August 27, 2014. ChTPZ Group and Turkmenneft signed a memorandum on commercial and scientific and technological cooperation. Such was the result of a business visit the Turkmen company representatives paid to ChTPZ Group’s member enterprises Alnas, Izhneftemash, Chelyabinsk Tube Rolling Plant, and Pervouralsk New Pipe Plant, ChTPZ Group’s press service reports. The memorandum secured the two parties’ interest in multi-faceted cooperation, primarily in the area of the White Well Project in Turkmenistan. ChTPZ Group’s project is currently unique to the Russian energy sector market, for it

August 27, 2014. The revenues of Pipe Metallurgical Company (TMK) rose by 3% in the second quarter of 2014 compared with the previous quarter and came to $1,516m, the company report states. Its EBITDA increased by 3% in Q’II 2014 compared with the first quarter and amounted to $190m. The EBITDA margin remained the same as in the first quarter of the year, that is, 13%. TMK’s nest profit reached $60m. At the same time, the company had $16m worth of net loss in the first quarter of 2014. In the second quarter of the year, the company made $32m worth of profit through exchange rate fluctuations

August 27, 2014. Sverdlovsk Region division of Rospotrebnadzor (the state consumer rights watchdog) conducted an unscheduled inspection of one of McDonald’s restaurants at 8V Vosmoye Marta St in Yekaterinburg and closed the place for ninety days, the agency’s press service reports. It was determined in the course of the inspection that the said restaurant did not have enough production areas and did not comply with the so-called route principle in the cooking process. The agency found some faults with the food itself as well. For one, salad samples did not meet the existing microbiological

August 25, 2014. The median price of a square meter of housing in Yekaterinburg might go down by 2% to 3% by the end of 2014, analyst from Ural Chamber of Real Estate Mikhail Khorkov announced at a press conference. According to Khorkov, this forecast stems from a considerable increase in the market supply as well as from the noticeable drop in demand. ‘Last year was a rather favorable one, yet it became clear by the start of 2014 that the market is in for a certain change. The market needed a temporary halt to ‘catch its breath’. However, this never happened. Negative external trends were

August 25, 2014. Lyudinovsky Locomotive Plant (LTZ, a member enterprise of Sinara Transport Machines Holding) received a new compliance certificate issued by the certification register for federal railway transport for its TEM9 locomotive, the enterprise’s press service reports. Based on the successful trial runs, Certification Register for Federal Railway Transport Federal Budget Enterprise decided to issue the certificate of compliance for the plant’s pilot set of 23 TEM9 locos. The certificate confirms that TEM9 meets all the safety requirements and allows the loco to be used on 1,520mm

August 25, 2014. Sverdlovsk Region division of the Federal Antimonopoly Service allowed Ural Scientific & Production Enterprise (NPRO Ural) to acquire the right of acting as the sole executive body at Vysokogorsky Ore Mining & Processing Enterprise, the Service’s official website states. ‘Sverdlovsk Region division of Russia’s Federal Antimonopoly Service did not find any signs of restraint of competition in the case,’ the website says. Now the ore mining and processing enterprise was bought out by NPRO Ural from EVRAZ in the fall of 2013; the price came to $20m.

August 25 2014. An off-site meeting of the Union of Industrialists & Entrepreneurs’ social partnership committee dedicated to the role businesses play in promoting a healthier lifestyle took place at Uralvagonzavod Corporaiton’s head plant’s Palace of Culture. According to the corporation’s press service, the meeting participants talked about improving the quality of industrial cadre, promoting a healthier lifestyle, and preventing work-related diseases. The meeting was attended by experts from the corporation’s head plant as well as from Seversky Pipe Plant, ChTPZ Group, Sinara Pipe

August 25, 2014. The restaurants McDonald’s operates in Yekaterinburg no longer serve vegetable or Caesar salads, a UrBC staff member says. For one, these changes affected guests of the restaurant located at 8V Vosmoye Marta St. McDonald’s employees prefer not to explain the reasons for this; they say the missing salads ‘might reappear some time in the future’. It’s worth noting that Sverdlovsk Region division of Rospotrebnadzor (the state consumer rights watchdog) started inspecting the chain of restaurants last week. The agency said the inspections had to do with local residents’

August 25, 2014. Refugees from Southeast Ukraine who are now staying at Nightingale Grove Health Resort of Uralvagonzavod Corporation’s head plant in Nizhniy Tagil wrote a thank-you letter to the corporation’s Director-General Oleg Sienko. ‘In this letter, they expressed their sincere gratitude to Oleg Viktorovich for solving the numerous problems displaced persons are facing in Nizhniy Tagil. The corporation’s head plant supports the people in a difficult situation as best it can,’ Uralvagonzavod Corporation’s press service reports. The forced migrants also thanked the company’s HR Director

August 25, 2014. GAZEX, a natural gas supplier, was found guilty of the fact that two apartment buildings exploded in Revda, Sverdlovsk Region Court’s video blog states. The natural gas explosion took place on March 10, 2013. As a result, an elderly woman was killed and several people were wounded. The victims took the case to court, demanding that damages be awarded to the company. The inquiry team determined that the explosion had been caused by a leakage in the nearby pipeline. Even though the company representatives refused to plead guilty, the court ruled that GAZEX should pay the

