100 Project, which coordinates the program. The press service did not specify where exactly the money will be directed.

March 21, 2015. Kamensk Uralsky Foundry Plant (KULZ, a member enterprise of Uralvagonzavod Corporation) is getting a new compressed air supply system. The corporation’s press service reports the first out of three screw compressors has already been launched. The three compressors will eventually create a local network. This modern system will come to replace the current energy-consuming reciprocating compressor plant that was made in the seventies. ‘This upgrade of the compressed air supply system is expected to reduce our energy spending considerably,’ says KULZ Chief Energy Technician

March 21, 2015. Yekaterinburg advertising market dropped by 7% to 10% last year compared with 2013, Deltaplan Ad Group’s PR Director Lyudmila Chernykh told UrBC. ‘On average, advertising budgets in the three measurable mass media (television, radio, and outdoor advertising) shrank by 16% in 2014 against a year earlier. These figures do not give a picture of Internet ads, whose amount definitely increased, or that of the printed press ads, whose amount definitely decreased. Based on Deltaplan’s estimates, Yekaterinburg market, with all the non-measurable segments considered, sagged by 7% to

March 21, 2015. 645,000,000 kg of grains and crops and 733,000,000 kg of potatoes are expected to be harvested in Sverdlovsk Region this year, Governor of Sverdlovsk Region’s Information Policy Department reports. According to the Agriculture Ministry, local agribusinesses are fully provided with the necessary seed grains. ‘This year, our farms and agricultural businesses will need 45,000,000 kg of seed potatoes, and they already have this amount in stock,’ the Ministry says. As a matter of fact, 3% to 4% of last year’s yield couldn’t get collected because of early snowfalls in Sverdlovsk