August 25, 2014. Only 19% of Russians use the services available via the United Government Services Portal, even though nearly 70% of the country’s population are aware of this option. Such were the findings of a survey conducted by the National Agency for Financial Studies (NAFI). Residents of Central and Far Eastern Federal Districts appear to be more informed about the portal (82% and 79% of locals, respectively, know about it). As for Ural Federal District, 54% of residents know it exists and 46% of those responded learned about the portal during the survey. Only 8% of the locals have

August 25, 2014. Managing companies report that office rent rates are now growing 1% more slowly, Real Chamber of Real Estate says. According to the chamber’s analyst Mikhail Khorkov, there are simply no reasons why managing companies of most office buildings and shopping malls could raise their rent rates. It is even possible that the current renting agreements and the new operators’ prices will be reconsidered. Given the estate market’s downward trend, managers will perhaps have to reduce costs primarily through lower rent. Still, shopping center rates remain quite high and are actually

August 25, 2014. Despite a certain slowing down of the increase in the commercial estate supply, a lot of buildings are still being put up, Ural Chamber of Real Estate’s analytical report states. 355,000 sq m worth of office buildings are currently being built, and 31,000 sq m were ready by the start of the year. The Chamber reports that, although new office facilities appear on the market all the time, the supply of vacant space hasn’t been rising over the last year. Quite on the contrary, the supply is on the decrease in some market segments. For one, the share of vacant office space in

August 22, 2014. University Technological Park was approved to join the national special-purpose investment program for 2014-2016, Governor of Sverdlovsk Region’s Information Policies Department reports. The future technopolitan area will host a singe scientific and educational cluster (the new campus of Ural Federal University and University High Technologies Park, an industrial park, a launching zone, and an industrial zone). The cost of the first construction stage is estimated at 1.5bn RUR, including 1bn RUR for the construction of the building of the technological center and some 500m

August 22, 2014. The Russian Federation Government came up with an extended list of state-owned property that is to be privatized in 2014-2016. This provision was published on the Cabinet website. There are several Sverdlovsk Region-based enterprises on the list of facilities that can be sold to private owners in the next few years, including Sverdlovsk Film Studio (Yekaterinburg), Tayezhny Federal State Unitary Enterprise (Tayezhny), and Central Urals Federal State Unitary Geological & Industrial Enterprise (Pervouralsk). ‘Privatization of federally owned joint stock companies will

August 22, 2014. 2GIS, a map and address application, carried a rating of Russian cities based on the number of nightclubs per 100,000 residents and calculated the median price of a cocktail that can be ordered there, the company reports. According to their data, Yekaterinburg has the third largest number of nightclubs in the country. There are forty-seven such nightlife establishments in the city, which is only outstripped by Moscow, with its 280 nightclubs, and Saint Petersburg, with its 144 clubs. As for the price of cocktails, Yekaterinburg was given the 12th position: the median price of

August 22, 2014. Head of Yekaterinburg Council Alexander Yakob will chair a group of delegates who will take part in Magistral 2014 exhibition in Nizhniy Tagil. ‘The representatives of the city’s leading transportation enterprises will also join the delegation. The theme and design of Yekaterinburg’s official exhibition stand are now being decided on, as the stand has to present the projects on the development of the Mid-Urals’ transport infrastructure,’ the city council’s press service says. Among the exhibition participants are manufacturers of various means of transportation as well as

August 22, 2014. The high-precision diesel engine machine department of ChTZ-Uraltrac (a member enterprise of Uralvagonzavod Scientific & Production Corporation) is getting ready to launch a high-precision HEC500 five-axis machine made by the German company Starragheckert. According to the corporation’s press service, the machine will be used for making parts and components that require very complicated processing such as turbine compressor wheels or the so-called vane wheels. Prior to this, parts used to be made with the help of the Czech machine MCU360. The parts were processed along

August 21, 2014. ChTZ-Uraltrac (a member enterprise of Uralvagonzavod Corporation) presented its small-scale track loader PMG-12.01 (load capacity 1,200 kg) at the exhibition at Yuri Gagarin Central Recreation Park in Chelyabinsk. ‘The spacious scoop was filled with nature’s gifts such as squashes, cabbages, apples, pears, beets, and carrots. Visitors to the fair took a great interest in a vehicle decorated with fruit and vegetables and took photographs of their children against this spectacular backdrop. A few lucky ones could get inside the driver’s cabin and admire the ease of joystick

August 21, 2014. In the first half of 2014, the number of claims relating to non-payment of bank loans issued to private individuals that were laid with Sverdlovsk Region-based courts rose by 48.6%, judge of Sverdlovsk Region Court Maria Kulikova said at a press conference in Yekaterinburg. According to Kulikova, more than 16,700 such cases were heard in courts in the twelve months of 2013; whereas this year, the figure came to over 14,600 cases in the first half of the year alone. ‘This means we can state the number of claims relating to loan enforcement started going up in the second half